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NRLF 


B   M   SIT   37D 


•V    Illlll 

j-^telii':' 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


: 


GIFT  OF 

MRS.   MARY  WOLFSOHN 

IN    MEMORY   OF 

HENRY  WOLFSOHN 


^^jfr^T:M:Mt^^^ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress, 
BY    BENSON    J.    LOS  SING, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  Stutes  for  the  Soutnern 
District  of  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


HE  task  of  making  a  record  of  the  events  of  the 
late  Civil  War  in  our  Republic  is  not  a  pleas 
ant  one  for  an  American  citizen.  It  would  be 
more  consonant  with  his  wishes  to  bury  in 
oblivion  all  knowledge  of  those  events  which 
compose  the  materials  of  the  sorrowful  story  of 
a  strife  among  his  brethren,  of  terrible  energy 
and  woeful  up. -rut  ions.  But  that  privilege  is  denied  him.  The  din 
of  the  conflict  was  heard  all  over  the  world,  and  people  of  all 
nations  were  spectators  of  the  scene.  The  fact  cannot  be  hidden. 
It  has  become  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth, 
and  will  forever  occupy  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  annals  of  man 
kind.  What  remains  for  the  American  citizen  to  do,  is  to  see 
that  the  stylms  of  history  shall  make  a  truthful  record. 

I  imposed  upon  myself  the  task  of  making,  so  far  as  my  ability 
and  an  honest  purpose  would  permit,  a  correct  delineation  of  the 
events  of  the  conflict,  carefully  drawn  by  the  pen  and  pencil,  for 
the  consideration  and  advantage  of  posterity.  I  entitle  my  work 
"A  History  of  the  Civil  War,"  but  I  ask  for  it  no  higher  consid 
eration  than  that  of  a  faithful  CHUOXICLE,  having  the  form  of  his 
tory,  and  aspiring  to  perform  its  highest  duty,  namely  :  to  inspire 
mankind  with  a  love  of  justice  and  a  hatred  of  its  opposite,  and 
of  every  thing  that  impedes  the  onward  and  upward  march  of 
humanity. 

Taking  it  for  granted  that  the  reader,  with  the  facts  plainly  set 
before  him,  is  capable  of  forming  just  conclusions,  I  have  confined 
my  labors  chiefly  to  the  recording  of  those  facts  ;  and  have  only 
given  opinions  and  speculations  concerning  their  relations,  and  the 
evident  motives  of  the  chief  actors  in  the  drama,  sufficient  for 
hints  for  thought  and  premises  for  reasoning,  without  enlarging 


4  PREFACE. 

into  argument  or  endeavoring  to  forestall  the  judgment.  For  the 
assistance  of  that  judgment,  there  will  be  found  in  the  concluding 
chapter  of  this  work  an  outline  history  of  the  settlement  of  our 
country  ;  of  the  growth  of  the  nation  ;  of  the  system  of  slave-labor, 
and  its  influence  upon  society  ;  of  the  cotton-plant,  and  its  relations 
and  power  ;  of  immigration  from  Europe,  and  its  results ;  and  of 
the  alienation  of  feeling  produced  by  controversies  on  the  subject 
of  slavery.  These  are  elements  of  the  great  Cause,  of  which  the 
civil  war  was  the  Effect. 

Satisfied  that  the  Rebellion  was  the  work  of  a  few  ambitious 
men,  who  for  selfish  purposes,  and  without  excuse,  conspired  to 
overthrow  the  Republic,  I  have  given  prominence  to  their  sayings 
and  those  of  their  co-workers  and  abettors,  not  with  a  partisan 
spirit,  to  keep  animosities  alive  (for  I  would  gladly  blot  their  utter 
ances  from  the  memory  of  man),  but  that  posterity  may  know,  and 
profit  by  the  knowledge,  how  and  by  whom  the  people  of  a  group 
of  States  were  deceived,  and  cruelly  wronged,  and  arrayed  against 
their  government,  which  has  been  seldom  accused,  and  never  con 
victed,  of  a  single  act  of  injustice  or  oppression.1  It  seemed  just  to 
the  loyal  people  of  the  land  everywhere  to  make  this  record,  and 
in  their  name  to  disclaim  these  utterances  as  being  any  indication 
of  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  American  people. 

The  Republic  has  survived  the  strife  within  its  bosom,  and 
it  now  bears  on,  in  the  great  procession  of  nations,  its  precious 
burden  of  Free  Institutions  and  Democratic  Ideas,  as  nobly  and 
vigorously  as  ever.  The  Union  has  been  preserved,  and  its  broad 
mantle  of  Love  and  Charity  covers  all  its  children  with  its  ample 
folds.  There  should  be  no  more  strife — no  more  alienations  ;  for 
the  true  interest  of  each  individual  of  the  family  is  the  highest  in 
terest  of  all.  If  the  sorrowful  Past  may  not  be  forgotten  (and  it  is 
best  that  it  should  not  be  forgotten),  let  the  remembrance  of  it  be 
a  chastening  monitor  and  tutor  ;  and  let  all  who  feel  aggrieved  be 
willing  to  forgive. 

Wishing  to  secure  the  advantages  of  a  personal  knowledge,  by 
actual  examination,  of  the  principal  battle-fields  of  the  war,  and  the 
topography  of  the  regions  over  which  the  great  armies  moved,  and 
to  make  sketches  of  whatever  might  seem  useful  as  illustrations  of 
the  subject,  I  did  not  begin  the  preparation  of  this  work  for  the 


1  See  speech  of  Alexander  II.  Stephens  at  Milledgeville,  Georgia,  November  14,  I860,  noticed  on  pages  53  to  5T, 
inclusive,  of  this  volume. 


PREFACE.  5 

press  until  the  close  of  the  conflict,  late  in  the  spring  of  1865. 
Then  the  proportions  of  that  conflict  were  known,  and  its  several 
events  were  so  well  comprehended,  that  it  was  not  a  difficult  task 
to  give  to  each  act  and  scene  its  relative  position  and  due  promi 
nence,  while  compressing  the  whole  narrative  into  a  space  so  small 
as  to  make  the  chronicle  accessible  to  the  great  "body  of  my  coun 
trymen.  I  have  endeavored  to  give  a  popular  narrative  of  the 
struggle  without  much  criticism,  and  as  free  from  technical  terms 
and  tediousness  of  detail  as  possible,  leaving  the  preparation  of  a 
scientific  and  critical  history  of  the  war  to  military  experts,  who 
are  more  competent  for  the  task. 

I  gladly  availed  myself  of  the  labors  of  others  with  pen  and 
pencil,  who  kindly  permitted  me  to  make  use  of  unpublished  ma 
terials — such  as  drawings,  photographs,  diaries,  and  letters  ;  and  I 
am  specially  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  the  proprietors  of  Harper's 
Weekly  and  Prank  Leslie" s  Illustrated  Newspaper,  whose  artists 
accompanied  the  great  armies  throughout  the  whole  struggle,  and 
preserved  the  lineaments  of  a  thousand  objects  which  were  soon 
swept  away  by  the  storms  of  war.  I  was  accorded  free  access  to 
all  official  reports  allowed  to  be  made  public  ;  and  chiefly  from 
these  and  the  drawings  of  engineers,  the  narratives  of  marches, 
battles,  and  sieges  were  compiled,  with  accompanying  maps  and 
plans.  In  the  work  will  be  found  the  portraits  of  the  prominent 
actors,  civil  and  military,  of  both  parties  to  the  conflict ;  also  views 
and  plans  of  battle-grounds ;  head-quarters  of  officers  ;  weapons 
and  ships  of  war ;  forts ;  arsenals ;  medals  of  honor,  and  other 
gifts  of  gratitude  ;  costumes  of  soldiers  ;  flags  ;  banners  ;  badges  ; 
and  a  great  variety  of  other  objects  whereby  the  eye  may  be  in 
structed  concerning  the  materials  used  in  the  conflict. 

The  engravings,  whilst  they  embellish  the  book,  have  been  in 
troduced  for  the  higher  purposes  of  instruction,  and  are  confined 
to  the  service  of  illustrating  facts.  They  have  been  prepared  un 
der  my  direct  supervision  ;  and  great  pains  have  been  taken  to 
make  them  correct  delineations  of  the  objects  sought  to  be  repre 
sented.  In  each  volume  will  be  found  a  table  of  contents,  and  a 
list  of  illustrations  ;  and,  at  the  close  of  the  work,  a  copious  ana 
lytical  index.  There  will  also  be  found  biographical  sketches  of 
the  prominent  actors  in  the  war,  civil  and  military,  arranged  in 
cyclopedia  form,  and  making  an  important  Biographical  Dic 
tionary. 

I   am  profoundly  grateful  to  my  personal  friends,  and  to  my 


Q  PREFACE. 

countrymen  of  every  degree,  from  the  most  humble  citizen  and  sol 
dier  to  statesmen,  army  and  navy  officers  of  every  rank,  governors, 
and  the  President  and  his  cabinet  ministers,  who  kindly  aided  me 
in  my  labors  in  the  collection  of  materials  for  this  work.  It  would 
"be  a  pleasant  privilege  to  mention  the  name  of  each,  but  they  are 
legion,  and  for  obvious  reasons  it  may  not  be  done. 

B.  J.  L. 

TBS  RIDGE,  DOVER  PLAINS,  N .  Y. 


VOLUME    I. 

CHAPTER   I. 

POLITICAL   CONVENTIONS    IN    1860. 

Preliminary  Observation*,  page  17. — Democratic  Convention  at  Charleston,  18. — The  "  Cincinnati  Platform,* 
21. — Conflicting  Reports  on  a  Platform  of  Principles — Secession  of  Delegates.  22. — Balloting  for  a  Candidate, 
23. — Seceders'  Convention,  24. — Adjourned  Democratic  Convention  in  Baltimore,  25. — Another  Secession, 
26.— Nomination  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the  Presidency,  27.— Nomination  of  .John  C.  Breckinridne  for 
the  Presidency,  28.— National  Constitutional  Union  Convention.  29.— Nomination  of  John  Bell  for  the 
Presidency,  80. — Republican  Convention,  81. — Nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for  the  Presidency,  82. — The 
Four  Parties,  88,— The  Contest,  and  Election  of  Lincoln,  34. 

CHAPTER   II. 

PRELIMINARY    REBEI.LIOVS    MOVEMENTS. 

The  Votes  at  the  Election,  36.— Incendiary  Work  of  Politicians,  87.— The  Press  and  the  Pulpit,  3*.— Designs  of 
the  Oligarchy,  89.— Firing  -the  Southern  Heart "— .John  C.  Calhoun,  41.— Virginia  Politicians.  42.— Con 
spirators  in  Buchanan's  Cabinet,  43. — Rebellious  Movements  in  South  Carolina.  46. — Resignation  of  National 
Ollicers,  4S.— Rejoicings  in  Charleston  and  Columbia— Excitement  in  Slave-labor  States.  49.— Secession  in 
the  South  Carolina  Legislature.  50. — Secession  Movements  in  Georgia,  51. — Union  Speech  of  Alexander  II. 
Stephens,  58.— The  Political  Advantages  enjoyed  by  the  Southern  States,  57.— Proceedings  of  the  Georgia 
Legislature,  5a— Secession  in  Mississippi,  59.— Secession  in  Alabama  and  Florida,  60.— Proceedings  in 
Louisiana,  61. — Attitude  of  Texas  and  North  Carolina,  62. — Disunion  long  contemplated,  63. 

CHAPTER   III. 

ASSEMBLING   OF   CONGRESS. — THE    PRESIDENT'S    MESSAGE. 

Meeting  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Congress,  64. — President  Buchanan's  Message,  65.— The  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  67. — 
Personal  Liberty  Acts,  6S.— Opinion  of  Attorney-General  Black,  70.— Secession  impossible,  71.— The  Presi 
dent's  Indecision  and  Recommendations — Denunciations  of  the  Message.  73. — Disappointment  of  the  People, 
74. — Movements  of  the  Clergy — Warnings  of  General  Scott,  75. — General  Wool's  Letter  to  General  Cass,  76. 
— Resignation  of  Cass — Fast-Day  proclaimed,  77.— Clingman's  Treasonable  Speech  in  the  Senate,  7S. — Crit- 
tenden's  Rebuke — Hale's  Defiance,  and  the  Anger  of  the  Conspirators,  79. — Iverson's  Treasonable  Speech 
in  the  Senate,  80.— Speeches  of  Senators  Davis  and  Wigfall,  81.— Cotton  proclaimed  Kfiig,  82.— The  Cotton 
"  Kingdom,"  88.— Wigfall's  insolent  Harangue,  84. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

SEDITIOUS   MOVEMENTS    IN    CONGRESS. — SECESSION  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA,  A*D  ITS  EFFECTS. 

Conduct  of  Southern  Representatives  in  Congress — Committee  of  Thirty-three,  S6. — Amendments  to  the  Con- 
stituti<vi  proposed,  87. — The  "Crittenden  Compromise,"  ^9. — Temper  and  Wishes  of  the  South  Carolina 
Politicians,  91. — Earlier  Secession  Movements.  92. — Memminger  on  a  Revolutionary  Mission  to  Virginia — 
Why  Virginians  hesitated,  94.— Power  of  the  Politicians  in  South  Carolina.  95. — R.  Barnwell  Rhett  and  his 
Incendiary  Speech,  96. — Appeals  to  the  Passions  of  the  People — Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  invited  to 
resign,  97.— A  Gala  Day  in  Charleston— Secession  foreordained,  9S.— Assembling  of  the  South  Carolina 


8  CONTENTS. 

Secession  Convention,  100. — Reassembling  in  Charleston,  101. — Proceedings  of  the  Convention,  102. — Re 
joicings  in  Charleston,  104. — Signing  of  the  Ordinance,  106. — Commissioners  to  Washington  appointed,  109. 
— Addresses  and  Declaration,  109-110. — The  Nationality  of  South  Carolina  proclaimed,  111. — Rejoicings 
because  of  the  Revolutionary  Act  at  Charleston,  113. — Impressions  in  the  Free-labor  States,  114. — Financial 
Condition  of  the  Country,  115. 

CHAPTER  V. 

EVENTS   IN   OHAELESTON   AND    CHAELESTON   HARBOR   IN   DECEMBER,    1860. THE   CON 
SPIRATORS   ENCOURAGED    BY    THE    GOVERNMENT   POLICY. 

Fortifications  in  Charleston  Harbor,  117.— Major  Anderson  takes  Command  and  warns  the  Government,  118.— 
Treason  in  the  War  Department— Alarm  of  the  Conspirators  in  Congress,  120.— The  Conspirators  supplied 
with  Arms,  121.— Military  Preparations  in  Charleston,  124.— The  Government  deaf  to  Warnings  arid  Sugges 
tions  of  Anderson  and  Scott,  125. — Seizure  of  Fort  Monroe  contemplated,  126. — Disruption  of  Buchanan's 
Cabinet,  127.— Anderson  and  his  Garrison  leave  Fort  Moultrie  and  occupy  Fort  Sumter,  129.— Raising  of  the 
Flag  over  Sumter,  130.— Rage  of  the  Conspirators— Joy  of  the  Loyalists,  131.— Mrs.  Anderson's  Journey  to 
Fort  Sumter  and  back,  133.— Preparations  to  attack  Fort  Sumter,  136!— Seizure  of  Forts  in  Charleston 
Harbor,  137.— Seizure  of  the  Custom  House  and  Post-Office,  139. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AFFAIRS   AT   THE   NATIONAL    CAPITAL. — WAR    COMMENCED    IN    CHARLESTON   HARBOR. 

Excitement  throughout  the  Country— Withdrawal  of  South  Carolina  Representatives  from  Congress,  140.— 
Action  of  New  York  Representatives,  141. — State  of  Feeling  in  Washington  City,  142. — Intentions  of  the 
Conspirators,  143.— Robbery  of  the  Indian  Trust-Funds,  144.— Resignation  of  Secretary  Floyd— Cabinet 
Changes,  146. — South  Carolina  Commissioners  in  Washington,  147. — Their  Correspondence  with  the  Presi 
dent,  148. — The  President  on  New  Year's  Day,  151. — Departure  of  the  Commissioners — Preparations  to  re- 
enforce  Fort  Sumter,  152. — Expedition  of  the  Star  of  the  West,  153. — Preparations  to  attack  Fort  Sumter — 
The  Seizure  of  National  Forts  recommended,  154.— Approach  of  the  Star  of  the  West,  155.— She  is  driven 
from  Charleston  Harbor,  156.— Boastings  and  Sufferings  of  the  Conspirators,  158.— Correspondence  between 
Major  Anderson  and  Governor  Pickens,  159.— The  Surrender  of  Fort  Sumter  demanded  and  refused,  160. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SECESSION    CONVENTIONS   IN   SIX   STATES. 

Minute-Men—Seizure  of  Forts  in  North  Carolina,  161.— Secession  Movements  in  Mississippi,  162.— Secession 
Convention,  163. — Blockade  of  the  Mississippi  at  Vicksburg — Preparations  for  War,  164. — Secession  Con. 
vention  in  Florida,  165. — Preparations  to  seize  Fort  Pickens,  166. — Occupation  of  Fort  Pickens  by  Lieu 
tenant  Slemmer  167. — Pensacola  Navy  Yard  surrendered,  169. — Seizure  of  Chattahoochie  Arsenal,  170. — 
Demand  for  the  Surrender  of  Fort  Pickens,  171. — Secession  Convention  in  Alabama,  172. — Opposition  to 
Secession,  173. — Rejoicings  in  Mobile — Seizure  of  Forts  Morgan  and  Gaines,  175. — Work  of  Conspirators  in 
Georgia — Treasonable  Movements  in  Washington  City,  176. — Toombs  urges  the  Georgians  to  rebel — Anxiety 
of  Professed  Unionists,  177. — Secession  Convention  in  Georgia,  178. — Seizure  of  Fort  Pulaski,  179. — Position 
of  Louisiana — Doings  of  her  Disloyal  Politicians,  ISO. — Seizure  of  Forts,  and  Baton  Rouge  Arsenal,  181. — 
The  Marine  Hospital  seized— Secession  Convention,  182.— Slidell's  Seditious  Letter,  183.— Pelican  Flag 
blessed,  184. — Secretary  Dix's  Order  to  shoot  any  one  who  should  attempt  to  haul  down  the  American 
Flag— Seizure  of  the  Mint,  185.— State  of  Public  Feeling  in  Texas,  186.— Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle- 
Loyal  Action  of  Governor  Houston,  187. — Secession  Convention  in  Texas — Committee  of  Safety,  1SS. — The 
Governor  and  the  Secessionists  at  War,  189. — Houston's  Patriotism  overcome,  190. — The  Powers  of  the 
People  usurped,  191. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
/ 

ATTITUDE    OF   THE   BORDER    SLAVE-LABOR    STATES,    AND    OF    THE   FREE-LABOR    STATES. 

Emissaries  of  the  Conspirators  at  Work,  192. — The  Virginia  Legislature,  193. — A  Peace  Convention  proposed— 
Attitude  of  Virginia — Virginia  Conspirators  in  Congress — Position  of  Maryland,  195. — Action  of  Governor 
Hicks,  196. — He  is  denounced  as  a  "Traitor  to  the  South,"  197. — Loyal  Action  of  Delaware  and  North  Caro 
lina—The  Latter  sympathizes  with  the  Slave-labor  States,  198.— Disloyal  Action  of  the  Governor  of  Ten 
nessee — The  People  overwhelmingly  for  the  Union — Position  of  Kentucky,  199. — Convention  of  Union 
and  Douglas  Men — Action  of  the  Legislature — Attitude  of  Missouri,  200. — Treason  of  Governor  Jackson — 
Arkansas  resists  Secession,  201. — Loyal  Attitude  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  202. — Action  of  Rhode 


CONTENTS.  9 

Island— Patriotic  Resolutions  in  the  New  York  Legislature,  204.— The  Secession  of  the  City  of  New  York 
propused  by  its  Mayor,  205. — Alarm  in  Commercial  Circles — Meetings  in  New  York,  '206. — Democratic 
Convention  at  Albany — w  American  Society  for  Promoting  National  Union,"  207. — Action  in  New  Jersey, 
203.  —Great  Meeting  in  Philadelphia,  209.— Action  of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  210.— Patriotic  Attitude 
of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  211. — Patriotic  Proceedings  in  Michigan  and  Illinois,  212. — Wisconsin  and  Iowa  pledge 
their  Aid  to  the  Government,  213. — Minnesota  true  to  the  Union,  214. — Encouragement  for  the  Conspira 
tors,  215. 

CHAPTER   IX. 

PROCEEDINGS   IN    CONGRESS. — DEPARTURE    OF    CONSPIRATORS. 

Line  between  Loyalists  and  Disloyalists  distinctly  drawn — Conspirators  in  Congress,  216. — The  Conspiracy 
revealed  by  a  "Southern  Man,"  217. — The  People  alarmed — Unsatisfactory  Message  from  President 
Buchanan,  218. — Position  of  the  President — General  Wool's  Warning — Firmness  of  the  Union  Men  in  Con 
gress,  219. — .Jefferson  Davis' s  Proposition  to  amend  the  Constitution,  220. — Useless  Labors  of  the  two  great 
Committees — Senator  Clark's  Proposition — Conspirators  determined  on  Disunion,  221. — Action  of  the  Senate 
Committee  of  Thirteen— Of  the  House  Committee  of  Thirty-three.  222.— Debates  on  Crittenden's  Proposi 
tions — Toombs  declares  himself  a  Rebel,  224.— Hunter's  Propositions,  225.— Seward's  Position  defined— 
Union  Speeches,  226-227.— Final  Action  on  the  Crittenden  Compromise— Withdrawal  of  Disloyal  Senators, 
228.— Seizure  of  Arms  in  New  York,  230.— Slidell's  last  Speech  in  the  Senate,  281.— Senator  Benjamin's 
last  Speech  in  Congress,  232.— Disloyal  Representatives  leaving  Congress— Conciliatory  Action  of  the  Union 
Members,  233.— C.  F.  Adams's  Resolution,  234. 

CHAPTER   X. 

PEACE    MOVEMENTS. — CONVENTION    OF    CONSPIRATORS    AT    MONTGOMERY. 

Assembling  of  the  Peace  Convention  at  Washington  City,  235.— Sincerity  of  the  Virginia  Politicians  suspected 
— Instructions  to  Massachusetts  and  New  York  Delegates,  236. — Other  Delegates  instructed — John  Tyler 
President  of  the  Convention,  237.— Mr.  Gutbrie's  Report,  288.— Other  Propositions,  289.— Adoption  of 
Guthrie's  RejMirt,  240.— Reverdy  Johnson's  Resolution — Proposed  Articles  of  Amendment,  241. — Action  of 
Congress  on  Compromises,  242. — The  People  and  the  Failure  of  the  Peace  Conference,  243. — Tyler's 
Treachery— General  Scott's  Desire  for  Peace  indicated,  244. —  His  Letter  to  Mr.  Se ward — Professor  Morse's 
Plan  for  Reconciliation.  245.— Meeting  of  Conspirators  at  Montgomery.  248.— Policy  of  South  Carolinians — 
A  Confederacy  of  "Seceded"  States  proposed,  250. —  A  Provisional  Constitution  adopted.  251. — South 
Carolinians  rebellious — Jefferson  Davis  elected  "  President,"  and  Alexander  II.  Stephens  "  Vice-President" 
of  the  Confederacy,  252. — Stephens' s  Speeches' — Committees  appointed.  253. — Action  of  the  Convention 
concerning  a  Flag  for  the  "Confederacy,"  254. — First  Assumption  of  Sovereignty — South  Carolinian*- 
offended.  256. — Davis  journeys  to  Montgomery — His  Reception  ami  Inauguration,  257. — Davis's  Cabinet, 
258.— Sketch  of  Davis  and  Stephens,  259.— "  Confederate  "  Commissioners  Bent  to  Europe— Stephens  ex 
pounds  the  Principles  of  the  New  "  Government,"  260. 

CHAPTER    XI. 

THE    MONTGOMERY    CONVENTION. — THKASON    OF    GENERAL    TWIGGS. LINCOLN    AND 

BUCHANAN    AT    THE    CAPITAL. 

Arrogance  and  Folly  of  the  Cynspirators  illustrated,  262 —Financial  Schemes  of  the  Conspirators— Reliance  on 
Cotton — Permanent  Constitution  adopted.  263. — Its  Character — Assumption  of  Power  and  Sovereignty,  264, 
— Treason  of  General  Twiggs  in  Texas.  265. — Surrender  of  National  Troops  and  Forts  to  the  Insurgents, 
267.— Twiggs  degraded  and  honored— Bad  Faith  of  the  Insurgents.  268.— Scenes  at  San  Antonio.  269.— Forts 
surrendered.  270. — Earl  Van  Dorn  in  Texas,  271. — National  Troops  under  Sibley  made  Prisoners — Capture 
of  the  Stitr  of  the  H>*/,  272. — Troops  under  Reese  made  Prisoners — Texas  a  Part  of  the  Confederacy — Tho 
Confederate  Constitution  and  the  Secession  Conventions.  273. — How  the  People  were  misled  and  betrayed 
—The  Spirit  of  Jefferson  Davis— Abraham  Lincoln,  274.— Mr.  Lincoln's  Departure  for  Washington  City, 
275.— His  Journey  and  short  Speeches,  276.— Conspiracy  against  his  Life.  27S.— His  Narrative  of  his  Journey 
from  Philadelphia  to  Washington.  279.— The  Conspiracy  in  Baltimore,  2S1.— Lincoln  at  the  Capital,  2S2.— 
Commissioner  from  South  Carolina,  2^3.— Secretary  Holt's  Letter,  284.— How  the  President's  Resolution 
was  strengthened,  285.— Commissioner  from  Alabama,  286. 

CHAPTER    XII. 

THE    INAUGURATION   OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN,    AND    THE   IDEAS   AND    POLICY    OF   THE 

GOVERNMENT. 

Military  Preparations  for  the  Inauguration,  2S7. — The  Inauguration,  2S9. — Lincoln's  Inaugural  Address,  290. — 
The  Inauguration  Ball,  294.— Cabinet  Ministers  appointed,  295.— Opinions  of  the  President's  Inaugural 
Address,  296. — Financial  Condition  of  the  Government,  297. — The  Army — Forts  and  Arsenals  seized  by  the 


10  CONTENTS. 

Insurgents,  298.— The  Navy,  299.— Purging  of  the  Public  Offices  of  Disloyal  Men— "Confederate"  Com- 
missioners  at  Washington,  300. — The  Secretary  of  State  refuses  to  acknowledge  them — His  "  Memorandum.'11 
801. — The  Theory  of  the  Government  and  the  Insurrection— A  Go-between,  302. — The  "Commissioners' * 
final  Letter,  803.— Judge  Campbell's  Letter,  304.— Its  Use  and  Effect,  365.— Secret  History  concerning  the 
attempt  to  re-enforce  and  relieve  the  Garrison  in  Fort  Sumter,  306. 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE   SIEGE    AND    EVACUATION    OF   FORT    SUMTER. 

Determination  of  South  Carolinians  to  have  Possession  of  Fort  Sumter — Military  Preparations  to  that  End,  310. 
— Floating  Battery  at  Charleston,  312. — Trying  Position  of  Major  Anderson — Anderson  expected  to  leave 
Fort  Sumter — His  Appeals  to  his  Government,  314. — Communication  with  Charleston  cut  off — The  Crisis, 
315. — Virginia  Traitors  in  Charleston — Pryor's  Speech,  316. — Beauregard  demands  the  Surrender  of  Fort 
Sumter,  317. — Belief  Squadron  off  Charleston  Bar,  319. — Thunder-storm — Fort  Sumter  attacked,  320. — The 
Garrison  in  Sumter,  321. — The  Fire  of  the  Insurgents  answered,  322. — The  Relief  Squadron  seen  in  the 
Storm,  323. — Effects  of  the  Bombardment  on  Fort  Sumter — Second  Day  of  the  Siege,  824. — The  Fort  on 
fire,  325.— The  Flag  shot  away  and  replaced— Wigfall  at  the  Fort,  326.— Agreement  to  evacuate  the  Fort, 
828.— The  Defenders  of  Fort  Sumter,  329.— Eejoicings  in  Charleston— The  Old  Flag  saluted,  330.— Evacua 
tion  of  Fort  Sumter,  331.— Honors  to  Major  Anderson,  332.— The  Sumter  Medals,  333. 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE    GREAT   UPRISING   OF   THE    PEOPLE. 

Excitement  throughout  the  Country,  335. — The  President  calls  for  Troops  to  put  down  the  Insurrection — 
Extraordinary  Session  of  Congress  called,  336. — Requisition  of  the  Secretary  of  War — Replies  of  Disloyal 
Governors,  337. — Some  Newspapers  on  the  Call  for  Troops,  338. — The  "Conservatives" — The  Conspirators 
at  Montgomery,  339. — Utterances  of  the  Disloyal  Press,  341. — How  a  "  United  South  "  was  produced — 
Boastings  of  the  Loyal  Press,  342.— Providence  favors  both  Sides— Flags  and  Letter  Envelopes  attest  the 
Loyalty  of  the  People,  343.— Uprising  in  the  Slave-labor  States— The  Writer  in  New  Orleans,  344.— Excite 
ment  in  New  Orleans,  345. — "On  to  Fort  Pickens!" — A  Sunday  in  New  Orleans,  346. — Effects  of  the  Presi 
dent's  Proclamation — Unionists  silenced,  347. — Journey  Northward — Experiences  in  Mississippi  and  Ten 
nessee,  348.— Treason  of  General  Pillow,  349.— Alarming  Rumors,  350.— First  Glad  Tidings— Conspirators  in 
Council,  351. — Scenes  on  a  Journey  through  Indiana,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey,  352. — Attitude 
of  New  York  City,  354. — Great  War  Meeting  at  Union  Square,  New  York,  355. — Speeches  of  Representative 
Democrats  elsewhere,  357. — Impressions  of  an  Intelligent  Englishman  among  the  Citizens  of  New  York. 
858.— Resolutions  of  the  Great  Meeting,  360. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

SIEGE    OF    FORT     PICKENS. — DECLARATION    OF   WAR. — THE    VIRGINIA    CONSPIRATORS,    AND 
THE    PROPOSED    CAPTURE    OF    WASHINGTON    CITY. 

The  Florida  Forts,  361.— Affairs  at  Key  West,  362.— The  Secessionists  watched— Forts  Jefferson  and  Taylor  re- 
enforced,  363. — Siege  of  Fort  Pickens — Hesitation  of  the  Government,  364. — Orders  to  re-enforce  Fort 
Pickens,  365. — Lieutenant  Worden  sent  to  Pensacola,  366. — A  Loyal  Spy,  367. — Fort  Pickens  re-enforced, 
368.— Imprisonment  of  Worden — Colonel  Brown  relieves  Lieutenant  Slemmer,  369. — Honors  to  the  De 
fenders  of  Fort  Pickens,  370.— Jefferson  Davis  authorizes  Piracy,  371.— The  President's  Proclamation  con 
cerning  Pirates — Action  of  the  "  Confederate  "  Congress,  372. — The  "  Confederate  "  Navy,  373. — Treachery 
of  Professed  Unionists,  374. — Convention  of  Virginia  Secessionists,  375. — Virginia  Commissioners  in  Wash 
ington,  376. — How  the  Virginia  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed,  377. — The  Richmond  Secessionists 
jubilant,  378.— Alexander  H.  Stephens  in  Richmond— The  Seizure  of  Washington  the  chief  Object  of  the 
Conspirators,  379.— The  Offenders  wish  to  "  Be  let  Alone,"  381. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

SECESSION     OF    VIRGINIA     AND     NORTH     CAROLINA     DECLARED. SEIZURE     OF    HARPER?S 

FERRY     AND     GOSPORT    NAVY    YARD. THE     FIRST     TROOPS     IN    WASHINGTON    FOR    ITS 

DEFENSE. 

A.  H.  Stephens  in  the  Virginia  Convention,  382.— Military  League  with  the  Conspirators  at  Montgomery,  383. 
— The  People  at  an  Election  awed  by  Bayonets — Senator  Mason's  Letter,  384. — North  Carolina  ruled  by 
Usurpers — Ordinance  of  Secession  adopted,  385. — Seizure  of  the  Arsenal  at  Fayetteville — Mischievous 
Work  begins  in  Tennessee,  386.— Tennessee  leagued  with  the  "  Confederacy,"  387.— Usurpation  and  Fraud 
in  Tennessee,  388.— Designs  against  Harper's  Ferry,  390.— Destruction  at  Harper's  Ferry,  391.— The  Navy 
Yard  and  Vessels  at  Gosport,  392.— Effect  of  Treachery  and  Weakness,  394.— Admiral  Paulding— Stormy 


CONTENTS.  11 

Events  at  Norfolk,  895. — Burning  of  the  Gosport  Navy  Yard,  396. — Advantages  pained  by  the  Insurgents, 
898.— False  Pretenses  of  the  Conspirators.  399.— Secessionists  in  Washington.  400.— Massachusetts  Troops 
called  for,  401.— Response  of  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  402.— Arming  in  Connecticut  and  New  Jer 
sey,  40a— Pennsylvania^  marching  for  the  Capital,  404.— Riotous  Movements  in  Baltimore,  405.— The  First 
Defenders  of  the  Capital,  406. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

EVENTS  IN  AND  NEAP.  THE  NATIONAL  CAPITAL. 

The  Conspirators  alarmed  by  the  Loyalty  of  the  People,  409.— Attack  on  Massachusetts  Troops  in  Baltimore, 
411-413.— Pennsylvania  Troops  attacked,  414.— The  Mob  triumphant.  415.— Attitude  of  the  Public  Authori 
ties,  41 C. — Destruction  of  Railway  Bridges  authorized  and  executed,  417. — Connection  with  the  Capital  cut 
off— The  first  Mail  through  Baltimore,  41 S.— Degrading  Proposition  to  the  Government  rebuked,  419.— 
The  President  and  Baltimore  Embassies — Defection  of  Army  Officers,  420. — Resignation  of  Colonel  Lee 
421. — His  Inducements  to  bo  loyal,  422. — Arlington  House  and  its  Surroundings — Designs  against  Wash 
ington  City,  428.— Preparations  to  defend  the  Capital— "Cassius  M.  Clay  Guard."  424.— The  Massacre  in 
Baltimore — The  Martyrs  on  that  Occasion  honored.  426. — Their  Funeral  and  Monument,  427. — The  Honor 
of  Maryland  vindicated— New  York  aroused,  423.— The  Union  Defense  Committee  and  its  Work,  429.— 
Active  and  Patriotic  Labors  of  General  Wool,  430.— The  Government  and  General  Wool— His  Services 
applauded,  43L 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    CAPITAL   SECURED. MARYLAND     SECESSIONISTS    SUBDUED. CONTRIBUTIONS    BY    THK 

PEOPLE. 

Departure  of  the  New  York  Seventh  Regiment,  483.— Troops  under  General  Butler— Spirit  of  the  People,  434. 
—Butler's  Expedition  to  Maryland,  435.— Frigate  (Constitution  saved,  436.— National  Troops  at  Annapolis, 
487.— Preparations  to  march  through  Maryland,  43S.— The  March  to  Annapolis  Junction,  439.— The  New 
York  Seventh  in  Washington — Winan.s's  Steam-Gun,  440. — Exasperation  against  Baltimore.  441. — Plans  of 
Scott  and  Butler  against  Baltimore.  442. — Opjio.sing  Forces  in  Maryland,  443. — Loyal  Troops  pass  through 
Baltimore,  445. — Butler's  Descent  on  Baltimore,  446. — Butler's  Proclamation,  447. — Butler  recalled  from 
Baltimore,  44S. — Exercise  of  War  Powers  by  the  President — The  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  449. — Imprison 
ment  of  alleged  Disloyalists,  450.— Movements  in  the  National  Capital,  452.— Preparations  of  the  Conspira 
tors  for  War — Darkening  of  Light-houses,  453. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

EVENTS    IN   THE    MISSISSIPPI    VALLEY. — THE   INDIANS. 

Ohio  prepares  for  War,  454.— Indiana  makes  ready  for  the  Conflict,  455.— Illinois  vigilant  and  active,  456.— Last 
Public  Services  of  Senator  Douglas,  457.— Michigan  ready— Position  of  the  Kentuckians,  458.— Buckner 
and  the  State  Guard — His  Treason,  459. — Effects  of  Conditional  Unionism.  460. — Missouri  State  Conven 
tion,  461.— The  Convention  and  the  Legislature.  4G3.— Treason  of  Military  and  Civil  Officers.  464.— Union 
Organizations  in  St.  Louis.  466. — An  Insurgent  Camp  at  St.  Louis.  467. — Capture  of -Camp  Jackson.  46S. — 
General  Harney,  469. — An  Armistice  agreed  upon — Generals  Lyon  and  Price,  470. — The  Militia  of  Missouri 
called  out,  471. —Cairo  fortified  and  garrisoned— Its  Importance,  472.— Secession  Convention  in  Arkansas, 
478. — Fraud  and  Violence,  474. — Rebel  Emissaries  among  the  Indians,  475. — John  Ross — Indian  Loyalists 
overpowered,  476. — Ross  and  the  Secessionists,  477. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

COMMENCEMENT    OF    CIVIL    WAR. 

Uprising  of  the  Southern  People,  47S.— Character  of  the  early  Volunteers,  479.— The  Insurgents  on  Arlington 
Hights— Invasion  of  Virginia  by  National  Troops.  4SO.— Military  Occupation  of  Alexandria,  4S2.— Death 
and  Funeral  of  Colonel  Ellsworth,  4s3. — First  Fortifications  erected  near  Washington,  4S4. — The  Troops  in 
Virginia— Mount  Vernon, 485.— Attack  on  Sewcll's  Point.  4>6.— Attack  on  Acquia  Creek  Batteries.  4>7.— 
Dash  into  Fairfax  Court  House — The  Unionists  in  Western  Virginia,  4v*. — Union  Convention  at  Wheeling 
— Alarm  of  the  Conspirators,  489. — Government  of  Virginia  reorganized,  491. — State  of  West  Virginia,  492. 
— Troops  ordered  to  Western  Virginia,  493. — Insurgents  in  Western  Virginia,  494. — March  against  the  In 
surgents  at  Philippi,  495.— Battle  of  Philippi,  496.— Union  Troops  at  Grafton,  497. 


12  CONTENTS.  r 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

BEGINNING    OF    THE    WAR   IN    SOUTHEASTERN   VIRGINIA. 

General  Butler  at  Fortress  Monroe,  498. — Movements  of  Troops  near  Fortress  Monroe,  500. — Slaves  pronounced 
Contraband  of  War— Newport-lire  wee  fortified.  501. — Attack  on  Pig  Point  Battery — The  Troops  at  Camp 
Hamilton.  502.— The  Insurgents  on  the  Peninsula,  503.— Expedition  to  Big  and  Little  Bethel,  504.— The 
Insurgent  Post  at  Big  Bethel,  506.— Battle  at  Big  Bethel,  507.— Death  of  Major  Winthrop,  508.— Death  of 
Lieutenant  Greble,  509.— Effect  of  the  Battle  of  Big  Bethel— Officers  censured,  510.— A  censured  Officer 
justified,  511. — The  Desolation  of  Hampton,  512. — Big  Bethel  Battle-ground  visited.  513. — Hampton  and 
Vicinity,  514. — Incidents  at  Hampton,  515. — The  Eleventh  Indiana  Regiment,  516. — Expedition  to  Eomney 
planned,  517. — Skirmish  at  Romney  Bridge,  518. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE   WAR   ON   THE    POTOMAC    AND    IN   WESTERN   VIRGINIA. 

Insurgents  at  Harper's  Ferry,  519. — Union  Troops  advancing  on  Harper's  Ferry,  520. — Evacuation  of  Harper's 
Ferry — Generals  Scott  and  Patterson,  521. — Patterson  crosses  into  Virginia — He  withdraws,  522. — Dangers 
hanging  over  the  Capital — A  Gunpowder  Plot  considered — Patterson's  Plan,  523. — Battle  at  Falling  "Waters, 
524. — Union  Troops  at  Martinsburg — The  Insurgents  near  Washington,  525. — A  Skirmish  at  Vienna,  526. — 
Insurgents  at  Matthias  Point,  527.— Skirmish  at  Matthias  Point— Death,  of  Captain  Ward— Torpedo,  528.— 
Events  in  the  Vicinity  of  Cumberland,  529.— Exploits  of  Indiana  Troops,  530.— McClellan  in  Western  Vir 
ginia — Expedition  against  the  Insurgents,  531. — Battle  of  Eich  Mountain — Flight  and  Pursuit  of  the  In 
surgents,  533.— Battle  at  Carriers  Ford,  534.— General  McClellau's  Dispatches,  535.— Union  Triumph  in 
Western  Virginia,  536.— Events  in  the  Kanawha  Valley,  537. 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE  WAR  IN   MISSOURI. DOINGS    OF    THE    CONFEDERATE 

TIMORE. PIRACIES. 

treasonable  Work  in  Missouri,  538.— Bird's  Point  fortified— Generals  Pillow,  Polk,  and  Pope,  539.— General 
Lyon's  Expedition  to  the  Interior  of  Missouri,  540. — Battle  near  Booneville,  541. — Governor  Jackson 
gathering  Insurgents— Major  Sturgis  in  pursuit  of  them,  542.— Condition  of  Affairs  in  Missouri— Commo 
tion  everywhere,  543.— Character  of  the  Eebellion— Acts  of  the  Confederate  "  Congress,"  544.— Financial 
Schemes  of  the  Confederates,  545. — Origin  and  Character  of  the  Cotton  Loan,  546. — Retaliatory  Acts — The 
Conspirators'  Head-Quarters  transferred  to  Richmond,  547. — Davis's  Journey  to  Richmond,  548. — Davis's 
Speech  and  Residence  at  Richmond,  549. — Beauregard's  infamous  Proclamation,  550. — Disloyalty  in  Mary 
land,  551. — Martial  Law  in  Baltimore — Arrest  of  Marshal  Kane — The  Police  Commissioners,  552. — Colonel 
Kenly — Arms  secreted — Arrest  and  Imprisonment  of  Police  Commissioners,  553. — Disloyal  Marylanders 
in  Richmond — Flag  Presentation,  554. — Pirates  on  the  Chesapeake,  555. — Piratical  Operations  on  the  Ocean, 
556. — Capture  of  the  Savannah,  557. — Capture  and  Destruction  of  the  Petrel — Increase  of  the  National 
Navy— Iron-clad  Vessels  of  War,  559.— Wants  of  the  Navy  supplied,  560. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE    CALLED    SESSION    OF    CONGRESS. — FOREIGN   RELATIONS. — BENEVOLENT    ORGANIZA 
TIONS. THE     OPPOSING    ARMIES. 

Congress  and  its  Duties,  561. — Organization  of  the  House — The  President's  Message,  562. — Reports  of  the 
Cabinet  Ministers,  564. — Importance  of  prompt  Action — Foreign  Affairs,  565. — Erroneous  Opinions  abroad 
— Instructions  to  Ministers,  566. — Relations  with  Great  Britain,  567. — The  Duty  and  Interest  of  Great 
Britain,  568.— The  Queen's  Proclamation  of  Neutrality,  569.— Attitude  of  Continental  Sovereigns,  570.— War 
Measures  in  Congress — Opposers  of  the  War  Measures,  571. — Loan  Bill  passed — Expulsion  of  Disloyal 
Members,  572.— Peace  Propositions— Crittenden's  Joint  Resolution,  573. — The  Army  and  the  People— 
"Forward  to  Richmond!"  574.— Benevolent  Organizations,  575.— Noble  Work  of  a  Woman— Benevolent 
Women  in  Philadelphia,  576.— Philadelphia  Refreshment  Saloons,  577.— Firemen's  Ambulance  System— 
The  Union  Army  near  Washington  City,  579.— Position  of  the  Union  Forces,  581.— Position  of  the  Con 
federate  Forces,  582.— The  Army  of  the  Shenandoah,  583. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

BATTLE    OF   BULL'S    RUN. 

Composition  of  the  opposing  Armies,  584-585. — Movements  of  the  National  Troops  on  Fairfax  Court  House, 
586.— The  Troops  at  Centreville,  587.— Skirmish  at  Blackburn's  Ford,  588.— Plans  of  Attack  by  each  Party, 
690.— Beauregard  re-enforced  by  Johnston,  591.— The  forward  Movement,  592.— The  Battle  of  Bull's  Run 
in  the  Morning,  593.— Battle  in  the  Afternoon,  598.— The  Confederates  re-enforced,  601.— Flight  of  the 
National  Army,  603.— The  Retreat  to  the  Defenses  of  Washington,  606.— The  immediate  Result  of  the 
Battle,  607. 


VOLUME    I. 


PAGE 

THE    PRESIDENT   A.XD  CABINET  IN   SESSION —          89. 
STEEL  PLATE      .       .       .       .         FRONTISPIECE    40. 

INITIAL  LETTER 8    41. 

CONTENTS.     You  1 7    42. 

ILLUSTRATIONS.     VOL.  1 18    43. 

INITIAL  LETTER 17    44. 

VIEW  OF  CHARLESTON  IN  I860  .  .  .  .18145. 
THE  SOUTH  CAROLINA  INSTITUTE  .  .  .19  46. 
PORTRAIT  OF  CALEB  CUSHINQ  .  .  .  .  20  j  47. 

ST.  ANDREW'S  HALL 28    48. 

METROPOLITAN  HALL 25  j  49. 

FRONT  STREET  THEATER  IN  BALTIMORE  .  26 '  80. 
THE  MARYLAND  INSTITUTE  IN  18»1<>  .  .  .  2T  M. 
THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  BALTIMORE  29  62. 
PORTRAIT  OF  WASHINGTON  HUNT  .  .  .  80  68. 
WIGWAM  AT  CHICAGO  IN  1860  .  .  .  .  81  64. 

PRESIDENT'S  CHAIR 81  i  55. 

PORTRAIT  OF  GEORGE  ARHMUM  .  .  .  .82(56. 
TAIL-PIECE — GROUP  OF  BANNERS  .  .  .  85 1  57. 

INITIAL  LETTER 86 

PORTRAIT  OF  WM.  G.  BROWNLOW     .        .        .88 
PORTRAIT  OF  WM.  L.  YANCKY    .       .        .        .41    M». 
PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  C.  CALHOUM        .        .        .    42    60. 
PORTRAIT  OF  HENRY  A.  WISE   .        .        .        .431 
PORTRAIT  OF  HOWELL  COBB       .        .        .       .    44    61. 
PORTRAIT  OF  JACOB  THOMPSON  ....    45 
THE  OLD  STATE  HOUSE  AT  COLUMBIA      .        .    46    62. 
PORTRAIT  OF  EDMUND  RUFFIN  .        .        .        .4^    63. 
PORTRAIT  OF  A.  G.  MAGRATII    .        .     m.        .    49    64. 

PALMETTO  FLAG 49    65. 

SECESSION  COCKADE 50    66. 

PORTRAIT  OF  ROBERT  Too .v its  .  .  .  .  55  67. 
PORTRAIT  OF  ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS  .  .  56  68. 
PORTRAIT  OF  JOSEPH  E.  BROWX  .  .  .  5S  69. 
PORTRAIT  OF  L.  Q.  C.  LAMAR  .  .  .  .59  70. 

INITIAL  LETTER 64    71. 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  C.  BRECKINRIDGE  .  .64  7'2. 
PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN  .  .  .  65  i  73. 
PORTRAIT  OF  LAWRENCE  M.  KEITT  .  .  .  69  i  74. 


PAGE 

PORTRAIT  op  JEREMIAH  S.  BLACK    ...  70 

THE  SENATE  CHAMBER  IN  I860        ...  74 

PORTRAIT  OF  LEWIS  CASS 76 

SEAL  OF  THE  STATE  DEPARTMENT    ...  77 

PORTRAIT  OF  THOMAS  H.  CLINGMAM       .        .  78 

PORTRAIT  OF  ALFRED  I r BESOM        ...  80 

PORTRAIT  OF  Louis  T.  WIGFALL  ...  81 
THE  COTTON  "  KINGDOM"  ... 

TAIL-PIECE— TIIK  COTTON-PLANT     ...  85 

INITIAL  LETTER 86 

HALL  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES    .  87 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  JAY  CRITTENDF.N      .        .  90 

PORTRAIT  OF  CHARLES  G.  MEMMINGF.R    .        .  93 

PORTRAIT  OF  ROBERT  BARNWELL  Riirrr       .  96 

THE  PALMETTO-TREE 97 

STREET  FLAG-STAFF 9S 

PORTRAIT  OF  DAVID  F.  JAMISON      .        .        .  100 

PORTRAIT  OF  WILLIAM  PORCHER  MILES  .  101 
SIGNATURES  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  SECESSION 

ORDINANCE 1^8 

CALHOUN'S    TOMB  ix  CHARLESTON          .        .  104 

SEAL  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA        ....  105 

BANNER  OF  THE    SOUTH    CAROLINA  CONVEN 
TION    .        .        .        .        .                .        .        .  106 

SIGNATURES    OF    COMMITTEE  ON  ADDRESS  TO 

THE  SLAVE-LABOR  STATES      ....  109 

SOUTH  CAROLINA  MEDAL Ill 

BANNER  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA  ....  112 

TAIL-PIECE—  DAGGER 116 

INITIAL  LETTER 117 

CASTLK  PINCKNEY 117 

PLAN  pp  FORT  MOULTRIE  IN  DEC.,  1860  .  117 
SOUTH  VIEW  OF  FORT  MOULTRIE  .  .  .118 
PLAN  OF  FORT  SUMTER  IN  I860  .  .  .113 
PORTRAIT  OF  ROBERT  ANDERSON  .  .  .119 

PORTRAIT  OF  SAMUEL  COOPER          .       .        .  120 

RODMAN  COLUMBIAD           .....  128 

WASHINGTON  LIGHT  INFANTRY        .       .        .  1'24 

PALMETTO  GUARD                                       .        .  124 


14 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


75. 
76. 

77. 

78. 

79. 
80. 
81. 
82. 

83. 
84. 
85. 

86. 
87. 
88. 

89. 

90. 

91. 

92. 

93. 

94. 

95. 
•  96. 

97. 

98. 

99. 
100. 
101. 
102. 
103. 
104. 
105. 
106. 
107. 
108. 
109. 
110. 
111. 
112. 
113. 
114. 
115. 
116. 
117. 
118. 
119. 
120. 
121. 
122. 
123. 
124. 
125. 
126. 
127. 
12$. 
129. 
130. 
131. 
132. 
133. 
134. 
135. 
136. 
137. 


PAGE 

CHARLESTON  RIFLEMEN 125 

MEAGHER  GUARD       ....  •     125 

FORT  SUMTER  IN  I860 128 

COLUMBIAD     ON     THE     PARADE     IN    FORT 

SUMTER 130 

PORTRAIT  OF  PETER  HART  .  .  .  .133 
PORTRAIT  OF  MRS.  ANDERSON  .  .  .  134 
ANDERSON'S  QUARTERS  IN  FORT  SUMTER  .  135 
THE  CITADEL  (MILITARY)  ACADEMY  AT 

CHARLESTON 136 

SAND-BAG  BATTERY  AT  FORT  MOULTRIE  .  138 
OLD  CUSTOM  HOUSE  IN  CHARLESTON  .  .  139 

INITIAL  LETTER 140 

.PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  B.  FLOYD         .        .        .    145 
PORTRAIT  OF  JOSEPH  HOLT     ....    147 

RESIDENCE   OF    SOUTH    CAROLINA   COMMIS 
SIONERS    ........    147 

PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  L.  ORR    ....    148 

SIGNATURES  OF  THE  COMMISSIONERS      .        .    150 
NORTH  FRONT  OF   THE  WHITE  HOUSE          .    151 
THE  STAR  OF  THE  WEST          ....    153 

MAP  OF  CHARLESTON  HARBOR  IN  JAN.,  1861  157 
PORTRAIT  OF  FRANCIS  W.  PICKENS  .  .  159 
TAIL-PIECE— RUINS  IN  CHARLESTON  .  .  160 

INITIAL  LETTER 161 

PORTRAIT  OF  DAVID  L.  YULEE  .  .  .166 
PORTRAIT  OF  ADAM  J.  SLEMMER  .  .  .  167 
FORTS  PICKENS  AND  McREE  .  .  .  .168 
NAVY-YARD  AT  PENSACOLA  ....  169 
A  CASEMATE  IN  FORT  PICKENS  .  .  .170 

FORT  PULASKI 179 

CUSTOM  HOUSE  AT  NEW  ORLEANS  .  .180 
SIGNATURES  OF  MOUTON  AND  WHEAT  .  182 
FAC-SIMILE  OF  A  PART  OF  SLIDELL'S  LETTER  183 

THE  PELICAN  FLAG 184 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  A.  Dix  .  .  .  .185 
THE  MINT  AT  NEW  ORLEANS  .  .  .186 

THK  Dix  MEDAL -186 

PORTRAIT  OF  SAMUEL  HOUSTON  .  .  .  189 
TAIL-PIECE — EGG  OF  SECESSION  .  .  .  191 

INITIAL  LETTER 192 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  LETCIIER  ....  192 
PORTRAIT  OF  R.  M.  T.  HUNTER  .  .  .195 
PORTRAIT  OF  THOMAS  H.  HICKS  .  .  .  197 
PORTRAIT  OF  ISHAM  G.  HARRIS  .  .  .  199 
PORTRAIT  OF  BERIAH  MAGOFFIN  .  *  .  .  200 
PORTRAIT  OF  CLAIBORNE  F.  JACKSON  .  .  201 
PORTRAIT  OF  ISRAEL  WASHBURNE,  JR.  .  .  202 
PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  A.  ANDREW  .  .  .  203 
PORTRAIT  OF  WILLIAM  SPRAGUE  .  .  .  204 
PORTRAIT  OF  EDWIN  D.  MORGAN  .  .  .  205 
VIEW  IN  INDEPENDENCE  SQUARE  .  .  .  209 
PORTRAIT  OF  ANDREW  G.  CURTIN  .  .  210 
PORTRAIT  OF  WILLIAM  DENNISON,  JR.  .  .211 
PORTRAIT  OF  AUSTIN  BLAIR  .  .  .  .212 
PORTRAIT  OF  RICHARD  YATES  .  .  .  212 
PORTRAIT  OF  ALEXANDER  W.  RANDALL  .  213 
PORTRAIT  OF  SAMUEL  J.  KIRKWOOD  .  .  213 
PORTRAIT  OF  ALEXANDER  RAMSAY  4  .  214 
TAIL-PIECE—TREASON  PURSUED  .  .  .215 

INITIAL  LETTER 216 

PORTRAIT  OF  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARI  .  .  225 
PORTRAIT  OF  ANDREW  JOHNSON  .  .  .  226 
PORTRAIT  OF  CLEMENT  C.  CLAY  .  .  .  229 
PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  SLIDELL  ....  231 
PORTRAIT  OF  JUDAH  P.  BENJAMIN  .  .  232 


138.  TAIL-PIECE—GAUNTLET  AND  SWORD      . 

139.  INITIAL  LETTER          ...... 

140.  WILLARD'S  HALL      ...... 

141.  PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  TYLER      .... 

142.  PORTRAIT  OF  REVERDY  JOHNSON    . 

143.  PORTRAIT  OF  WINFIELD  SCOTT        .        . 

144.  NORTHERN  FLAG        ...... 

145.  SOUTHERN  FLAG 

146.  REUNITED  FLAG 

147.  STATE  HOUSE  AT  MONTGOMERY 

148.  PORTRAIT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS      . 

149.  THE  CONSPIRATORS'  FLAG        .... 

150.  THE  "WHITE  HOUSE"  AT  MONTGOMERY 

151.  PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  H.  REAGAN 

152.  TAIL-PIECE—OUTLAW 

153.  INITIAL  LETTER 

154.  "CONFEDERATE''  POSTAGE  STAMP  . 

155.  PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  FORSYTH  . 

156.  PORTRAIT  OF  DAVID  E.  TWIGGS     . 

157.  THE  ALAMO 

158.  PORTRAIT  OF  BEN.  McCuLLOGii      . 

159.  FORT  DAVIS 

160.  POINT  ISABEL,  IN  TEXAS          . 

161.  FORT  ARBUCKLE 

162.  FORT  WACHITA 

163.  FORT  LANCASTER 

164.  FORT  BROWN 

165.  MR.  LINCOLN'S  RESIDENCE  AT  SPRINGFIELD. 

166.  THE  TAYLOR  BUILDING,  BALTIMORE 

167.  PORTRAIT  OF  GEORGE  P.  KANE 

168.  PORTRAIT  OF  ISAAC  W.  HAYNE 

169.  TAIL-PIECE — MARYLAND  AND  THE  CAPITAL. 

170.  INITIAL  LETTER 

171.  SCENE  OF  THE  INAUGURATION         . 

172.  COSTUMES  WORN  AT  THE  INAUGURATION  BALL 

173.  ARSENAL  AT  LITTLE  ROCK       .        .        .        . 

174.  PORTRAIT  OF  ISAAC  TOUCEY    . 

175.  PORTRAIT  OF  MARTIN  J.  CRAWFORD 

176.  PORTRAIT  OF  GUSTAVUS  VASA  Fox 

177.  TAIL-PIECE — RELIEF  SQUADRON 

178.  INITIAL,  LETTER          .        .        .        . 

179.  PORTRAIT  OF  MILLEDGE  L.  BONHAM 

ISO,  IRON-CLAD  BATTERY  ON  MORRIS  ISLAND      . 

181.  PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  SIMONS 

182    FLOATING  BATTERY  AT  CHARLESTON      . 

183.  SNYDER'S  MONUMENT 

184.  PORTRAIT  OF  P.  G.  T.  BEAUREOARD     . 

185.  FAC-SIMILE  OF    A    PART    OF    BEAUREGARD'S 

LETTER  TO  ANDERSON 

186.  PORTRAIT  OF  LE  ROY  POPE  WALKER    . 

187.  ROUND  SHOT  FROM  FORT  SUMTER  . 

188.  EFFECT  OF  CANNON-SHOT  ON  FORT  SUMTER. 

189.  BLAKELY  GUN 

190.  INTERNAL   APPEARANCE    OF    FORT    SUMTER 

AFTER  THE    BOMBARDMENT       . 

191.  RUINS  OF  FORT  SUMTER  IN  1864    . 

192.  GOLD  Box  PRESENTED  TO  ANDERSON    . 

193.  ANDERSON'S  SWORD 

194.  OBVERSE  OF  THE  FIRST  AND  SECOND  CLASS 

SUMTER  MEDALS 

195.  FORT  SUMTER  MEDAL— THIRD  AND    FOURTH 

CLASS 

196.  INITIAL  LETTER 

197.  PORTRAIT  OF  SIMON  CAMERON 

198.  STREET  VIEW  IN  MONTGOMERY  IN  1861 

199.  UNION  ENVELOPE 


AGE 
234 
235 
236 
237 
241 
244 
247 
247 
247 
248 
252 
256 
258 
259 
261 
262 
263 
264 
265 
266 
267 
268 
269 
270 
270 
270 
271 
275 
278 
281 
284 
286 
287 
288 
295 
299 
300 
300 
308 
309 
310 
311 
311 
312 
312 
313 
815 

318 
319 
322 
323 

324 
325 

331 
332 


334 


834 
335 


340 
844 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


15 


200.  WASHINGTON  ARTILLERT         «       . 

201.  LOUISIANA  ZOUAVE 

202.  SECESSION  ROSETTE  AND  BADGE     . 

203.  PORTRAIT  OF  GIDEON  J.  PILLOW    . 

204.  WOOD-CUT  FROM  A  MEMPHIS  NEWSPAPER     . 

205.  STREET  SCENE  IN  CINCINNATI,  IN  APRIL,  1861 

206.  THE  BATTERY,  NEW  YORK.  IN  MAY,  1S61    . 

207.  UNION   SQUARE.  NEW  YORK,  ON  THE  20rn 

OF  APRIL,  1861 

20S.  INITIAL  LETTER 

209.  FORT  JEFFERSON  IN  1S61  ; 

210.  FOKT  TAYLOR  IN  1861 

211.  FORT  McREE  AND  "CONFEDERATE*1  BATTHRY 

212.  THE  SABINB 

213.  FLAG-STAFF  BASTION,  FORT  PICKENS    . 

214.  MAP  OF  PENSACOLA  BAY  AND  VICINITY 

215.  THE  PICKENS  MEDAL 

216.  WILSON'S  ZOUAVES  ....'.. 

217.  THE  LADY  DAVIS 

2ia  PORTRAIT  OF  S.  R.  MALLORY          .        . 

219.  SOUTH  CAROLINA  LIGHT  INFANTRY 

220.  INITIAL  LF.TTKR 

221.  SIGNATURES  OF  COMMISSIONERS      .        .        . 

222.  PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  M.  MASON 

223.  ARSENAL    AT    FAYETTEVILLE,  NORTH   CARO 

LINA          

224.  NORTH  CAROLINA  FLAG 

225.  HARPER'S  FBRBY  IN  MAY,  1861      . 

226.  PORTRAIT  OF  HENRY  PAULDINO 

227.  BURNING  OF  THE  VESSELS   AT   THE  GOSPORT 

NAVY-YARD 

228.  VIEW  or  THE  NAVY-YARD  AFTER  THK  FIRE. 

229.  TEMPORARY  THREE-GUN  BATTERY 
28n.  MAP  OF  NORFOLK  AND  VICINITY    . 
281.  COSTUME  OF  A  REBELLIOUS  WOMAN 

232.  PORTRAIT  OF  BENJAMIN  F.  BUTLER 

233.  RHODE  ISLAND  MARINE  ARTILLERY 

S.'U.  BURNSIDE'H  RIFLEMEN 

235.  PORTRAIT  OF  WILLIAM  A.  BUCKINGHAM 

236.  INITIAL  LF.TTKR 

237.  SIXTH  MASSACHUSETTS  REGIMENT  . 

238.  SCENE  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  FIGHTING  IN  PRATT 

STREET      

239.  THE  PRATT  STREET  BRIDGE     . 

240.  JOHNSON'S  HEAD-QUARTER*    . 

241.  DESTRUCTION   OF  BRIDGE  OVER  GUNPOWDER 

CREEK       

242.  THE  PRIVATE  MAIL-BAG 

243.  ARLINGTON  HOUSE  IN  1860     . 

244.  CASSIUS  M.  CLAY 

245.  THE  EAST  ROOM 

246.  PORTRAIT  OF  LUTHER  C.  LADD      .       . 

247.  MARTYRS'  MONUMENT 

243.  PORTRAIT  OK  JOHN  ELLIS  WOOL    . 

249.  TAIL-PIECE — SYMBOL   OF  THE  REPUBLIC   IN 

DANGER  

250.  INITIAL  LETTER 

251.  PRIVATE  OF  THE  SEVENTH  REGIMENT    . 

252.  PORTRAIT  OF  MARSHALL  LEFFERTS 

253.  LANDING  AT  THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY  GROUNDS 
'254.  ANNAPOLIS  JUNCTION  IN  1861 

255.  WINANS'S  STEAM-GUN 

25C.  RAILWAY  BATTERY 

'257.  THE  RELAY  HOUSE  IN  1864    . 
258.  GREAT     VIADUCT     AT     TUB     WASHINGTON 
JUNCTION 


PAGE  ! 

845  i  259. 

846  260. 
8471 

349  !  261. 
850  i  262. 
852  |  263. 
354!  264. 

J265. 
3551266. 
861  267. 

361  '  263. 

362  269. 
864  270. 

866  271. 

867  272. 
863  273. 

870  ,  274, 

871  '275. 

873  276. 

874  277. 
879  27s 
882 

888  279. 
8S4  2bO. 
J281. 
886  2S2. 
886  I  2*8. 
890  |  284. 

895  285. 
286. 

896  |  2*7. 

897  '  2SS. 
897  !  289. 
899  290. 
400  291. 
40-2  292. 
40-2  293. 
403  294. 
403  295. 
409  296. 

411  j 

|  297. 

412  298. 
414  299. 

416  800. 
J  301. 

417  302. 

418  308. 
421  i  304. 

424  305. 

425  306. 

|Q 


PAGE 

FEDERAL  HILL  IN  MAY,  1861          ...  446 
BUTLER'S      HEAD-QUARTERS     ox    FEDERAL 

HILL .447 

THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ANNAPOLIS — MAP        .  448 

VIEW  OF  FORT  MCHENRY        .        .  .  450 

GOVERNMENT  BAKERIES  AT  THE  CAPITOL      .  452 

TAIL-PIECE — LIGHT  EXTINGUISHED         .        .  458 

INITIAL  LETTER 454 

CAMP  DENNISOX 455 

PORTRAIT  OF  O.  P.  MORTON    ....  455 

PORTRAIT  or  STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS      .        .  457 

DOUGLAS  LYING  ix  STATE        ....  457 

PORTRAIT  OF  SIMON  B.  BUCKNER  .        .        .  459 

JEFFERSON  CITY  IN  1861          ....  461 

PORTRAIT  OF  DAVID  M.  FROST       ...  464 

UNITED  STATES  ARSENAL  AT  ST.  Locis        .  465 

PORTRAIT  OF  W.  S.  HARNEY  ....  469 

PORTRAIT  OF  STERLING  PRICE        .        .        .  470 

PORTRAIT  OF  NATHANIEL  LYOX      .        .   '    .  471 

MILITARY  POSITION  AT  CAIRO,  ILL.        .        .  472 
VIEW  AT  CAIRO,  ON  THE  OHIO  RIVER  FRONT, 

IN  ls61 473 

PORTRAIT  OF  ALBERT  PIKE      ....  475 

FORT  SMITH,  ARKANSAS  ....  475 

PORTRAIT  or  JOHN  Ross         ....  476 

TAIL-PIECK — GUERRIIXA  BADGE     .        .        .  477 

INITIAL  LETTER 473 

MISSISSIPPI  RIFLEMEN 479 

BOWIE-KNIFE  AND  SHEATH      ....  479 

AQUEDUCT  BRIDGE 481 

PORTRAIT  or  THEODORE  RUNYON  .        .        .  481 

BLOCK-HOUSE     .  4S1 

NBW  JERSEY  STATE  MILITIA  .        .        .  482 

ELLSWORTH  ZOUAVES 4^-2 

THE  MARSHALL  HOUSE 4>3 

PORTRAIT  OF  EPHRAIM  ELMORE  ELLSWORTH  4SJ 

FIRST  DEFENSES  OF  WASHINGTON — MAP      .  4->4 

NEW  YORK  STATE  MILITIA      .        .        .        .  4-v") 

VIEW  AT  ACQUIA  CREEK  LANDING        .        .  4^7 
ROOM  IN   WHICH    THE  CONVENTION    MET   AT 

WHEELING  .  490 


PORTRAIT  OF  FRANCIS  II.  PIF.RPONT 
SEAL  OF  WEST  VIRGINIA         .. 
PORTRAIT  OF  GEORGE  B.  MC('LELLAX 
VIRGINIA  VOLUNTEER  INFANTRY    . 
MARCH  TO  PIIILIPPI — MAP 
PORTRAIT  OF  BENJAMIN  F.  KELLEY 
VIEW  OF  GUAFTON 
INITIAL  LETTER 

SEAL  OF  THK  WAR  DEPARTMENT    . 
FORTRESS  MONROE  IN  1861 
PORTRAIT  of  THEODORE  WINTHROP 


4'27    3H-*.  NEWPOBT-NBWCB    LANDING 


4.U    309.  PORTRAIT  OF  J.  B.  MAGRUDER 

310.  PORTRAIT  OF  EBENEZER  W.  PEIRCE 

432  311.  Dt  RYKK'S  ZOUAVES 

433  312.  FROM  PIG  POINT  TO  Bio  BETHEL— MAP 
433    318.  BATTLE  AT  BIG  BETHEL— MAP 

4:57    314.  PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  TROUT  GREBLB 

437  ;  315.  GREKLE'S  MONUMENT 

439    316.  VIEW  IN  THE  MAIN    STREET   OF    HAMPTON, 

440 j  IN  1864      

441  i  317.  RUINS  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH  .... 

4441318.  CABIN  AND  CHIMNEY 

819.  Bio  BETHEL  BATTLE-FIELD 
444    320.  REMAINS  OF  REDOUBT  AT  HAMPTON  BRIDGE. 


491 
492 
493 
494 
495 
496 
497 
498 
49S 
499 
501 
502 
503 
504 
505 
506 
503 
509 


511 
51-2 
512 
513 
514 


16 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

321.  JOHN  TYLER'S  SUMMHR  RESIDENCE  .  .     514 

322.  CHESAPEAKE  FEMALE  SEMINAKY     .  .  .515 

323.  ELEVENTH  INDIANA  REGIMENT       .  .  .    516 

324.  PORTRAIT  OF  LEWIS  WALLACE        .  .  .517 

325.  ROMNEY  BATTLE-GROUND         .        .  .  .517 

326.  TAIL- PIECE— KNAPSACK  .        .        .  .  .518 

327.  INITIAL  LETTER          .        .        .        .  .  .519 

328.  KENTUCKY  RIFLEMAN 519 

329.  STOCKADE  ON  MARYLAND  HIGIITS  .  .     519 

330.  FIRST  PENNSYLVANIA  REGIMENT    .  .  .    520 

331.  BOLMAN'S  ROCK         .        .        .  .  .521 

332.  PORTRAIT  OF  GENERAL  PATTERSON  .  .     522 

333.  PORTRAIT    OF    THOMAS    J.    ("STONEWALL") 

JACKSON  I 524 

334.  PATTERSON'S  QUARTERS  AT  MARTINSBURG    .  525 

335.  PORTRAIT  OF  ROBERT  C.  SCHBNCK          .        .  526 

336.  SOUTH  CAROLINA  FLAG 526 

337.  FALLS  CHURCH  IN  1865 527 

338.  PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  HARM  AN  WARD     .        .  528 

339.  TORPEDO 528 

340.  PORTRAIT  OF  T.  A,  MOKRIS     .        .        .        .532 

341.  CARRICK'S  FORD 535 

342.  SEAT  OF  WAR  IN  WESTERN  VIRGINIA— MAP  536 

343.  TAIL- PIECE— CAP       ......  537 

344.  INITIAL  LETTER 538 

845.  CAMP    OF    THE    MISSOURI  VOLUNTEERS   ON 

BIRD'S  POINT 539 

346.  PORTRAIT  OF  BENJAMIN  F.  CHEATHAM          .     539 

347.  PORTRAIT  OF  LEON  ID  AS  POLK         .        .        .     540 

348.  WEAPONS  OF  THE  INSURGENTS        .        .        .    541 

349.  PORTRAIT  OF  GABRIEL  JAMES  RAINS     .        .     542 

350.  PORTRAIT  OF  FRANZ  SIGEL     ....    543 

351.  CONFEDERATE  TREASURY  NOTE        .        .        .    545 

352.  NORTH  CAROLINA  MOUNTED  RIFLEMAN         . '  548 

353.  DAVIS'S  RESIDENCE  IN  RICHMOND  .        .        .    549 

354.  FIRST  MARYLAND  REGIMENT   ....    552 

355.  PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  R.  KENLY        .        .        .    553 

356.  OLD  CITY  HALL,  BALTIMORE  .        .        .        .553 

357.  THE  SAVANNAH 557 

358.  THUNDERBOLT  SHELL 558 

359.  PORTRAIT  OF  GIDEON  WELLES        .        .        .    559 

360.  STEVENS' s  IRON -CLAD  FLOATING  BATTERY    .    559 

361.  NAVY  DEPARTMENT  SEAL        .        .        .        .    560 

362.  INITIAL  LETTER 561 

863.  PORTRAIT  OF  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN  .        .        .562 

SS4,    PORTRAIT  OF   SALMON   P.    CHASE       .  .      564 


PAGE 
.  567 
.  570 
.  571 
.  575 
.  575 


365.  PORTRAIT  OF  CHARLES  F.  ADAMS  . 

366.  PORTRAIT  OF  WILLIAM  L.  DAYTON 

367.  PORTRAIT  OF  HENRY  WILSON 

368.  THE  HAVELOCK 

369.  PORTRAIT  OF  Miss  D.  L.  Dix 

370.  COOPER-SHOP     VOLUNTEER      REFRESHMENT 

SALOON  AND  HOSPITAL         ....  577 

371.  UNION  VOLUNTEER  REFRESHMENT  SALOON     .  578 

372.  SIGNAL  CANNON 578 

373.  PHILADELPHIA  FIREMEN'S  AMBULANCE          .  579 

374.  PORTRAIT  OF  IRVIN  MCDOWELL     .        .        .  530 

375.  WHITWORTH  CANNON 580 

376.  CHAIN  BRIDGE 581 

377.  GATE  ON  CHAIN  BRIDGE         ....  581 

378.  REMAINS  OF  FORT  JACKSON,  LONG  BRIDGE  .  582 

379.  MARINE  ARTILLERYMAN  AT  MANASSAS  .        .  582 

380.  TENNESSEE  SHARPSHOOTER       ....  583 

381.  TAIL-PIECE—HAULING  CANNON      ...  588 

382.  INITIAL  LETTER 584 

383.  PORTRAIT  OF  DANIEL  TYLER  ....  585 
384  BEAUREGARD'S     HEAD-QUARTERS     AT    MA 
NASSAS      ...        ...        ...        .586 

385.  THE  .FIELD  OF  OPERATIONS— MAP  .        .        .586 

386.  THE  STONE  BRIDGE '587 

387.  THE    FIELD  OP  OPERATIONS    FROM    JULY  16 

TO  JULY  19— MAP  .        .        .        .        ...  588 

888.  CORCORAN'S  SIXTY-NINTH  NEW  YORK    .        .  589 

389.  GRAYSON  DARE-DEVILS 590 

390.  PORTRAIT  OF  JOSEPH  E.  JOHNSTON        .        .  591 

391.  FOURTEENTH  VIRGINIA  CAVALRY   .        .        .  59f 

392.  TOPOGRAPHY  OF  THE  BATTLE-FIELD      .        .594 

393.  SUDLEY  CHURCH         ...        .        .        .594 

394.  GEORGIA  HEAVY  INFANTRY     ....  593, 

395.  MICHAEL  CORCORAN 59<3 

396.  ALABAMA  LIGHT  INFANTRY     .        .        .        .  597 

397.  "THE  PORTICO" 59? 

398.  WADE  HAMPTON 598 

399.  BLACK-HORSE  CAVALRY 599 

400.  VIRGINIA    ARTILLERY— ROCKINGIIAM     BAT 

TERY  .        .        .        .        .        ....        .599 

401..  CAVALRY  OP  HAMPTON'S  LEGION   ...  601 

402.  BATTLE  OF  BULL'S  RUN—MAP        .        .        .602 

403.  BULL'S  RUN  BATTLE-GROUND  .        .                .  6Ctf 

404.  MILES'S  HEAD-QUARTERS  AT  CENTREVILLE    .  603 

405.  STONE  CHURCH,  CENTREVILLE  ....  607 

406.  MONUMENT  ON  BULI^S  RUN  BATTLE-GFOVKP  60? 


THE    CIVIL    WAR. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE    POLITICAL    CONVENTIONS    IN  I860. 


N  the  spring  of  the  year  1861, 
a  civil  war  was  kindled  in 
the  United  States  of  Amer 
ica,  which  has  neither  a  pat 
tern  in  character  nor  a  precedent  in 
causes  recorded  in  the  history  of  man 
kind.  It  appears  in  the  annals  of  the  race  as  a 
mighty  phenomenon,  but  not  an  inexplica 
ble  one.  (iazers  upon  it  at  this  moment,"  •  i**2. 
when  its  awfully  grand  and  mysterious 
proportions  rather  fill  the  mind  with  wonder  than 
excite  the  reason,  look  for  the  half-hidden  springs 
of  its  existence  in  different  directions  among  the 
obscurities  of  theory.  There  is  a  general  agree 
ment,  however,  that  the  terrible  war  was  clearly 
the  fruit  of  a  conspiracy  against  the  nationality 
of  the  Republic,  and  an  attempt,  in  defiance  of 
the  laws  of  Divine  Equity,  to  establish  an  Empire 
upon  a  basis  of  injustice  and  a  denial  of  the  dearest 
rights  of  man.  That  conspiracy  budded  when  the  Constitution  of  the 
Republic  became  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,1  and,  under  the  culture  of 
disloyal  and  ambitious  men,  after  gradual  development  and  long  ripening, 
assumed  the  form  and  substance  of  a  rebellion  of  a  few  arrogant  land  and 


1  Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  tho  National  Constitution,  and  the  beginning  of  the  National  career,  in  17S9, 
the  family  and  State  pride  of  Virginians  eould  not  fed  eontented  in  a  sphere  of  equality  in  which  that  Consti 
tution  placed  all  the  States.  It  still  claimed  for  that  Commonwealth  a  superiority,  and  a  right  to  political  and 
social  domination  in  thu  Republic.  Disunion  was  openly  and  widely  talked  of  in  Virginia,  as  a  necessary  con 
servator  of  State  supremacy,  during  Washington's  first  term  as  President  of  the  United  States,  and  became 
more  and  more  a  concrete  political  dogma.  It  was  because  of  the  prevalence  of  this  dansrerous  and  unpatri 
otic  sentiment  in  his  native  State,  which  was  spreading  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  that  Washington  pave  to 
his  countrymen  that  magnificent  plea  for  I'nion — his»  Farewell  Address.  According  to  John  Randolph  of 
Roanoke.  "the  Grand  Arsenal  of  Richmond.  Virginia,  was  built  with  an  eye  to  putting  down  the  Administra 
tion  of  Mr.  Adams  (the  immediate  successor  of  Washington  in  the  office  of  President)  ?rjY/4  tht  l>ayo»*t,  if  it 
could  not  be  accomplished  by  other  means." — Speech  of  Randolph  in  the  lloune  of  litpreaerUutice^,  January, 
1817. 

2 


18 


DEMOCRATIC   CONVENTION   IN   CHARLESTON. 


slave  holders  against  popular  government.  It  was  the  rebellion  of  an  OLI 
GARCHY  against  the  PEOPLE,  with  whom  the  sovereign  power  is  rightfully 
lodged. 

We  will  not  here  discuss  the  subject  of  the  remote  and  half-hidden 
springs  of  the  rebellion,  which  so  suddenly  took  on  the  hideous  dignity  of  a 
great  civil  war.  We  will  deal  simply  with  palpable  facts,  and  leave  the 
disquisition  of  theories  until  we  shall  have  those  facts  arranged  in  proper 
order  and  relations.  Then  we  may,  far  better  than  now,  comprehend  the 
soul  of  the  great  historic  phenomenon  that  so  startled  the  nations,  and  com 
manded  the  profound  attention  of  the  civilized  world. 

With  the  choice  of  Presidential  Electors,  in  the  autumn  of  1860,  the 
open  career  of  the  living  conspirators  against  American  Nationality  com 
menced  ;  and  with  the  nominations  of  the  candidates  for  the  office  of  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  Republic,  in  the  spring  and  early  summer  of  that  year, 
we  will  begin  our  HISTORY  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAK, 


VIEW   OF  THE   CITY   OF      CHARLESTON,    IN 


The  two  chief  political  parties  into  which  the  voters  of  the  country 
were  divided  in  1860,  were  called,  respectively,  Democratic  and  Republican. 
These  titles  really  had  no  intrinsic  significance,  as  indices  of  principles, 
when  applied  to  either  organization,  but  were  used  by  the  leaders  as  ensigns 
are  used  in  war,  namely,  as  rallying-points  for  the  contending  hosts — familiar 
in  form  if  not  intelligible  in  character.  That  year  Presidential  electors  were 
to  be  chosen ;  and,  in  accordance  with  a  long-established  custom,  represen 
tatives  were  appointed  by  the  people,  to  meet  in  conventions  and  choose 
the  candidates. 

The  Democratic  party  moved  first.  Its  representatives  were  summoned 
to  assemble  in  Charleston,  a  pleasant  city  of  forty  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  a  considerable  commercial  mart.  It  is  spread  over  the  point  of  a 
low  sandy  cape,  at  the  confluence  of  the  waters  of  the  Ashley  and  Cooper 


ORGANIZATION   OF  THE   CONVENTION. 


19 


Rivers,  on  the  seacoast  of  South  Carolina,  and  far  away  from  the  centers  of 
population  and  the  great  forces  of  the  Republic. 

The  delegates,  almost  six  hundred  in  number,  and  representing 
thirty-two  States,  assembled  on  the  23d  of  April'  in  the  great  hall         MS«O. 
of  the  South  Carolina  Institute,1  on  Meeting  Street,  in  which  three 
thousand  persons  might  be  comfortably  seated.     The  doors  were  opened  at 
noon.     The  day  was  very  warm.     A  refreshing  shower  had  laid  the  dust  at 
eleven  o'clock,  and  purified  the  air. 

The  delegates  rapid 
ly  assembled.    Favored 
spectators  of  both  sexes 
Boon  filled  the  galleries. 
The  buzz  of  conversa 
tion  was  silenced  by  the      r 
voice  of  Judge  David  A.     — 
Smalley,    of   Vermont, 
the    Chairman    of    the     Mi 
National      Democratic 
Committee,  who  called  i 

the  Convention  to  order.          rL 
Francis  1>.  Flournoy,  a 
citizen  of  the  State  of 
Arkansas,    was   chosen 
temporary  chairman. — 

He  took  his  seat  without  making  a  speech,  when  the  Rev.  Charles  Ilanckel, 
of  Charleston,  read  a  prayer,  and  the  Convention  proceeded  to  business. 

The  session  of  the  first  day  was  occupied  in  the  work  of  organization, 
It  was  evident,  from  the  first  hour,  that  the  spirit  of  the  Slave  system,  which 
had  become  the  very  Nemesis  of  the  nation,  was  there,  full  fraught  with 
mischievous  intent.  It  was  a  spirit  potential  as  Ariel  in  the  creation  of 
elemental  strife.  For  several  months,  premonitions  of  a  storm,  that  threat 
ened  danger  to  the  integrity  of  the  organization  there  represented,  had  been 
abundant.  Violently  discordant  elements  were  now  in  close  contact.  The 
clouds  rapidly  thickened,  and  before  the  sun  went  down  on  that  first  day 
of  the  session,  all  felt  that  a  fierce  tempest  was  impending,  which  might 
topple  from  its  foundations,  laid  by  Jefferson,  the  venerable  political  fabric 
known  as  the  Democratic  Party,  which  he  and  his  friends  had  reared  sixty 
years  before. 

On  the  morning  of  the  second  day  of  the  session,  Caleb  Cushing,  of 
Massachusetts,  was  chosen  permanent  President  of  the  Convention,  and  a 
vice-president  and  secretary  for  each  State  were  appointed.  The  choice  of 
President  was  very  satisfactory.  Mr.  Cushing  was  a  man  of  much  expe 
rience  in  politics  and  legislation.  He  was  possessed  of  wide  intellectual 
culture,  and  was  a  sagacious  observer  of  men.  He  was  then  sixty  years  of 


•This  buildinp.  in  which  the  famous  South  Carolina  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  signed  (it  was  adapted 
In  St,  Andrew's  Hull),  late  in  December,  1860,  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  December,  1861.  St.  Andrew's  Hall,  in 
which  the  conspirators  ajifainst  the  Republic  who  seceded  from  the  Democratic  Convention  now  under  con- 
»ideration  assembled,  and  in  which  the  South  Carolina  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  adopted  by  the  unanimons 
voice  of  a  Convention,  was  destroyed  at  the  same  time.  Kverythinir  about  the  site  of  these  buildings,  made  infa 
mous  in  history  because  of  the  wicked  acts  performed  in  them,  yet  C|$6.r>)  exhibits  a  ghastly  picture  of  desolation. 


20  THE   SPIRIT   OF  THE   SLAVE   INTEREST. 

age ;  his  features  expressed  great  mental  and  moral  energy,  and  his  voice 
was  clear  and  musical. 

On  taking  the  chair,  Mr.  Gushing  addressed  the  Convention  with  great 
vigor.  He  declared  it  to  be  the  mission  of  the  Democratic  party  to  "  recon 
cile  popular  freedom  with  constituted  order,"  and  to  maintain  "  the  sacred 

reserved  rights  of  the  Sovereign  States." 
He  declared  the  Republicans  to  be  those 
who  were  "  laboring  to  overthrow  the  Con 
stitution,"  and  "  aiming  to  produce  in  this 
country  a  permanent  sectional  conspiracy — 
a  traitorous  sectional  conspiracy  of  one 
half  of  the  States  of  the  Union  against  the 
other  half  ;  those  who,  impelled  by  the  stu 
pid  and  half  insane  spirit  of  faction  and 
fanaticism,  would  hurry  our  land  on  to  rev 
olution  and  to  civil  war."  He  declared  it 
to  be  the  "  high  and  noble  part  of  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  of  the  Union  to  withstand — to 
strike  down  and  conquer "  these  "  banded 
CALEB  GUSHING.  enehiies  of  the  Constitution." '  These  utter 

ances  formed  a  key-note  that  harmonized 

with  the  feelings  of  a  large  body  of  the  delegates,  and  was  a  symphony  to 
their  action. 

At  the  close  of  the  second  day  the  Convention  was  in  fair  working 
order.  Some  contests  for  seats  were  undecided,  there  being  two  sets  of  dele- 
v  ates  from  ]S"ew  York  and  Illinois  ;  but  the  vitally  important  Committee  on 
Resolutions,  composed  of  one  delegate  from  each  State,  had  been  appointed 
without  much  delay.  It  was  the  business  of  that  committee  to  perform  the 
difficult  and  delicate  task  of  making  a  platform  of  principles  for  the  action 
of  the  Convention,  and  the  stand-point  of  the  party  during  the  approaching 
canvass  and  election.  For  this  purpose  it  had  been  sent  to  Masonic  Hall, 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon ;  and  then  and  there  the  electric  spark,  which 
kindled  the  prepared  combustibles  of  civil  war  into  a  quick  and  devouring 
flame,  was  elicited  by  the  attrition  of  radically  opposing  ideas. 

The  subject  of  Slavery,  as  we  have  observed,  was  the  troubling  spirit 
of  the  Convention.  It  appeared  in  the  open  Hall,  and  it  was  specially  ap 
parent  in  the  room  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions.  A  large  number  of 
the  delegates  from  the  Slave-labor  States  had  come  instructed,  and  were 
resolved,  to  demand  from  the  Convention  a  candidate  and  a  platform  which 
should  promise  a  guaranty  for  the  speedy  and  practical  recognition,  by  the 
General  Government  and  the  people,  of  the  system  of  Slavery  as  a  national 
and  permanent  institution.  Impelled  by  this  resolution,  they  had  deter 
mined  to  prevent  the  nomination  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois  (an  able 
Statesman,  and  effective  popular  orator,  then  in  the  full  vigor  of  middle  age), 
who  was  the  most  prominent  candidate  for  the  suffrages  of  the  Convention. 
They  opposed  him  because  he  was  so  committed  to  the  doctrine  of  "  Popular 
Sovereignty,"  as  it  was  called, — that  is  to  say,  the  doctrine  of  the  right  of 
the  people  of  any  Territory  of  the  Republic  to  decide  whether  Slavery  should 

1  Official  Proceedings  of  the  Democratic  National  Convention,  held  in  I860,  at  Charleston  and  Haiti* 
,  paee  11. 


THE   CINCINNATI   PLATFORM   OFFERED.  21 

or  should  not  exist  within  its  borders, — that  he  could  not,  with  honor  or 
consistency,  make  any  further  concessions  to  the  Slave  interest.  Tins,  and 
the  positive  committal  of  the 'Democratic  party  to  a  pro-slavery  policy  in 
the  administration  of  the  National  Government,  were  the  chief  business  of 
several  delegates  in  the  Convention  who  were  led  by  such  men  as  John 
Slidell,  of  Louisiana,  and  William  L.  Yancey,  of  Alabama,  then,  and  long 
before,  arch-conspirators  against  the  life  of  the  Republic. 

In  June,  1S5G,  a  National  Democratic  Convention  was  held  at  Cincinnati, 
when  James  Buchanan  was  nominated  for  President  of  the  United  States. 
A  platform  was  then  framed,  composed  of  many  resolutions  and  involved 
declarations  of  principles,  drawn  by  the  hand  of  Benjamin  F.  Ilallet,  of 
Boston.  These  embodied  the  substance  of  resolutions  on  the  subject  of 
Slavery,  drawn  up  by  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Massachusetts  (afterwards  a 
major-general  in  the  armies  of  the  Republic),  and  adopted  by  the  Demo 
cratic  Convention  of  that  State.  On  the  topic  of  Slavery  and  State  su 
premacy,  the  resolutions  were  clear  and  explicit.  They  recognized  the 
doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty  as  "  embodying  the  only  sound  and  safe 
solution  of  the  Slavery  question,  upon  which  the  great  national  idea  of 
the  people  of  this  whole  coun'ry  can  repose  in  its  determined  conserva 
tion  of  the  Union,  and  non-interference  of  Congress  with  Slavery  in  the 
Territories  or  in  the  District  of  Columbia. "  This  doctrine  harmonized  with 
the  spirit  of  popular  government;  and  the  platform,  of  which  it  was  an 
essential  part,  was  accepted  by  the  Democratic  party  throughout  the 
Union,  as  a  true  exposition  of  their  principles  and  policy.  With  this 
understanding,  Mr.  Butler,  now  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions 
sitting  in  Masonic  Hall,  on  that  warm  April  evening  in  isCO,  proposed  as  a 
platform  for  the  Convention  and  the  party  the  one  constructed  at  Cincinnati 
four  years  before,  without  addition  or  alteration.  He  offered  a  resolution 
to  that  effect,  when,  to  the  surprise  of  the  representatives  of  the  Free-labor 
States,  the  proposition  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  seventeen  States  (only  tw/ 
of  them  free)  against  fifteen  States.  Recently  created  Oregon  gave  tli* 
casting  vote  against  it,  and,  with  California,  was  arrayed  on  the  side  of  tho 
Slave-labor  States. 

The  majority  now  proposed  an  affirmance  of  the  Cincinnati  platform,  but 
with  additional  resolutions,  the  most  vital  of  which  declared  that  Congress 
had  no  power  to  abolish  Slavery  in  the  Territories,  and  that  Territorial  Legis 
latures  had  no  power  to  abolish  Slavery  in  any  Territory,  nor  to  prohibit 
the  introduction  of  Slavery  therein,  nor  to  exclude  Slavery  therefrom,  or  to 
impair  or  destroy  the  right  of  property  in  slaves  by  any  legislation  whatever. 
This  resolution  was  a  positive  rejection  of  the  doctrine  of  Popular  Sover 
eignty.  The  minority  of  the  committee,  composed  wholly  of  delegates  from 
the  Free-labor  States,  and  representing  a  majority  of  the  Presidential  elec 
tors  (one  hundred  and  seventy-two  against  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven), 
were  amazed  because  of  the  bad  faith  and  arrogant  assumptions  of  their  South 
ern  brethren.  It  was  clearly  seen  that  the  latter  were  united,  evidently  by  pre 
concert,  in  a  determination  to  demand  from  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States 
further  and  most  offensive  concessions  to  their  greed  for  political  domination. 

The  manhood  of  the  minority  was  evoked,  and  they  resolved  that  the 
limit  of  concession  was  reached,  and  that  they  would  yield  to  no  further 


22  BEBELLION   OF  THE   MINORITY. 

demands.  They  at  once  proposed  an  affirmance  of  the  Cincinnati  platform 
in  letter  and  spirit,  at  the  same  time  expressing,  by  resolution,  a  willingness 
to  abide  by  any  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  on 
questions  of  constitutional  law.  They  offered  a  word  for  conciliation  by 
denouncing,  in  another  resolution,  the  acts  of  certain  State  Legislatures 
known  as  Personal  Liberty  Laws,  as  "  hostile  in  character,  subversive  of  the 
Constitution,  and  revolutionary  in  their  effects."  Mr.  Butler  was  opposed 
to  making  even  this  concession,  and  adhered  to  his  proposition  for  a  simple 
affirmance  of  the  Cincinnati  platform. 

The  labors  of  the  Committee  resulted,  on  the  evening  of  the  fourth  day 
of  the  session,  in  the  production  of  three  reports,  and  on  the  following 
morning  these  were  submitted  to  the  Convention :  the  majority  report  by 
William  W.  Avery,  of  North  Carolina;  the  minority  report,  drawn  by  H.  B. 
Payne,  of  Ohio,  and  a  resolution  for  the  affirmance  of  the  Cincinnati  platform 
without  alteration,  by  B.  F.  Butler. 

Mr.  Avery  opened  debate  on  the  subject,  by  frankly  assuring  the  Con 
vention  that  if  the  doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty  should  be  adopted  as 
the  doctrine  of  the  Democratic  party,  the  members  of  the  Convention  from 
the  Slave-labor  States,  and  their  constituents,  would  consider  it  as  dangerous 
and  subversive  of  their  rights,  as  the  adoption  of  the  principle  of  Congres 
sional  interference  or  prohibition.     From  that  time  until  Monday, 
the  30th  of  April,"  the  debate  was  continued,  in  the  midst  of  much 
confusion  and  disorder  in  the  Convention.     The  streets  of  Charleston  in  the 
pleasant  evenings  resounded  with  music,  the  speeches  of  politicians,  and  the 
huzzas  of  the  multitude.     Society  there  was  in  a  bubble  of  excitement,  and 
the  final  vote  of  the  Convention  on  the  resolutions  was  awaited  with  the 
most  lively  interest.     The  hour  for  that  decision  at  length  arrived.     &  April, 
It  was  on  the  morning   of  the    30th.6      The    Hall    was    densely       1S6°- 
crowded.    A  vote  was  first  taken  on  Butler's  resolution.    It  was  rejected  by 
a  decisive  majority.     The  minority  report — the  Douglas  platform — which 
had  been  slightly  modified,  was  now  offered  by  B.  M.  Samuels,  of  Iowa.     It 
was  adopted  by  a  handsome  majority.     In  the  Convention  now,  as  in  the 
Committee,  the  voices  of  Oregon  and  California,  Free-labor  States,  were 
with  those  of  the  Slave-labor  States. 

Preconcerted  rebellion  now  lifted  its  head  defiantly.  The  spirit  mani 
fested  in  the  resolutions,  speeches,  and  deportment  of  the  representatives  of 
the  Slave  interest,  now  assumed  tangible  form,  in  action.  L.  P.  Walker,  who 
was  afterward  one  of  the  most  active  insurgents  against  the  National 
Government,  as  the  so-called  Secretary  of  War  of  Jefferson  Davis,  led  the 
way.  He  spoke  for  the  delegates  from  Alabama,  who  had  been  instructed 
by  the  convention  that  appointed  them  not  to  acquiesce  in  or  submit  to 
any  Popular  Sovereignty  platform,  and,  in  the  event  of  such  being  adopted, 
to  withdraw  from  the  Convention.  That  contingency  had  now  occurred, 
and  the  Alabama  delegates  formally  withdrew,  in  accordance  with  a  pre 
vious  arrangement.  They  were  followed  by  all  the  delegates  from  Missis 
sippi,  all  but  two  from  Louisiana,  all  from  Florida  and  Texas,  three  from 
Arkansas,  and  all  from  South  Carolina.  On  the  following  morning,  twenty- 
six  of  the  thirty-four  Georgia  delegates  withdrew;  and  Senator  Bayard  and 
Representative  Whiteley,  delegates  from  Delaware,  also  left  the  Conveu- 


DISRUPTION   OF   THE   DEMOCRATIC   PARTY. 


23 


tion  and  joined  the  seceders,  who  had  repaired  to  St.  Andrew's  Hall  the 
previous  evening  for  consultation. 

The  disruption  of  the  Democratic  party  represented  in  Convention  was 
now  complete.  The  wedge  of  Slavery  had  split  it  beyond  restoration.  The 
event  had  been  amply  provided  for  in  secret  ;  and  when  D.  C.  Glenn,  of  Mis 
sissippi,  in  announcing  the  withdrawal  of  the  delegates  from  that  State,  said, 
"  I  tell  Southern  men  here,  and,  for  them,  I  tell  the  North,  that  in  less  than 
sixty  days  you  will  find  a  united  South  standing  side  by  side  with  us," 
there  was  long  and  vehement  cheering,  especially  from  the  South  Caro 
linians,  who  were  joyous  over  the  result.  Charleston,  that  night,  was  the 
scene  of  unbounded  pleasurable  excitement. 

So  the  arrogant  representatives  of  the  Slave  interest,  in  contempt  of  the 
democratic  principle  of  acquiescence  in  the  fairly  expressed  will  of  the 
majority,  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  order  in  popular  government, 
and  with  an  eye  single  to  the  accomplishment  of  an  intensely  selfish  end, 
began  a  rebellion,  first  against  the  dominant  party  then  in  possession  of  the 
National  Government,  and  secondly  against  that  Government  itself,  which 
resulted  in  a  bloody  civil  war,  and  the  utter  destruction  of  the  vast  and 
cherished  interest,  for  the  conservation  of  which  they  cast  down  the  gauntlet 
defiantly  and  invited  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword. 

At  twilight,  on  the  eighth  day  of  the  session  of  the  Convention," 
when  the  excitement  occasioned  by  the  withdrawal  of  .many  del 
egates  had  somewhat  subsided,  that  body  proceeded  to  ballot  for  a  can 
didate  for  the  Presidency  of  the  Republic.  At  least  two  hundred  votes  were 
necessary  to  a  choice.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  led  oft*  with  at  least  fifty  less 
than  the  requisite  number.  There  was  very  little  variation  as  the  voting 
went  on.  Finally,  on  the  tenth  day, 
when  fifty-seven  ballotings  had  been 
taken  with  no  prospect  of  a  change, 
it  was  agreed  to  adjourn  the  Con 
vention,  to  meet  in  the  city  of  Balti 
more,  in  Maryland,  on  the  eighteenth 
day  of  eJune  following.  It  was  also 
resolved  to  invite  the  Democracy  of 
the  several  States  to  make  provision 
for  supplying  all  vacancies  in  their 
respective  delegations  to  the  Con 
vention  when  it  should  reassemble. 

The  seceding  delegates  partially 
organized  a  convention  at  St.  An 
drew's  Hall,  on  the  evening  after 
their  withdrawal  from  the  regular 
body.  On  the  following  day,  at 

noon,  they  assembled  at  Military  Hall,  when  they  chose  James  A. 
Bayard,  of  Delaware,  to  be  their  president.  They  declared  themselves, 
by  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Yancey,  to  be  entitled  to  the  style  of  the 


ST.    AM>KK\V  S    1 


'  In  this  building,  as  we  have  observed,  the  Secession  Convention  of  South  Carolina  politicians  was  assem 
bled  when  it  passed  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  on  the  20th  of  December,  1860. 


24  PROCEEDINGS   OF   THE   SEOEDERS. 

"  Constitutional  Convention,"  and  sneeringly  called  those  whom  they  had 
abandoned,  the  "  Rump  Convention."  On  the  second  day  of  their  ses 
sion  they  met  in  the  Theater.1  The  dress  circle  was  crowded  with  the 
women  of  Charleston.  They  had  hitherto  filled  the  galleries  of  the  Institute 
Hall.  Their  sympathies  were  with  the  seceders,  and  they  now  followed  them. 

President  Bayard,  a  dignified,  courtly  gentleman,  sat  near  the  foot-lights 
of  the  stage.  The  painted  scene  behind  him  was  that  of  the  Borgia  Palace,2 
around  which  clustered  associations  of  great  crimes.  The  actors  on  this 
occasion,  contrary  to  precedent,  occupied  the  pit,  or  parquette ;  and  there 
they  performed  only  the  first  act  of  a  drama  to  which  the  whole  civilized 
world  became  amazed  spectators.  They  adopted  the  report  of  the  majority, 
offered  by  Mr.  Avery  in  the  regular  Convention,  as  their  platform  of  princi 
ples,  but  went  no  further  then.  They  refrained  from  nominating  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  Republic,  and  refused  to  listen  to  a  proposition  to 
send  forth  an  address  to  the  people.  Their  appointed  work  for  the  present 
was  finished.  They  had  accomplished  the  positive  disruption  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  which,  as  a  Southern  historian  of  the  war  says,  had  become 
"demoralized"  on  "the  Slavery  question,"  and  were  "unreliable  and  rot 
ten,"  3  because  they  held  independent  views  on  that  great  topic  of  national 
discussion.  The  paralysis  or  destruction  of  that  party  would  give  the  Pres 
idency  to  a  Republican  candidate,  and  then  the  conspirators  would  have  a 
wished-for  pretext  for  rebellion.4  The  seceders  were  confident  that  their 
work  had  been  effectually  performed,  and  their  desired  object  attained. 
They  well  knew  that  their  class  held  such  absolute  political  control  in  the 
Slave-labor  States,  that  the  great  mass  of  their  constituency  would  applaud 
their  action  and  follow  their  lead.  Reposing  upon  this  knowledge,  they 
could  afford  to  wait  for  further  developments ;  so,  on  the  evening  of 
the  3d  of  May,"  they  adjourned  to  meet  in  the  city  of  Richmond,  in 
Virginia,  on  the  second  Monday  of  June  following,  for  further  action.  To 
that  Convention  they  invited  the  Democracy  of  the  country  who  might 
sympathize  with  their  movement  and  their  platform  to  send  representa 
tives. 

The  seceders  reassembled  in  Metropolitan  Hall  (on  Franklin  Street,  near 
Governor),  in  Richmond,  at  the  appointed  time,  namely,  on  Monday,  the  llth 
day  of  June.  In  the  mean  time  some  of  the  leading  Southern  Congressmen, 
among  whom  were  Robert  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  and  other  conspirators,  had 
issued  an  address  from  Washington  City,  urging  that  the  Richmond  Con 
vention  should  refrain  from  all  important  action,  and  adjourn  to  Baltimore, 
and  there,  re-entering  the  regular  Convention,  if  possible  defeat  the  nomi 
nation  of  Mr.  Douglas,  and  thus,  as  they  said,  with  well-feigned  honesty  of 
expression,  "  make  a  final  effort  to  preserve  the  harmony  and  unity  of  the 
Democratic  party,"  The  consequence  was,  that  the  Convention  at  Richmond 

1  This  was  the  fourth  place  in  which  the  conspirators  met  in  the  course  of  forty-eight  hours.     All  of  these 
public  buildings  are  now  (1865)  in  ruins. 

2  History  of  the.  National  Political  Conventions  in  I860:  by  M.  Halstead,  an  Eye-witness,  page  100. 

3  First  Year  of  the  War:  by  Edward  A.  Pollard.     Eichmond,  1862,  page  28. 

4  When,  in  1832  and  1833,  Calhoun  and  his  associates  in  South  Carolina  attempted  to  strike  a  deadly  blow  at 
our  nationality,  they  made  a  protective  tariff,  which  they  called  an  oppression  of  the  cotton-growing  States,  the 
pretext.     In  May,  1833,  President  Jackson,  in  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  A.  J.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  after  speaking  of 
the  trouble  he  had  endured  on  account  of  the  Nullifiers,  said,  "  The  Tariff  was  only  the  pretext,  and  Disunion 
ftnd  a  Southern  Confederacy  the  real  object.     The  next  pretext  will  be  the  Negro  or  Slavery  question" 


8ECEDERS'   CONVEXTIOX   INT   RICHMOND. 


25 


was  respectable  in  talent,  but  small  in  numbers,  and  wicked  in  conception 
and  design. 

On  motion  of  a  son  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  who  was  chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Organization, 
John  Irxvin,  of  Alabama, 
was  chosen  president  of  the 
Convention.  It  then  pro 
ceeded  to  action,  under  a 
little  embarrassment  at  first. 
There  were  delegates  from 
the  city  of  New  York  beg 
ging  for  admission  to  seats.1 
They  were  finally  treated 
with  courteous  contempt, 
by  being  simply  admitted 
to  the  floor  of  the  Conven 
tion  as  tolerated  "commis 
sioners,"  and  were  regarded 
by  some  as  spies.  In  this 
matter,  as  in  others,  the  pro 
ceedings  were  cautiously 
managed.  The  leaders  allowed  no  definite  action.  An  expression  of  opin. 
ion  concerning  the  platforms  offered  at  Charleston  was  suppressed;  and  on 
the  second  day  of  the  session,  while  a  "Colonel  Baldwin,"  of  the  Xew 
York  "commissioners,'1'  smarting  under  the  lash  of  W.  L.  Harry,  of  Mis 
sissippi,  who  charged  him  with  "abusing  the  courtesy  of  the  Convention" 
by  talking  of  the  "horrors  of  disunion,"  was  asking  forgiveness  in  an  abject 
manner,*  the  Convention  adjourned,  to  meet  at  the  same  place*  on  the  21st  of 
the  month."  Most  of  the  delegates  then  hastened  to  Baltimore,  pur 
suant  to  the  plan  of  the  Congressional  conspirators,  while  the  South 
Carolina  delegation,  who  assumed  to  be  special  managers  of  the  treasonable 
drama,  remained  in  Richmond,  awaiting  further  developments  of  the  plot. 

The  adjourned  Democratic  National  Convention  reassembled  in  the 
Front  Street  Theater,  on  Front  Street,  opposite  Low  Street,  in  Baltimore, 
on  Monday,  the  18th  day  of  June.  The  parquette  ami  stage  were  occu 
pied  by  the  delegates,  and  the  dress  circle  was  filled  by  spectators — a  large 
portion  of  whom  were  women.  The  delicate  and  difficult  question  concern 
ing  the  admission  to  seats  in  the  Convention  of  representatives  of  States 
whose  delegates  had  withdrawn  from  that  body,  was  the  first  to  present  it- 


METROPOI.ITAX    MALI-* 


1  These  delegates  appear  to  hnve  boon  representatives  of  an  association  of  some  kind  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  who  sympathized  with  the  Secessionists.  They  exhibited,  as  credentials,  a  certificate  of  the  "Trustees 
of  the  National  Democratic  Hall"  in  New  York,  sit'nod  by  "Samuel  15.  Williams,  rfmirmnn.  M.  Dudley  Bean, 
Secretary  of  the  Trustees."  It  was  also  signed  by  William  Beach  Lawrence.  Chairman,  and  .lames  B.  Bens*-l. 
Stcrekiry,  of  an  Executive  Committee;  and  Thaddeus  P.  Mott,  (Chairman,  and  -I.  Lawrence,  &cret<iry  of  the 
Association,  whatever  it  was.  These  certified  that  Gideon  ,1.  Tucker  and  Dr.  Charles  Edward  Lewis  Stuart 
had  'ecu  appointed  "delegates  at  larpe  from  the  Association;"  and  that  Colonel  Baldwin.  Isaac  Lawrence, 
.lames  B.  Bensel,  and  James  Villiers.  had  boon  appointed  Delegate*,  and  N.  Drake  Parsons,  James  S.  Selby, 
M.  Dudley  Bean,  and  A.  W.  Gilbert,  Altfrnatire*.  "to  represent  the  Association  at  the  Richmond  Convention 
for  the  nomination  of  President  and  Vice-president,"  Ac. 

*  This  building  was  formerly  occupied  as  a  Presbyterian  Church,  and  known  as  that  of  Dr.  Pluminer's. 

1  Halstead's  History  of  the  National  Political  Conventions  in  I860,  page  158. 


26 


DEMOCRATIC   CONVENTION   IN   BALTIMORE. 


FRONT   STREET   THEATER,    IN    BALTIMORE,    IN   1860. 


1  June 


self.  Mr.  Gushing,  again  in  the  chair,  refused  to  make  any  decision,  and 
referred  the  whole  matter  to  the  Convention.  It  was  claimed,  that  the  sece- 
ding  delegates  had  a  right  to  re-enter  the  Convention  if  they  chose  to  do  so. 
This  right  was  denied,  and  the  language  of  the  resolution  respecting  the 
adjournment  at  Charleston,  by  which  the  States  represented  by  the  seceders 
were  called  upon  to  "  fill  vacancies,"  was  referred  to  as  an  expression  of  the 
Convention,  if  fairly  interpreted,  against  the  right  of  the  seceders  to  return. 

It  was  proposed,  also,  that  no  delegate 
should  be  admitted  to  a  seat,  unless 
he  would  pledge  himself  to  abide  by 
the  action  of  a  majority  of  the  Con 
vention,  and  support  its  nominations. 
Debate  speedily  ensued.  It  was  hot 
and  acrimonious  during,  at  least,  six 
hours  on  that  first  day  of  the  session  ; 
and  in  the  evening  there  were  two 
mass  meetings  of  the  Democracy  in 
the  streets  of  Baltimore,  at  which  ve 
hement  speeches  were  heard  for  three 
hours,  by  tens  of  thousands  of  people, 
citizens  and  strangers. 

On  the  following  morning,  the  sub 
ject  of  contesting  delegations  was  re 
ferred  to  the  committee  on  credentials.  They  could  not  agree ; 
21" i860  an(^  on  the  f°urth  day  of  the  session"  two  reports  were  submitted, 
the  majority  report  recommending  the  admission  of  Douglas  dele 
gates  (in  place  of  seceders)  from  Louisiana  and  Alabama,  and  parts  of  the 
delegations  from  other  States.  The  minority  report  was  against  the  admis 
sion  of  the  new  delegates.  These  reports  were  discussed  with  great  warmth, 
which  sometimes  reached  the  point  of  fierce  personal  quarrels.  The  pro- 
slavery  men  gave  free  scope  to  the  expression  of  their  opinions  and  feel 
ings;  and  one  of.  them,  a  mercantile  dealer  in  slaves,  from  Georgia,  named 
Gaulden,  advocated  the  reopening  of  the  Slave-trade,  and  thought  he  should 
live  to  see  the  day  when  the  doctrines  which  he  advocated  would  be  "  the 
doctrines  of  Massachusetts  and  of  the  North."  He  spoke  in  language  shock 
ing  to  every  right-minded  man  ;  yet,  while  he  disgusted  a  great  majority  of 
his  hearers,  he  elicited  the  applause  of  many. 

Finally,  on  Friday,  the  22d,  the  majority  report  was  adopted,  and  the 
places  of  most  of  the  seceders  were  filled  by  Douglas  men.  Again  there 
was  rebellion  against  the  fairly  expressed  will  of  the  majority.  The  whole 
or  a  part  of  the  delegations  from  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
Maryland,  California,  Delaware,  and  Missouri,  withdrew.  That  night  was 
a  gloomy  one  for  those  who  earnestly  desired  the  unity  of  the  Democratic 
party.  On  the  following  morning,  their  hopes  were  utterly  blasted  when 
Mr.  Gushing,  the  President  of  the  Convention,  and  a  majority  of  the  Massa 
chusetts  delegation,  also  withdrew.  "  We  put  our  withdrawal  before  you," 
said  Mr.  Butler,  of  that  delegation,  "  upon  the  simple  ground,  among  others, 
that  there  has  been  a  withdrawal,  in  part,  of  a  majority  of  the  States,  and, 
further  (and  that,  perhaps,  more  personal  to  myself),  upon  the  ground  that 


NOMINATION    OF    DOUGLAS. 


27 


I  will  not   sit  in   a  Convention  where  the    African  Slave-trade — which  is 
piracy  by  the  laws  of  my  country — is  approvingly  advocated." 

On  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Gushing,  Governor  David  Tod,  of  Ohio,  one  ot 
the  vice-presidents,  took  the  chair,  and  the  Convention  proceeded  to  ballot 
for  a  Presidential  candidate.  A  considerable  number  of  Southern  delegates, 
who  were  satisfied  with  the  Cincinnati  platform,  remained  in  the  Conven 
tion,  and,  as  their  respective  States  were  called,  some  of  them  made  brief 
speeches.  One  of  these  was  Mr.  Flournoy,  of  Arkansas,  the  temporary 
Chairman  of  the  Convention  at  Charleston.  "  I  am  a  Southern  man,"  he 
said,  "born  and  reared  amid  the  institution  of  Slavery.  I  first  learned  to 
whirl  the  top  and  bounce  the  ball  with  the  young  African.  Everything  I 
own  on  earth  is  the  result  of  slave-labor.  The  bread  that  feeds  my  wife  and 
little  ones  is  produced  by  the  labor  of  slaves.  They  live  on  my  plantation 
with  every  feeling  of  kindness,  as  between  master  and  slave.  Sir,  if  I  could 
see  that  there  is  anything  intended  in  our  platform  unfriendly  to  the  institu 
tion  of  Slavery — if  I  could  see  that  we  did  not  get  every  constitutional  right 
we  are  entitled  to,  I  would  be  the  last  on  earth  to  submit  in  this  Union  ; 
I  would  myself  apply  the  torch  to  the  magazine,  and  blow  it  into  atoms, 
before  I  would  submit  to  wrong.  But  I  feel  that  in  the  doctrines  of  non 
intervention  and  popular  sovereignty  is  enough  to  protect  fhe  interests  of 
the  South." 

This  speech  had  a  powerful  effect  upon  delegates  from  the  Free-labor 
States,  in  favor  of  Mr.  Douglas  ;  and  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-four  and  a 
half  votes  cast,  on  the  second  ballot,  he  received  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  and  a  half,  when  he  was  declared  duly  nominated  for  the  Presidency. 
James  Fitzpatrick,  of  Alabama, 
was  nominated  for  Vice-presi 
dent.  Two  days  afterward, 
Fitzpatrick  declined  the  nomi 
nation,  when  the  National  Com 
mittee  substituted  Herechel  V. 
Johnson,  of  Georgia.1  On  the 
evening  of  the  2.'Jd,  the  Con 
vention  made  a  final  adjourn 
ment. 

The  seceders,  new  and  old, 
assembled  at  noon  on  Satur 
day,  the  2:M,  in  the  Maryland 
Institute  Hall,  situate  on  Bal 
timore  Street  and  Marsh  Mar 
ket  Space,  a  room  more  than 
three  hundred  feet  in  length 
and  seventy  in  breadth,  with  a  gallery  extending  entirely  around.  It  was 
capable  of  seating  five  thousand  people  ;  and  it  was  almost  full  when  the 
Convention  was  permanently  organized  by  the  appointment  of  Mr.  dishing 
to  preside.  That  gentleman  was  greeted,  when  he  ascended  the  platform, 


THE    MARYLAND    1N8TI1TTE    IN 


1  The  National  Committee  assembled  at  the  National  Hotel,  in  Washington  City,  on  the  25th  of  June. 
It  all  the  States  were  represented, excepting  Delaware,  South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and  Oregon. 


[D 


28          SECEDERS'  CONVENTION".— BRECKINRIDGE    NOMINATED. 

with  the  most  vociferous  applause,  and  other  demonstrations  of  satisfaction. 
On  taking  the  chair,  he  declared  that  the  body  then  assembled  formed  the 
true  National  Democratic  Convention,  composed,  as  it  was,  of  delegates 
duly  accredited  thereto  from  more  than  twenty  States.  The  Convention 
then  proceeded  to  business  with  the  greatest  harmony.  They  resolved,  that 
the  delegates  to  the  Richmond  Convention  should  be  requested  to  unite  with 
their  brethren  of  the  National  Democratic  Convention,  then  assembled,  on 
the  same  platform  of  principles  with  themselves,  if  they  felt  authorized  to 
do  so.  They  took  seats  accordingly.  Mr.  Avery,  of  North  Carolina,  offered 
the  majority  report,  which  he  had  submitted  in  Convention  at  Charleston, 
and  it  was  adopted  without  dissent,  as  the  platform  of  principles  of  the  sitting 
Convention,  and  of  the  party  it  represented. 

After  some  further  business,  the  Convention  proceeded  to  the  nomination 
of  candidates  for  the  Presidency  and  Vice-presidency,  when  George  B. 
Loring,  of  Massachusetts,  arose  and  said  :  "  We  have  seen  the  statesmen  of 
Mississippi  coming  into  our  own  borders  and  fearlessly  defending  their  prin 
ciples,  ay,  and  bringing  the  sectionalism  of  the  North  at  their  feet  by  their 
gallantry.1  We  have  admiration  for  this  courage,  and  I  trust  to  live  by  it 
and  be  governed  by  it.  Among  all  these  men  to  whom  we  have  been  led  to 
listen,  and  whom  we  admire  and  respect,  there  is  one  standing  pre-eminently 
before  this  country — a  young  and  gallant  son  of  the  South."  He  then  named 
John  C.  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  as  a  nominee  for  the  Presidency.2 
Vehement  applause  followed.  A  vote  by  States  was  taken,  and  Breckinridge 
received  eighty-one  ballots  against  twenty-four  for  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  of 
New  York.  The  latter  candidate  w^as  withdrawn,  and  the  nomination  of 
Breckinridge  Avas  declared.  Joseph  Lane,  of  Oregon,  was  nomi- 
'  J"s6o28'  nated  f°r  tne  Vice-presidency;  and  after  a  session  of  only  a  few 
hours,  the  business  was  ended  and  the  Convention  adjourned." 

The  South  Carolina  delegation,  who  remained  in  Richmond,  formally 
assembled  at  Metropolitan  Hall  on  the  21st,  according  to  appointment,  and 
adjourned  from  day  to  day  until  the  evening  of  the  26th,  when  Mr.  Yancey 
and  many  others  arrived  from  Baltimore.  The  Convention  then  organized 
for  business,  which  was  soon  dispatched.  The  platform  and  candidates 
offered  to  the  party  by  the  seceders'  Convention  at  Baltimore  were  adopted 
by  unanimous  vote,  with  great  cheering  by  the  delegates  and  the  crowd 
wrho  filled  the  galleries.  Then  the  Convention  adjourned. 

So  ended  the  Conventions  of  the  divided  Democratic  party,  in  the  early 


1  One  of  these  was  Jefferson  Davis.    In  a  speech  in  Faneuil  Hall,  on  the  llth  of  October,  1858,  while  de 
nouncing  the  Abolitionists  as  disunionists,  he  said,  pointing  to  the  portraits  of  the  elder  Adams  and  others,  on 
the  walls: — "If  those  voices,  which  breathed  the  first  instincts  into  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts,  and  into 
the  other   colonies  of  the   United  States,    to  proclaim  community — independence — and  to  assert  it  against 
the  powerful  mother  country;  if  those  voices  live  here  still,  how  must  they  feel  who  come  hereto  preach 
treason  to  the  Constitution,  and  assail  the  Union  it  ordained  and  established?    It  would  seem  that  their  criminal 
hearts  would  fear  that  those  voices,  so  long  slumbering,  would  break  their  silence;  that  those  forms  which  look 
down  from  these  walls,  behind  and  around,  would  come  forth,  to  drive  from  this  sacred  temple  these  fanatical 
men — who  deserve  it  more  than  did  the  changers  of  money  and  those  who  sold  doves  in   the  temple  of  the 
living  God."    At  that  very  time,  that  bold,  bad  man  was  doubtless  plotting  "  treason  to  the  Constitution,"  and 
preparing  to  "assail  the  Union  it  ordained  and  established" — a  proper  subject  for  his  own  denunciations. 

2  Mr.  Breckinridge  was  then  Vice-president  of  the  United  States  under  President  Buchanan,  and  subse 
quent  events  show  that  he  was  a  co-worker  with  Davis  and  others  against  the  Government.     He  joined  the 
insurgents,  and,  duringa  portion  of  the  civil  war  that  ensued,  he  was  the  so-called  "  Secretary  of  War"  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis. 


THE    NATIONAL    CONSTITUTIONAL    UNION    CONVENTION- 


29 


summer-time  of  1860.  The  respective  friends  of  the  opposing  candidates 
of  that  party  (STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  and  JOHN  C.  BRECKINKIDGE)  went 
into  the  canvass  with  great  bitterness  of  feeling,  such  as  family  quarrels 
usually  exhibit. 

Six  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Democratic  Conventions  at  Charles 
ton,  representatives  of  a  new  political  organization,  not  more  than  six  months 
old,  met  in  Convention  at  Baltimore.11     They  styled  themselves 
the    National    Constitutional    Union    Parti/,    composed    almost 
wholly  of  members  of  the  old  "Whig  party  and  a  waning  organi 
zation  known  as  the  American^  or  Know-nothing  party.    They  assembled  in 
the  First  Presbyterian  Meeting-house  (known  as  the  Two-steeple  Church), 
on  Fayette  Street,  between  Calvert 
and  North  Streets,  which  has  since 
been  demolished,  and  its  place  occu 
pied  by  the  United   States   Court 
house.      Its  interior  was   well  dec 
orated     with     National     emblems. 
Hack  of  the  president's   chair   was 
a  full-length    portrait   of  Washing 
ton,  with  large  American  flags,  over 
which   hovered  an   eagle ;    and   the 
galleries,  which  were  crowded  with 
spectators,     were     festooned      with 
numerous  Union  banners. 

The  venerable  John  J.  Critten- 
den,  of  Kentucky,  Chairman  of  the 
National  Constitutional  Union  Com 
mittee,  called  the  Convention  to 
order,  and  on  his  nomination,  Wash 
ington  Hunt,  once  Governor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  distin 
guished  for  talent,  culture,  and  great 
urbanity  of  manner,  was  chosen 
temporary  president  of  the  Conven 
tion.  Credentials  of  delegates  were 
failed  for,  when  it  was  found  that 
almost  one-third  of  all  the  States  were  unrepresented.1 

Toward  evening,  after  a  recess,  Governor  Hunt  was  elected  permanent 
President.  When  the  subject  of  a  platform  was  proposed,  Leslie  Coombs, 
of  Kentucky,  an  ardent  follower  and  admirer  of  Henry  Clay,  took  the  floor, 
and  put  the  Convention  in  the  best  of  humor  by  a  characteristic  little 
speech.  He  declared  that  he  had  constructed  three  platforms :  one  for  the 
"harmonious  Democracy,  who  had  agreed  so  beautifully,  at  Charleston;" 
another  for  the  Republicans,  about  to  assemble  at  Chicago  ;  and  a  third  for 
the  party  then  around  him.  For  the  first,  he  proposed  the  Kentucky  and 
Virginia  Resolutions  of  1798,  which  seemed  to  give  license  for  the  secession 


THE    FIRST    1'KKSBYTKBIAN    CIirKi'll,    HALTIMORK,    IN    I860. 


1  The  States  not  represented  were  California,  Florida,  Iowa,  Louisiana,  Michigan,  No\ 
.  On-icon,  South  Carolina,  and  Wisconsin — ten  in  all. 


Hampshire,  Ilhodo 


WASHINGTON    HUNT. 


30       NOMINATION  OF  JOHN"  BELL.— THE  PLATFORM. 

of  States,  and  disunion ;  for  the  second,  the  Blue-Laws  of  Connecticut ;  and 
for  the  third,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — "  the  Constitution  as  it 
is,  and  the  Union  under  it,  now  and  forever."  The  last  sentence  touched  a 

sympathetic  chord  in  the  Convention,  of 
marvelous  sensitiveness.  The  suggestion 
was  received  with  the  most  enthusiastic 
demonstrations  of  delight;  and  on  the 
second  day  of  the  session,  Joseph  R. 
Ingersoll,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Platform,  reported  resolutions,  which  re 
pudiated  all  creeds  formed  for  a  temporary 
purpose,  as  "calculated  to  mislead  and 
deceive  the  people,"  and  recommended, 
as  a  foundation  for  the  party  to  plant 
itself  upon  in  the  coming  contest,  that 
which  was  defined  by  the  words  : — THE 
CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY,  THE 
UNION  OP  THE  STATES,  AND  THE  EN 
FORCEMENT  OF  THE  LAWS.  This  platform  was  adopted  unanimously. 

The  Convention  now  proceeded  to  vote  for  candidates  for  the  offices  of 
President  and  Vice-president,  when  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  votes  were 
cast;  and  on  the  second  ballot,  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  an  eminent  poli 
tician,  then  past  sixty-three  years  of  age,  was  nominated  for  the  Presidency.1 
The  renowned  scholar,  statesman,  and  diplomat,  the  late  Edward  Everett,  of 
Massachusetts,  was  selected  for  the  office  of  Vice-president.  In  the  canvass 
that  followed,  the  adherents  of  these  gentlemen  were  popularly  known  as  the 
Bell-Everett  party. 

The  greatest  harmony  prevailed  in  this  Convention.  Not  a  word  was 
said  about  "  Americanism,"  or  other  old  party  issues,  nor  was  there  a  whis 
per  on  the  subject  of  Slavery,  excepting  an  ejaculation  of  Neil  S.  Brown, 
of  Tennessee,  who  thanked  God  that  he  had  at  last  found  a  Convention  in 
which  the  "  nigger"  was  not  the  sole  subject  of  consideration.  The  great 
topic  for  speech  was  the  Constitution,  which  they  thought  would  be  im 
periled  by  the  election  of  either  Douglas,  Breckinridge,  or  the  nominee 
of  the  Republican  party,  whoever  he  might  be.  The  Convention  adjourned 
on  the  second  day  of  the  session,  and  that  night  a  ratification  meeting  was 
held  in  Monument  Square,  in  Baltimore,  whereat  speakers  and  musicians 
were  abundant.  The  spacious  platform,  erected  in  the  Square,  was  spanned 
by  an  immense  arch,  on  which  were  inscribed  the  words — "  THE  UNION, 
THE  CONSTITUTION,  AND  THE  ENFORCEMENT  OF  THE  LAWS." 

Six  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  National  Constitutional  Union 
Convention,  the  representatives  of  the  Republican  party  assembled  in  large 
numbers  at  Chicago,  Illinois — a  city  of  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  souls, 
on  the  verge  of  a  prairie  on  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  where,  in 
1830,  there  were  only  a  small  fort,  and  a  few  scattered  houses  of  traders — a  city 


1  When  the  Rebellion  broke  out,  in  the  spring  of  1861,  Mr.  Bell  was  one  of  the  earliest,  if  not  the  very  first, 
of  the  professed  Unionists  of  distinction  who  joined  the  enemies  of  his  country  in  their  attempt  to  overthrow 
thft  Constitution  and  destroy  the  nationality  of  the  Republic. 


REPUBLICAN    CONVENTION. 


31 


illustrious  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  growth  of  our  Republic.  All  of  the 
Free-labor  States  were  fully  represented,  and  there  were  delegates  from 
several  of  the  Slave-labor  States.  An  immense  building  of  boards,  called  a 


WKJWAM    AT   CHICAGO,    IN   1S60. 

Wigwam,  had  been  erected  by  the  Republicans  of  Chicago,  at  an  expense 
of  seven  thousand  dollars,  for  the  special  use  of  the  Convention.     It  was 


tastefully  decorated  within, 
and  was  spacious  enough  to 
hold  ten  thousand  persons. 
A  rustic  seat,  made  of  a 
huge  knot  of  a  tree,  was 
prepared  for  the  use  of  the 
President  of  the  Conven 
tion  ;  and  everything  about 
the  affair  was  rough  and 


I'K!  BIDKNT6  CHAIR. 


rural  in  appearance.  The 
Convention  met  in  the 
Wigwam,  on  the  IGth  day 
of  May.  Not  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  vast  gathering 
of  people  could  enter  the 
building.  E.  D.  Morgan,  of 
Xew  York,  Chairman  of  the 
National  Republican  Exec 


utive  Committee,  called  the  Convention  to  order,  and  David  Wilmot,  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  chosen  temporary  chairman.  In  due  time,  George  Ash- 
mun,  of  Massachusetts,  was  chosen  permanent  President.  It  was  a  wise 
choice.  His  voice  could  be  heard  above  any  clamor  that  might  be  raised 
in  the  assembly,  and  he  was  remarkable  for  coolness,  clearness  of  judg 
ment,  and  executive  ability.  lie  was  presented  with  a  gavel  made  of 
a  piece  of  the  oak  timber  of  Perry's  flag-ship,  Laurence  ;  and  with  this 
emblem  of  authority,  inscribed  with  the  wordsy  "  Don't  give  up  the  ship  f" 
lie  called  the  Convention  to  order,  and  invited  the  delegates  to  business. 
A  committee  on  resolutions,  composed  of  one  delegate  from  each  State 
represented,  was  appointed,  and  on  the  following  morning  *  it 
submitted  to  the  Convention  a  platform  of  principles,  in  the  form  "  Ma.rl7» 

1360. 

or  seventeen  resolutions. 

After  affirming  that  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  promulgated  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  embodied  in  the  National  Constitu 
tion,  is  essential  to  the  preservation  of  our  republican  institutions;  con 
gratulating  the  country  that  no  Republican  member  of  Congress  had  uttered 
or  countenanced  any  threats  of  disunion,  "  so  often  made  by  Democratic 
members  without  rebuke,  and  with  applause  from  their  political  associates," 
and  denouncing  such  threats  as  "  an  avowal  of  contemplated  treason,"  the 


32  THE   REPUBLICAN    PLATFORM.— LINCOLN    NOMINATED. 

resolutions  made  explicit  declarations  upon  the  topic  of  Slavery,  so  largely 
occupying  public  attention.  In  a  few  paragraphs,  they  declared  that  each 
State  had  the  absolute  right  of  control  in  the  management  of  its  own 
domestic  concerns;  that  the  new  dogma  that  the  Constitution,  of  its  own 

force,  carries  Slavery  into  any  or  all  of  the 
Territories  of  the  United  States,  was  a 
dangerous  political  heresy,  revolutionary  in 
its  tendency,  and  subversive  of  the  peace 
and  harmony  of  the  country;  that  the 
normal  condition  of  all  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  is  that  of  freedom,  and  that 
neither  Congress,  nor  a  Territorial  legisla 
ture,  nor  any  individuals,  have  authority  to 
give  legal  existence  to  Slavery  in  any  Ter 
ritory  of  the  United  States ;  and  that  the 
reopening  of  the  African  Slave-trade,  then 
recently  commenced  in  the  Southern  States, 
under  the  cover  of  our  national  'flag,  aided 
by  perversions  of  iudicial  power,  was  a 

GEOKGE  ASHMUN.  .  .  .  , 

crime  against  humanity,  and  »a  burning 
shame  to  our  country  and  age. 

This  platform  was  adopted  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  by  unanimous 
vote  ;  when  the  Convention  adjourned  until  next  morning,  without  taking  a 
ballot  for  candidates  for  the  Presidency  and  Vice-presidency.  When  the 
vote  on  the  platform  was  announced,  the  scene  that  ensued,  says  an  eye 
witness,  was  of  the  "most  astounding  character.  All  the  thousands  of  men 
in  that  enormous  Wigwam  commenced  swinging  their  hats,  and  cheering 
with  immense  enthusiasm,  and  the  other  thousands  of  ladies  waved  their 
handkerchiefs  and  clapped  their  hands.  Such  a  spectacle  as  was  witnessed 
for  some  minutes  has  never  before  been  witnessed  at  a  convention.  As  the 
great  assemblage  poured  through  the  streets  after  adjournment,  it  seemed 
to  electrify  the  city.  The  agitation  of  the  masses  that  packed  the  hotels 
and  thronged  the  streets,  certainly  forty  thousand  strong,  was  such  as  made 

the  little  excitement  at  Charleston  seem  insignificant."1 
*  i860 19'        ^n  ^e  morning  °f  the  third  day  of  the  session,"  the  Convention 

was  opened  with  prayer,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Green,  of  Chicago,  who 
expressed  a  desire  that  the  evils  wThich  then  invested  the  body  politic 
should  be  wholly  eradicated  from  the  system,  and  that  the  pen  of  the  histo 
rian  might  trace  an  intimate  connection  between  that  "  glorious  consumma 
tion  and  the  transactions  of  the  Convention."  Then  that  body  proceeded 
to  the  choice* of  a  Presidential  candidate,  and  on  the  third  ballot  Abraham 
Lincoln,  of  Illinois,  was  nominated.  The  announcement  of  the  result 
caused  the  most  uproarious  applause ;  and,  from  the  common  center  at  Chi 
cago,  the  electric  messengers  flew  with  the  intelligence,  almost  as  quick  as 
thought,  to  every  part  of  the  vast  Republic,  eastward  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains,  before  sunset.  The  Convention  took  a  recess,  and  in  the  evening 
nominated  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  for  Vice-president.  Their  labors 


1  Halstead's  History  of  the  Rational  Political  Contentions  in  I860,  page  139. 


THE    FOUR    POLITICAL    PARTIES.  33 

were  now  done,  and,  after  a  brief  speech  by  their  presiding  officer,  the  Con 
vention  adjourned,  with  nine  cheers  for  the  ticket. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  the  nominee,  was  at  his  home  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  at  this 
time.  He  had  been  in  the  telegraph-office  during  the  first  and  second  bal- 
iotings,  when  he  left,  went  to  the  office  of  the  State  Journal,  and  was  con 
versing  with  friends  when  the  third  balloting  occurred.  The  result  was 
known  at  Springfield  a  few  minutes  after  the  voting  was  finished.  The 
superintendent  of  the  telegraph  there  wrote  on  a  scrap  of  paper,  "Mr. 
Lincoln,  you  are  nominated,"  and  sent  a  boy  with  it  to  the  nominee.  Mr. 
Lincoln  read  it  to  his  friends,  and,  while  they  huzzaed  lustily,  he  looked  at  it 
in  silence.  Then,  putting  it  quietly  in  his  pocket,  he  bade  them  "good 
evening,"  and  went  home.1 

On  the  following  day,  a  committee,  appointed  by  the  Convention,  with 
President  Ashmun  at  their  head,  waited  upon  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  formally 
communicated  to  him,     orally,     and  by  an  official  letter,  the  fact  of  his 
nomination.      He  received  the  message  with  great  modesty  and  gravity, 
and  promised  to  respond  to  it  in  writing.     This  he  did  three  days 
afterward,"  in  which,  after  accepting  the  nomination,  he  said : — 
"The  declaration  of  principles  and  sentiments  which  accompanies 
your  letter,  meets  my  approval,  and  it  shall  be  my  care  not  to  violate  it,  or 
disregard  it  in  any  part.     Imploring  the  assistance  of  Divine  Providence,  and 
with  due  regard  to  the  views  and  feelings  of  all  who  were  represented  in  the 
Convention,  to  the  rights  of  all  the  States  and  Territories  and  people  of  the 
nation,  to  the  inviolability  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  perpetual  union,  har 
mony,  and  prosperity  of  all,  I  am  most  happy  to  co-operate  for  the  practical 
success  of  the  principles  declared  by  the  Convention." 

In  the  beautiful  month  of  June,  when  Nature,  in  the  temperate  zone,  is 
most  wealthy  in  flowers  and  foliage  and  the  songs  of  birds,  and  there  is 
every  thing  in  her  aspect  to  inspire  delight,  and  harmony,  and  good-will, 
one  of  the  most  important  political  campaigns  noted  in  history  was  opened 
with  intense  vigor,  and  the  most  uncompromising  and  relentless  hostility  of 
parties.  There  were  four  of  these  parties  in  the  field  of  contest,  namely  : — 

1.  The  Ri-]niMif<in,  who  declared  freedom  to  be  the  normal  condition  of 
all  territory,  and  that  Slavery  can   exist  only   by   authority  of  municipal 
law.     Of  this  party,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  standard-bearer. 

2.  The  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  led  by  John  C.  Breckinridge,  who 
declared  that  no  power  existed  that  might  lawfully  control  Slavery  in  the 
Territories;  that  it  existed  in  any  Territory,  in  full  force,  whenever  a  slave 
holder  and  his  slaves  entered  it;  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  National 
Government  to  protect  it  there. 

3.  The  wing  of  the    Democratic    party   led  by    Stephen   A.   Douglas, 
whose  platform  of  principles  assumed  not  to  know  positively  whether  slavery 
might  or  might  not  have  lawful  existence  in  the  Territories,  without  the 
action  of  the  inhabitants  thereof,  but  expressed  a  willingness  to  abide  by 
the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  all  cases. 

4.  The  National  Constitutional    Union   party,  led  by  John  Bell,   who 


'  "There  is  a  little  woman  down  at  onr  house."  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  allusion  to  his  wife,  as  he  left  Ut 
room,  "  who  would  like  to  hear  this— I'll  go  down  and  tell  her." 
VOL.  I.— 3 


34  THE    CANVASS    AND    ELECTION. 

declined  to  express  any  opinion  upon  any  subject,  but  pointed  to  the  Na 
tional  Constitution,  without  note  or  comment,  as  their  political  guide. 

The  politicians  of  only  the  two  parties  first  named  seemed  to  have  posi 
tive  convictions,  as  units,  on  the  great  subject  which  had  so  long  agitated 
the  nation,  and  they  took  issue  squarely,  definitely,  and  defiantly.  A  large 
portion  of  the  Douglas  party  were  also  inclined  to  disregard  the  resolution 
which  bound  them  to  absolute  submission  to  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  to  stand  firmly  upon  a  pure  "Popular  Sovereignty "  Platform, 
which  that  resolution  had  eviscerated,  for  they  regarded  a  late  decision  of 
the  majority  of  that  court,  in  the  case  of  Dred  Scott,1  as  sufficiently  indica 
tive  of  its  opposition  to  the  great  doctrine  of  that  platform.  All  parties 
were  agreed  in  earnest  professions  of  love  for  the  Union  and  the  Constitu 
tion  ;  and,  with  such  avowals  emblazoned  on  their  standards,  they  went 
into  the  fight,  each  doubtful  of  success,  and  all  conscious  that  a  national 
crisis  was  at  hand.  There  was  a  vague  presentiment  before  the  minds  of 
reflecting  men  everywhere,  that  the  time  when  the  practical  answer  to  the 
great  question — What  shall  be  the  policy  of  the  Nation  concerning  Slavery  ? 
— could  no  longer  be  postponed. 

The  conflict  was  desperate  from  July  to  November,  and  grew  more  in 
tense  as  it  approached  its  culmination  at  the  polls.  The  Republicans  and 
Douglas  Democrats  were  denounced  by  their  opponents  as  Abolitionists — 
treasonably  sectional,  and  practically  hostile  to  the  perpetuation  of  the 
Union.  The  Breckinridge  party,  identified  as  it  unfortunately  was  with 
avowed  disunionists — men  who  for  long  years  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  threatening  to  attempt,  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  by  the  process  of 
secession,  whenever  the  revelations  of  the  Census  or  other  causes  should 
convince  them  that  the  domination  of  the  Slave  interest  in  the  National 
Government  had  ceased  forever — men  who  rejoiced  when  they  saw,  in  the 
absolute  disruption  of  the  Democratic  party  at  Charleston  and  Baltimore, 
a  prospect  for  the  election  of  the  Republican  candidate,  which  might  serve 
them  as  a  pretext  for  rebellion — men  who  afterward  became  leaders  in  the 
great  insurrection  against  the  National  Government — was  charged  with 
complicity  in  disunion  schemes.  In  speeches,  newspapers,  and  in  social 
gatherings,  these  charges  were  iterated  and  reiterated ;  and  yet  there  were 
but  few  persons  in  the  Free-labor  States  who  really  believed  that  there  were 
men  mad  enough  and  wicked  enough  to  raise  the  arm  of  resistance  to  the 
authority  of  the  Supreme  Government,  founded  on  the  National  Constitu 
tion. 

But  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  which  was  the  result  of  the  great  poli 
tical  conflict  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1860,  soon  revealed  the  exist 
ence  of  a  well-organized  conspiracy  against  the  life  of  the  Republic,  wide 
spread,  powerful,  and  intensely  malignant.  The  leading  conspirators  were 
few,  and  nearly  all  of  them  were  then,  or  had  been,  connected  with  the 

1  Dred  Scott  had  be<?n  a  slave  in  Missouri,  but  claimed  to  be  a  freeman  on  account  of  involuntary  residence 
in  a  free  State.  The  case  did  not  require  a  decision  concerning  the  right  of  a  negro  to  citizenship;  but  the 
Chief-Justice  took  the  occasion  to  give  what  is  called  an  extra-judi<  ial  opinion.  He  decided  that  a  freed  negro 
slave,  or  a  descendant  of  a  slave,  could  not  become  a  citizen  of  the  Republic.  He  asserted,  in  that  connection, 
that  the  language  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  showed  that  the  negroes  were  not  included  in  the  benefi- 
,»rnt  meaning  of  that  instrument,  when  it  said,  "all  men  are  created  equal,"  and  that  they  were  regarded  "as 
w  far  inferior,  that  they  had  no  rights  which  the  white  man  was  bound  to  respect.'' 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    CONSPIRATORS. 


35 


National  Government,  some  as  legislators,  and  others  as  cabinet  ministers. 
They  were  not  so  numerous  at  first,  according  to  a  loyal  Tenuessean 
(Horace  Maynard),  who  knew  them  well,  "as  the  figures  on  a  chess-board,*' 
but  became  wonderfully  productive  of  their  kind.  "  There  are  those,"  he  said, 
in  a  speech  in  Congress,  "  within  reach  of  my  voice,  who  also  know  them, 
and  can  testify  to  their  utter  perfidy ;  who  have  been  the  victims  of  their 
want  of  principle,  and  whose  self-respect  has  suffered  from  their  insolent 
and  overbearing  demeanor.  Xo  Northern  man  was  ever  admitted  to  their 
confidence,  and  no  Southern  man,  unless  it  became  necessary  to  keep  up 
their  numbers;  and  then,  not  till  he  was  thoroughly  known  by  them,  and 
known  to  be  thoroughly  corrupt.  They,  like  a  certain  school  of  ancient 
philosophers,  had  two  sets  of  principles  or  doctrines — one  for  outsiders,  the 
other  for  themselves;  the  one  was  'Democratic  principles'  for  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  the  other  was  their  own  and  without  a  name.  Some  Northern 
men  and  many  Southern  men  were,  after  a  fashion,  petted  and  patronized 
by  them,  as  a  gentleman  throws  from  his  table  a  bone,  or  a  choice  bit,  to 
a  favorite  dog;  and  they  imagined  they  were  conferring  a  great  favor 
thereby,  which  could  be  requited  only  by  the  abject  servility  of  the  dog. 
To  hesitate,  to  doubt,  to  hold  back,  to  stop,  was  to  call  down  a  storm  of 
wrath  that  few  men  had  the  nerve  to  encounter,  and  still  fewer  the  strength 
to  withstand.  Not  only  in  political  circles,  but  in  social  life,  their  rule  was 
inexorable,  their  tyranny  absolute.  God  be  thanked  for  the  brave  men  who 
had  the  courage  to  meet  them  and  bid  them  defiance,  first  at  Charleston,  in 
April,  1860,  and  then  at  Baltimore,  in  June  !  To  them  is  due  the  credit  of 
declaring  war  against  this  intolerable  despotism."  The  truthfulness  of  this 
picture  will  be  fully  apparent  in  future  pages. 


36 


RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION. 


CHAP  TEE    II. 


PRELIMINARY    REBELLIOUS    MOVEMENTS. 

i HE  choice  of  Presidential  electors,  by  ballot,  occurred  on 
the  6th  of  November,  1860.  They  were  three  hundred 
and  three  in  number,  and,  when  assembled  in  Electoral 
College,1  one  hundred  and  eighty  of  them  voted  for  Mr. 
Lincoln,  giving  him  fifty-seven  electoral  votes  more 
than  all  of  his  opponents  received.2  Of  the  popular 
votes,  numbering  4,680,193,  he  received  1,866,452.  Al 
though  he  had  a  large  majority  over  each  candidate,  he  received  979,163 
less  than  did  all  of  his  opponents.3  This  fact,  and  the  circumstance  that  in 
nine  Slave-labor  States  there  was  no  Republican  electoral  ticket,  gave  fac 
titious  vigor  to  the  plausible  cry,  which  was  immediately  raised  by  the  con 
spirators  and  their  friends,  that  the  President  elect  would  be  a  usurper 
when  in  office,  because  he  had  not  received  a  majority  of  the  aggregate 
vote  of  the  people ;  that  he  would  be  a  sectional  ruler,  and,  of  necessity,  a 
tyrant ;  and  that  his  antecedents,  the  principles  of  the  Republican  platform, 
and  the  fanaticism  of  his  supporters,  pledged  him  to  wage  relentless  war 
upon  the  system  of  Slavery,  and  the  rights  of  the  Slave-labor  States. 

It  was  not  denied  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  elected  in  accordance  with 
the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  National  Constitution,4  and  that  it  was  the  fault 
of  the  politicians  in  the  nine  States  that  there  were  no  electoral  tickets  there 
in.5  Many  of  these  .politicians  began  at  once,  with  intense  zeal,  which  often 
amounted  to  ferocity,  to  put  in  motion  a  system  of  terrorism,  in  which  the 
hangman's  rope,  the  incendiary's  torch,  and  the  slave-hunter's  blood-hound, 
formed  prominent  features.  It  was  often  perilous  to  his  life  and  property, 
for  a  man  below  North  Carolina  and  Tennessee  to  express  a  desire  for  Mr. 
Lincoln's  election.  The  promise  of  a  United  States  Senator  from  North 
Carolina  (Clingman),  that  Union  men  would  be  hushed  by  "the  swift  atten 
tion  of  vigilance  committees,"  was  speedily  fulfilled. 

It  was  not  denied  that  the  election  had  been  fairly  and  legally  conducted, 
or  that  the  Republican  platform  pledged  the  nominee  and  his  supporters  to 
absolute  non-interference  with  the  rights  and  domestic  policy  of  the  States. 
That  platform  expressly  declared,  that  "  the  maintenance,  inviolate,  of  the 
rights  of  the  States,  and  especially  the  right  of  each  State  to  order  and  con- 

1  Sec  Article  XII.  of  the  Amendments  to  the  Constitution. 

2  Bell  received  39,  Douglas  12,  and  Breckinridge  72. 

3  He  received  491,295  over  Douglas,  1,018,499  over  Breckinridge.  and  1,275,821  over  Bell.    The  votes  for  the 
four  candidates,  respectively,  were  :    For  Lincoln,  1,866,452  ;  for  Bell,  590,631 ;  for  Douglas,  1,375,144-;  and  for 
Breckinridge,  847,953. 

4  See  Article  XII.  of  the  Amendments  to  the  Constitution. 

6  These  were  North  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Tennessee,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Florida,  and 
Texas.     The  electors  of  South  Carolina  were  chosen  by  the  State  Legislature. 


THE   PEOPLE    MISLED   AND    BEWILDERED.  37 

trol  its  own  domestic  institutions  according  to  its  own  judgment,  is  essential 
to  that  balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfection  and  endurance  of  our  poli 
tical  fabric  depend."  But  these  and  other  facts,  essential  to  a  correct 
understanding  of  the  issue,  were  studiously  concealed  from  the  people,  or  so 
adroitly  shrouded  in  sophistry  that  they  were  kept  far  away  from  popular 
cognizance. 

During  the  canvass  preceding  the  election,  the  conspirators,  and  the  poli 
ticians  in  their  train,  employed  all  the  means  in  their  power  to  excite 
intensely  every  blinding  passion  of  the  slaveholders  and  the  masses  of  the 
people.  They  appealed  to  their  fears,  their  prejudices,  their  local  patriot 
ism,  and  their  greed.  They  asserted,  with  all  the  solemn  seeming  of  sober 
truth,  that  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States,  grown  rich  and  powerful 
through  robbery  of  the  people  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  by  means  of  tariff 
laws  and  other  governmental  measures,  and  by  immigration  from  foreign 
lands,  had  elected  a  sectional  President  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  a 
long-cherished  scheme  of  ambition,  namely,  the  political  and  social  subjuga 
tion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Slave-labor  States;  the  subversion  of  their 
system  of  labor;  the  elevation  of  the  negro  to  social  equality  writh  the 
white  man  ;  ami  the  destruction  of  Slavery,  upon  which,  they  alleged,  had 
rested  in  the  past,  ami  must  forever  rest  in  the  future,  all  substantial  pros 
perity  in  the  cotton-growing  States.  They  held  the  Republican  party 
responsible  for  John  Brown's  acts  at  Harper's  Ferry,1  and  declared  that  his 
raid  was  the  forerunner  of  a  general  and  destructive  invasion  of  the  Slave- 
labor  States  by  "the  fanatical  hordes  of  the  North/'  They  cited  the  pub 
lications  ami  speeches  of  the  Abolitionists  of  the  North  during  the  past 
thirty  years;  the  legislation  in  the  same  section  unfriendly  to  slavery;  and 
the  more  recent  utterances  of  leading  members  of  the  Republican  party,  in 
which  it  had  been  declared  that  "  there  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  between 
freedom  and  slavery" — "the  Republic  cannot  exist  half  slave  and  half 
free" — "freedom  is  the  normal  condition  of  all  territory,"  etc.;  they  cited 
these  with  force,  as  proofs  of  long  and  earnest  preparation  for  a  now  im 
pending  war  upon  "the  South"  and  its  institutions.  They  pictured,  in  high 
coloring,  the  dreadful  paralysis  of  all  the  industry  and  commerce  of  "the 
South,"  and  the  utter  extinguishment  of  all  hopes  of  future  advancement  in 
art,  science,  literature,  and  the  development  of  the  yet  hidden  resources  in 
the  region  below  the  Susquehanna,  the  Potomac,  and  the  Ohio,  as  a  conse 
quence  of  the  domination  in  the  National  Government  of  their  "bitter  ene 
mies,"  as  they  unjustly  termed  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States.5 

In  this  unholy  work,  the  press  and  the  pulpit  became  powerful  auxili- 


1  For  the  purpose  of  liberating  the  slaves  of  Virginia,  John  Hrown,  an  enthusiast,  with  a  few  followers, 
seized  Harper's  Ferry,  at  the  contluence  of  the  Potomac  and  Shenancloah  Itivers.  in  October.  IS.^.  as  a  base  of 
operations.     He   failed.     He  was  arrested   by  National   and  Virginia   troops,  and  was   hanged,  in    December 
following,  by  the  authorities  of  Virginia, 

2  This  false  teaching  was  not  now.      It  was  begun  by  John  ('.  Calhoun.  and  had  been  kept  up  ever  since. 
It  was  so  in  Madison's  later  days.     In  a  letter  to  Henry  Hay,  cited  by  Dr.  Sargeant.  in  his  admirable  pamphlet, 
entitled,  England,  the  United  State*,  and  thf  Southern  Confederacy,  that  statesman  and  patriot  said: — -  It  is 
painful  to  see  the  unceasing  efforts  made  to  alarm  the  South,  by  imputations  against  the  North  of  unconstitu 
tional  designs  on  the  subject  of  Slavery."     Madison  and  Clay  were  both  slaveholders.    Again,  the  former  wrote: 
"The  inculcated  impression  of  a  permanent  incompatibility  of  interests  between  the  North  and  the  South  may 
put  it  in  the  pouer  nf  popular  leader*,  attpiriny  to  the  highest  xtation*.  to  unite  the  South  on  some  critical 
occasion.      In  pursuing  this  course,  the  first  and  most  obvious  step  is  nullification,  the  next  secession,  and  th» 
last,  a  final  svparation." 


3$  TEACHINGS    Of    THE    PRESS    AND    PULPIT. 

aries.  The  former  was  widely  controlled  by  politicians  of  the  small  ruling  class 
in  the  Slave-labor  States,  and  was  almost  everywhere  subservient  to  their  will 
in  the  promulgation  of  false  teachings.  There  were  exceptions,  however — 

noble  exceptions ;  and  there  were  those 
among  influential  newspaper  conductors, 
like  the  heroic  "Parson  Brownlow,"  of 
Knoxville,  East  Tennessee,  now  (1865) 
Governor  of  that  State,  who  could 
never  be  brought  to  bend  the  knee  a 
single  line  to  Baal  nor  to  Moloch ;  but 
stood  bravely  erect  until  consumed,  as  it 
were,  at  the  stake  of  martyrdom.1 

So  with  the  pulpit.  It  was  exten 
sively  occupied  by  men  identified  so 
cially  and  pecuniarily  with  the  slave 
system.  These  men,  writh  the  awful  dig 
nity  of  ambassadors  of  Christ  —  vice- 
w.  G.  BROWNLOW.  gereiits  of  the  Almighty  — -  declared 

Slavery  to  be  a  "  divine  institution,"  and 

that  the  fanatics  of  the  Free-labor  States  who  denounced  it  as  wrong  and 
sinful  were  infidels,  and  deserved  the  fate  of  heretics.  They  joined  their 
potential  voices  with  those  of  the  politicians,  in  the  cry  for  resistance  to 
expected  wrong  and  oppression  ;2  and  thousands  upon  thousands  of  men 
and  women,  regarding  them  as  oracles  of  wisdom  and  truth,  followed  them 
reverentially  in  the  broad  highway  of  open  treason.3 


1  For  an  account  of  Dr.  Brownlow's  sufferings  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  see  his  work,  entitled,  Sketches 
of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Decline  of  /Secession  |  with  a  Narrative  of  Personal  Adventures  among  the 
Rebels.    G.  W.  Chikls.  1862. 

2  See  The  Church  and  the  Rebellion,  by  E.  L.  Stan  ton,  D.  D.,  of  Kentucky. 

3  The  change  in  the  sentiments  of  the  clergy  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  during  the  twenty-five  years  pre 
ceding  the  war,  was  most  remarkable.     "We  will  notice  only  two  or  three  instances  in  a  single  religious  body, 
namely,  the  Presbyterians.     In  1S35,  the  representatives  of  that  denomination  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
in  Convention  assembled,  made  an  official  report  against  the  perpetuation  of  the  system  of  Slavery.     "  We 
cannot  go  into  detail,11  they  said;  "it  is  unnecessary.     We  make  our  appeal  to  universal  experience.     We  are 
chained  to  a  putrid  carcass.     It  sickens  and  destroys  us.     We  have  a  millstone  about  the  neck  of  our  society 
to  sink  us  deep  in  the  sea  of  vice.     Our  children  are  corrupted  from  their  infancy,  nor  can  we  prevent  it,"  &c. 

In  November.  1S(!0,  one  of  the  most  eminent  Doctors  of  Divinity  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  said,  in  his 
pulpit  in  New  Orleans,  after  speaking  of  the  character  of  the  South: — "The  particular  trust  assigned  to  such  a 
people  becomes  the  pledge  of  the  Divine  protection,  and  their  fidelity  to  it  determines  the  fate  by  which  it  is 
finally  overtaken.  What  that  trust  is.  must  be  ascertained  from  the  necessities  of  their  position,  the  institu 
tions  which  are  the  outgrowth  of  their  principles,  and  the  conflicts  through  which  they  preserve  their  identity 
and  independence.  If  then  the  South  is  such  a  people,  what,  at  this  juncture,  is  their  providential  trust  ?  I 
answer,  that  it  is  to  conserve  and  to  perpetuate  the  institution  of  domestic  Slavery  as  now  existing."  Again  : 
"  I  simply  say,  that  for  us,  as  now  situated,  the  duty  is  plain  of  conserving  and  transmitting  the  system  of 
Slavery,  with  the  freest  scope  for  its  natural  development  and  extension."  Again :  '•  Need  I  pause  to  show  how 
this  system  is  interwoven  with  our  entire  social  fabric?  That  these  slaves  form  parts  of  our  households,  even  aa 
ouwchildren ;  and  that,  too,  through  a  relationship  recognized  and  sanctioned  in  the  Scriptures  of  God,  even  as 
the  other?  Must  I  pause  to  show  how  it  has  fashioned  our  modes  of  life,  and  determined  all  our  habits  of  thought 
and  feeling,  and  molded  the  very  type  of  our  civilization?  How  then  can  the  hand  of  violence  be  laid  upon  it, 
w'thout  involving  our  existence?" — The  South,  her  Peril  and  her  Duty:  a  Thanksgiving  Discourse,  Nov. 
'29,  I860,  by  Eev.  B.  M.  Palmer,  D.  D. 

Ten  or  fifteen  years  before  the  war,  an  eminent  Doctor  of  Divinity  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  Charles 
ton,  South  Carolina,  put  forth  two  pamphlets,  in  which  he  sought  to  claim  for  that  denomination  the  glory  of 
the  authorship  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  alleging  that  its  form  and  substance  were  fashioned  after 
the  bands  and  covenants  of  the  church  in  Scotland.  "  Presbyterianism,"  he  says  exultingly,  in  praising  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  as  almost  divine  in  origin  and  character,  "  has  proved  itself  to  be  the 
pillar  and  ground  of  truth,  amid  error  and  defection.  It  has  formed  empires,  in  the  spirit  of  Freedom  and 
Liberty,  and  has  given  birth  to  declarations  and  achievements  which  are  the  wonder  of  the  present,  and  -will 


INTENDED   FATE   OF  THE   COMMON   PEOPLE.  39 

The  "common  people'' — the  non-slaveholders  and  the  small  slaveholders — 
whom  the  ruling  class  desired  to  reduce  to  vassalage,1  but  to  whom  they 
now  looked  for  physical  aid  in  the  war  which  their  madness  might  kindle, 
were  blinded,  confused,  and  alarmed.  They  were  assured  that  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  South  would  bring  riches  and  honor  to  every  household. 
They  were  deluded  with  promises  of  free  trade,  that  would  bring  the  luxu 
ries  of  the  world  to  their  dwellings.  They  were  promised  the  long-desired 
reopening  of  the  African  Slave-trade,  which  would  make  slaves  so  cheap 
that  every  man  might  become  an  owner  of  many,  and  take  his  position  in  tho 


be  the  at/miration  of  erery  future  age."1  On  the  21st  of  November,  1S60,  the  same  Doctor  of  Divinity  said, 
from  the  pulpit  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  Charleston,  after  stating  that  he  stood  there  •'in  God's 
name  and  stead,  to  point  out  the  cause  of  His  anger:" — "Now.  to  me.  pondering  long  and  profoundly  upon  the 
course  of  events,  the  evil  and  bitter  root  of  all  our  evils  is  to  be  found  in  the  infidel,  atheistic,  French  Revolu 
tion,  Red  Republican  principle,  embodied  ns  an  axiomatic  seminal  principle — not  in  the  Constitution,  but  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence?  *fhat  seminal  principle  is  this:— 'We  hold  tin-so  truths  to  U-  self-evident : 
that  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights ;  that  among 
these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.'  " — The  $in  ami  the  Curt,  by  Rev.  Thomas  Smyth,  D.  D. 

Doctor  James  II.  Thornwell,  President  of  a  Theological  Seminary  at  Columbia,  S.  C.,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  scholars  and  theologians  in  the  South,  and  who  was  known  in  that  State  as  "The  Calhoun  of  the 
Church,"  was  ever  foremost  in  the  defense  of  Slavery  as  a  divine  institution.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  assert 
his  conviction  that  the.  horrible  African  Slave-trade  was  ''the  most  worthy  of  all  Missionary  Societies."  Clergy 
men  of  every  religions  denomination  in  the  Slave-lal»or  States  were  involved  in  the  crime  of  rebellion,  for  tho 
sake  of  perpetuating  human  Slavery.  Their  speeches,  arid  sermons,  and  recorded  act 3  are  full  of  evidence  that 
the  Ciintm,  in  the  broad  meaning  of  that  term,  had  In-come  horribly  corrupted  by  the  Slave  system,  ami  made 
a  willing  instrument  of  the  conspirators.  It  is  related  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stanton  (  The  Church  ami  the  liflitUion, 
p.  1<W),  that  Robert  Toornhs,  of  Georgia,  an  urdi-conspirator.  went  early  to  New  Orleans,  to  stir  up  the  people  to 
revolt.  The  Union  sentiment  was  too  strong  for  him,  and  he  was  about  to  leave,  when  it  was  suggested  that  the 
Rev.  Dr  Palmer  might  be  induced  to  preach  a  new  go*p«-|,  whose  chief  tenet  should  1*»  the  righteousness  of  Sla 
very.  He  seems  to  have  been  very  ready  to  do  so,  and  the  Fast -day  Sermon  of  Dr.  Pidiner,  above  alluded  to.  with 
nil  its  terrible  results,  was  a  part  of  the  fruits  of  the  mission  of  Toombs  to  Nc\v  Orleans,  in  the  autumn  of  IsOO. 

Dr.  Palmer's  discourse  was  seditious  throughout.  It  was  printed,  and  circulated  by  thousands  all  over  tho 
Slave-labor  States,  with  direful  effect.  In  the  summer  «>f  l-»fi5.  after  the  war  was  ended.  Dr.  Palmer  entered 
the  (uuiiu  pnl|, it.  and  "  frankly  told  his  jieoplc."  says  a  New  Orleans  correspondent  of  ihe  Roxtoit  rout,  "that 
they  had  all  been  wrong,  and  he  'the  chief  of  sinners;'  that  they  had  been  proud  and  haughty,  disobedient,  re 
bellious;  that  he  himself  had  been  humbled  before  <J»d,  and  received  merited  chastisement;  that  they  had  all 
Wen  taught  a  good  lesson  of  obedience  to  civil  authority,  and  he  hoped  it  would  be  filially  received  by  them  as 
the  children  of  Christ,  and  laid  up  in  their  heart  of  hearts.1' 

Fora  complete  history  of  the  change  in  the  sentiments  of  Christians  of  all  denominations  In  the  Slave- 
labor  States,  and  the  relations  of  the  clergy  to  the  conspirators,  see  a  volume  entitled  The  Cliurch  ami  the  Re 
bellion,  by  R.  L.  Stanton,  D.  D.,  of  Kentucky. 

1  Of  flie  12,000,000  of  Inhabitant*  in  the  Slave-laW  States,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  tho  ruling  class— 
those  in  whom  resided,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  the  political  power  of  the  Slates — numbered  alxjut  l.ooo.ooo. 
Of  these,  the  large  land  and  slave  holders,  whose  influence  in  the  body  of  ihe  million  named  was  almost  supreme, 
mimttered  less  than  2oo,ooo.  "  In  l-Oo,"  says  Kdward  Atkinson,  in  tlje  Continental  Monthly  for  March.  1*62, 
page  2.VJ,  "there  were  in  all  the  Southern  States  less  than  17i>.tMKi  MUM,  owning  more  than  five  slaves  each,  and 
they  owned  2,*00.000  out  of  .S..SUO.OOO."  The  production  of  the  great  staple,  cotton,  which  was  regarded  as  king 
of  kings  in  an  earthly  sense,  was  in  the  hands  of  less  than  IOO.IN»O  men. 

The  remaining  11.000,000  of  inhabitants  in  the  Slave-labor  States  consisted  of  fi.ooO.oun  of  small  slaveholders 
and  non-slaveholders,  mechanics,  and  laboring  men;  -J.ono.ooO  of  negro  slaves,  and  l.ooo.ooo  known  in  those 
regions  by  the  common  name  of  "  p.M>r  white  trash,"  a  degraded  population  scattered  over  the  whole  stirface  of 
those  Suites.  The  foregoing  figures  are  only  proximately  exact,  but  may  be  relied  on  as  a  truthful  statement 
of  statistics,  in  round  numbers. 

For  several  years  preceding  the  rebellion,  many  of  the  leading  publicists  in  the  Slave-labor  States  openly 
advocated  a  form  of  government  radically  opposed  to  that  of  our  Republic.  Their  chief  vehicle  of  communica 
tion  with  the  small  ruling  class  in  those  States  was  De  Roic*  lleritir,  a  magazine  of  much  pretension  and  of 
acknowledged  authority.  The  following  brief  paragraphs  from  the  pages  of  that  periodical,  selected  from  a 
thousand  of  liko  tenor,  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  truth  of  the  assertion  in  the  text,  that  the  vassalage  of  the 
"common  people,"  in  the  new  empire  which  long-contemplated  revolt  was  to  establish,  was  intended:— 

"Tho  right  to  govern  resides  in  a  very  small  minority  ;  the  duty  to  obey  is  inherent  in  the  great  mass  of 
mankind." 

"There  is  nothing  to  which  the  South  [the  ruling  class]  entertains  so  great  a  dislike  as  of  universal  suffrage. 
Wherever  foreigners  settle  together  in  large  numbers,  there  universal  suffrage  will  exist.  They  understand  and 
admire  the  leveling  democracy  of  the  North,  but  cannot  appreciate  the  aristocratic  feeling  of  a  privileged  class, 
so  universal  at  the  South." 

"The  real  civilization  of  a  country  is  in  its  aristocracy.  The  masses  are  molded  into  soldiers  and  artisans 
by  intellect,  just  as  matter  and  the  elements  of  nature  are  made  "»to  telegraphs  and  steam-engines.  The  poor, 


40  HOW   THE   PEOPLE    WERE   DECEIVED. 

social  scale,  with  the  great  proprietors  of  lands  and  sinews.1  Every  avenue 
through  which  truth  might  find,  its  way  to  the  popular  understanding  was 
quickly  closed,  and  the  people  had.  no  detecter  of  its  counterfeits.  "  Per 
haps  there  never  was  a  people,"  wrote  a  Southern  Unionist,  in  the  third 
year  of  the  war,  "  more  bewitched,  beguiled,  and  befooled  than  we  were 
when  we  drifted,  into  this  rebellion."2 

Commenting  on  these  actions  of  the  politicians,  President  Lincoln  said: — 
"  At  the  beginning,  they  knew  they  would  never  raise  their  treason  to  any 
respectable  magnitude  by  any  name  which  implies  violation  of  law.  They 
knew  their  people  possessed  as  much  moral  sense,  as  much  of  devotion  to  law 
and  order,  and  as  much  pride  in,  and  reverence  for,  the  history  and  Govern 
ment  of  their  common  country,  as  any  other  civilized  and  patriotic  people. 
They  knew  they  would  make  no  advancement  directly  in  the  teeth  of  these 
strong  and  noble  sentiments.  Accordingly,  they  commenced  by  an  insidious 
debauching  of  the  public  mind.  They  invented  an  ingenious  sophism,  which, 
if  conceded,  was  followed  by  perfectly  logical  steps,  through  all  the  incidents, 
to  the  complete  destruction  of  the  Union.  The  sophism  itself  is,  that  any 
State  of  the  Union  may,  consistently  with  the  Kational  Constitution,  and 
therefore  lawfully  and  peacefully,  withdraw  from  the  Union,  without  the  con 
sent  of  the  Union,  or  of  any  other  State.  The  little  disguise  that  the  sup 
posed  right  is  to  be  exercised  only  for  just  cause,  themselve's  to  be  the  judges 
of  its  justice,  is  too  thin  to  merit  any  notice.  With  rebellion  thus  sugar- 
coated,  they  have  been  drugging  the  public  mind  of  their  section  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  until,  at  length,  they  have  brought  many  good  men  to  a 
willingness  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Government,  the  day  after  some 
assemblage  of  men  have  enacted  the  farcical  pretense  of  taking  their  State  out 
of  the  Union,  who  could  have  been  brought  to  no  such  thing  the  day  before."3 

who  labor  all  day,  are  too  tired  at  night  to  study  books.  If  you  make  them  learned,  they  soon  forget  all  that  Is 
necessary  in  the  common  transactions  of  life.  To  make  an  aristocrat  in  the  future,  tee  must  sacrifice  a  thousand 
paupers.  Yet  we  would  by  all  means  make  them — make  them  permanent,  too,  by  laws  of  entail  and  primo 
geniture.  An  aristocracy  is  patriarchal,  parental,  and  representative.  The  feudal  barons  of  England  were,  next 
to  the  fathers,  the  most  perfect  representative  government.  The  king  and  barons  represented  everybody, 
because  everybody  belonged  to  them.'''' 

And  when  the  war  broke  out,  a  writer  in  the  Review  said,  with  truth  and  candor: — "The  real  contest  of 
to-day  is  not  simply  between  the  North  and  South ;  but  to  determine  whether  for  ages  to  come  our  Govern 
ment  shall  partake  more  of  the  form  of  monarchies  or  of  more  liberal  forms." 

1  There  is  ample  evidence  on  record  to  show  that  Yancey,  Davis,  Stephens,  and  other  leaders  in  the  great 
rebellion  were  advocates  of  the  foreign  Slave-trade.     Southern  newspapers  advocated  it.     The  True  Southron, 
of  Mississippi,  suggested  the  "  propriety  of  stimulating  the  zeal  of  the  pulpit  by  founding  a  prize  for  the  best 
eermon  in  favor  of  free  trade  in  negroes."   For  the  purpose  of  practically  opening  the  horrible  traffic,  an  ''Afri 
can  Labor-supply  Association  "  was  formed,  of  which  De  Bow,  editor  of  the  principal  organ  of  the  oligarchy,  was 
made  president    Southern  legislatures -discussed  the  question.     John  Slid«ll,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  urged 
the  propriety  of  withdrawing  American  cruisers  from  the  coast  of  Africa,  that  the  slavers  might  not  be  molested ; 
and  the  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan  was  made  to  favor  this  scheme  of  the  great  cotton-planters,  by  protest 
ing  against  the  visitation  of  suspected  slave-bearing  vessels,  carrying  the  American  flag,  by  British  cruisers. 

2  New  York  Daily  Times,  June  4,  1864 

3  Message  to  Congress,  July  4,  1861.     Mr.  Carpenter,  the  artist  who  painted  the  picture  of  The  Signing  of 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  relates  the  following  anecdote   concerning  the  last  sentence  in  the  above 
quotation  from  the  Message: — "Mr.  De  Frees,  the  Government  printer,  told  me  that  when  the  Message  was 
being   printed,  he  was  a  good  deal  disturbed  by  the  use  of  the  term  'sugar-coated,1  and  finally  went  to  the 
President  about  it.      Their  relations  to  each  other  being  of  the  most  intimate  character,  he  told  Mr.  Lincoln 
frankly  that  he  ought  to  remember  that  a  message  to  Congress  was  a  different  affair  from  a  speech  at  a  mass 
meeting  in  Illinois — that  the  messages  became  a  part  of  history,  and  should  be  written  accordingly.      'What 
Is  the   matter  now?1  inquired  the  President     'Why,1  said  Mr.  De  Frees,   'you  have  used  an  undignified  ex 
pression  in  the  Message;1  and  then  reading  the  paragraph  aloud,  he  added,  '  I  would  alter  the  structure  of  that, 
if  I  were  you.1     'De  Frees,1  replied  Mr.  Lincoln,  '  that  word  expresses  precisely  my  idea,  and   I  am  not  going 
to  change  it.     The  time  will  never  come,  in  this  country,  when  the  people  won't  know  exactly  what  suyar* 
coated  means!111 


THE   CONSPIRATORS   AT   WORK.— CALHOU2TS   AVOWALS.          41 

During  the  summer  and  early  autumn  of  1860,  William  L.  Yancey,  one 
of  the  most  active  ami  influential  of  the  conspirators,  with  other  disunion- 
ists,  made  a  pilgrimage  through  the  Free-labor  States,  for  the  purpose  of 
vindicating  the  claims  put  forth  by  the 
extremists  of  the  South,  concerning  State 
supremacy  and  the  unrestricted  extension 
of  Slavery.  They  were  listened  to  pa 
tiently  by  thousands  at  public  meetings  ; 
were  hospitably  treated  everywhere  ;  re 
ceived  assurances  of  sympathy  from  vast 
numbers  of  men  who  regarded  the  agi 
tation  of  the  Slavery  question,  by  the 
Abolitionists,  as  mischievous,  unfriendly, 
and  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  Union; 
and  then  they  went  back,  with  treason  in 
their  hearts  and  falsehoods  upon  their 
lips,  to  deceive  and  arouse  into  rebellion 
the  masses  of  the  Southern  people,  who  WIIJJAM  u 

regarded  them  as  oracles.  Like  an  incar 
nation  of  Discord,  Yancey  cried,  substantially  as  lie  had  written  two  years 
before: — Ct  Organize  committees  all  over  the  Cotton  States  ;  fire  the  Southern 
heart;  instruct  the  Southern  mind;  give  courage  to  each  other;  and  at  the 
proper  moment,  bv  one  organized,  concerted  action,  precipitate  the  Cotton 
States  into  revolution."1 

This  advice  was  instantly  followed  when  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  assured  by  the  decision  of  the  ballot-box,  on  the  6th  of  November. 
Indeed,  before  that  decision  was.made,  South  Carolina  conspirators — disci 
ples  and  political  successors  of  John  C.  Calhoun9 — met  at  the  house  of  James 

1  Letter  to  James  Slaughter,  .Mine  \\  ls£>S. 

*  .John  Caldwell  Calhoun.  of  South  Carolina,  always  appears  in  history  as  the  central  figure  of  a  group  of 
politicians  who.  almost  forty  yi-ars  airo,  adopting  the  disunion  theories  put  forth  by  a  few  Virginians,  like  John 
Taylor,  of  Caroline,  and  used  l.y  Jefferson  and  his  friends  for  the  teiiiftorary  purpose  of  securing  a  political 
«arty  victory  at  the  close  of  the  lost  century,  began,  in  more  modern  times,  the  work  of  destroying  the  na 
tionality  of  the  Republic.  With  amazing  intellectual  vigor  and  acumen,  Mr.  Calhoun  crystallized  the 
erude  elements  of  opposition  to  that  nationality,  found  in  so  great  abundance,  as  we  have  observed,  in  Virginia, 
during  WashlngU  n's  Administration,  that  it  drew  from  him  his  great  plea  for  union  in  his  Farewell  Address  to 
his  countrymen.  Calhoun  reduced  these  elements  to  compact  form.  and.  by  the  consummate  use  of  the  most 
subtle  sophistry,  of  which  he  was  complete  master,  he  instilled  the  most  dangerous  disintegrating  poison, 
known  as  the  doctrine  of  Supreme  State  Sovereignty,  into  the  public  mind  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  for  the 
purpose  of  meeting  a  contingency  which  he  contemplated  as  early  as  the  year  1*12.  The  now  [Is6.%]  venerable 
Kcar-udmlral  Stewart,  in  a  letter  to  George  W.  Childs,  of  Philadelphia,  relates  a  conversation  between  himself 
and  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  Washington  City,  in  the  winter  of  1S12  :—u  You  in  the  South."  suid  Stewart.  "  :ir,-  decidedly 
the  aristocratic  portion  of  this  Union;  you  are  so.  in  holding  persons  in  perpetual  slavery;  you  are  so.  in  every 
domestic  quality;  so  in  every  habit  of  your  lives,  modes  of  living,  and  action.  You  neither  work  with  your  hands, 
head,  nor  any  machinery,  but  live  and  bave  your  being,  not  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  your  Creator,  but  by 
rtie  sweat  of  slavery  ;  and  yet  you  assume  all  the  attributes,  professions,  and  advantages  of  Democracy."  Mr. 
Calhoun  replied:—"  I  admit  your  conclusions  in  respect  to  us  Southerners.  That  we  an-  essentially  aristocratic, 
I  cannot  d.-ny.  Hut  we  can,  and  do,  yield  much  to  Democracy.  Ttiis  itotir  sectional  ;*>//<•»/.  We  are,  from 
necessity,  thrown  upon  and  solemnly  wedded  to  that  party,  however  it  may  occasionally  clash  with  our  feel- 
Ings,  for  the  conservation  of  our  interests.  It  is  through  our  alliliation  with  that  party,  in  the  Middle  and 
Western  States,  that  we  hold  power.  Rut  when  we  cease  thus  to  control  this  nation,  through  <i  disjointed 
Democracy,  or  an;/  material  odxtacle  in  that  parti/  shall  ttntl  to  throtc  us  out  of  that  rule  and  control,  tea 
shall  retort  to  a  di«*olution  of  the  Union.  The  compromiM*  of  the  Constitution,  under  the  circumstances, 
were  sufficient  for  our  fathers ;  out  under  the  altered  condition  of  our  country,  from  that  period,  leart 
to  th?  South  no  rexource  but  dissolution." 

This  avowal  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  then  a  leading  Democratic  member  of  Congress,  that  the  politicians  of  tho 
Honth  were  determined  to  rule  the  Republic,  or  ruin  it,  was  made  forty-eight  years  before  the  great  rebellion 
<*ccurr>d.  Under  the  lead  of  Calhoun,  the  politicians  of  South  Carolina  attempted  a  rebellion  about  thirty  years 
befor*  but  failed 


42 


SECRET   MEETINGS    OF   THE    CONSPIRATORS. 


H.  Hammond  (son  of  a  New  England  schoolmaster,  and  an  extensive  land 
and  slave  holder,  near  the  banks  of  the  Savannah  River),  to  consult  upon  a 
plan  of  treasonable  operations.  Hammond  was  then  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  pledged  by  solemn  oath  to  see  that  the  Republic  re 
ceived  no  hurt ;  and  yet,  under  his  roof,  he  met  in  conclave  a  band  of 

men,  like  himself  sworn  to  be  defenders 
of  his  native  land,  from  foes  without  and 
foes  within,  to  plot  schemes  for  the  ruin 
of  that  country.  At  his  table,  and  in 
secret  session  in  his  library,  sat  William 
H.  Gist,  then  Governor  of  South  Carolina ; 
ex-governor  James  H.  Adams ;  James  L. 
Orr,  once  Speaker  of  the  National  House 
of  Representatives ;  the  entire  Congres 
sional  Delegation  of  South  Carolina,1  ex 
cepting  William  Porcher  Miles  (who  was 
compelled  by  sickness  to  be  absent),  and 
several  other  prominent  men  of  that  State. 
Then  and  there  the  plan  for  the  overt  act 
of  rebellion,  performed  by  South  Caro 
linians  in  Convention  at  Charleston,  sixty 

days  later,  seems  to  have  been  arranged.  They  were  assured  that  their 
well-managed  sundering  of  the  Democratic  party  at  Charleston,  in  April,9 
would  result  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  that  the  pretext  for  rebel 
lion,  so  long  and  anxiously  waited  for,  would  be  presented  within  a  fort 
night  from  that  time. 

This  meeting  was  followed  by  similar  cabals  in  the  other  cotton-growing 
States ;  and,  in  Virginia,  that  ever-restless  mischief-maker,  ex-governor 
Henry  A.  Wise,  with  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  John  Tyler,  James  M.  Mason,  the 
author  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850,  who  had  been  his  co-plotter 
against  the  life  of  the  Republic  four  years  before,3  and  other  leading  poli 
ticians  in  that  State,  were  exceedingly  active  in  arranging  plans  for  that 
Commonwealth  to  join  her  Southern  sisters  in  the  wTork  of  treason.  Wise, 
who  assumed  to  be  their  orator  on  all  occasions,  had  openly  declared,  that 


JOHN    CALDWELL    CALHOUN. 


1  These  were  John  McQueen,  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  Milledge  L.  Bonham,  John  D.  Ashmore,  and  William  W. 
Boyce,  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Senators  James  II.  Hammond  and  James  Chesnut,  Jr. 

2  See  page  23. 

3  In  response  to  an  invitation  from  Wise,  a  convention  of  Governors  of  Slave-labor  States  was  secretly  held 
at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  of  which  Jefferson  Davis,  then  the  Secretary  of  War,  was  fully  cognizant.     The 
object  was  to  devise  a  scheme  of  rebellion  at  that  time,  in  the  event  of  the  election  of  Colonel  John  C.  Fremont, 
the  Republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency.    "Wise  afterward  boasted  that,  had  Fremont  been  elected,  he  should 
have  inarched,  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men,  to  Washington,  taken  possession  of  the    Capitol,  and  pre 
vented  the  inauguration  of  the  President  elect.     Fremont's  defeat  postponed  overt  acts  of  treason  by  the  con 
spirators. —  The  American  Conflict:  by  Horace  Greeley.  i.  329.     Senator  Mason, -writing  to  Jeff.  Davis  on  the 
30th  of  September,  said: — "I  have  a  letter  from  Wise,  of  the  27th,  full  of  spirit.      He  says  the  governments  of 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Louisiana  have  already  agreed  to  the  rendezvous  at  Raleigh,  and  others 
will—this  in  your  most  private  ear.     He  says  further,  that  he  had  officially  requested  you  to  exchange  with 
Virginia,  on  fair  terms  of  difference,  percussion  for  flint  muskets.     I  don't  know  the  usage  or  power  of  the  De 
partment  in  such  cases;  but,  if  it  can  be  done,  even  by  liberal  construction,  I  hope  you  will  accede.     Was  there 
not  an  appropriation  at  the  last  session  for  converting  flint  into  percussion  arms?     If  so,  would  it  not  furnish 
good  reason   for  extending  such  facilities  to  the  States?     Virginia  probably  has  more  arms  than   the  other 
Southern  States,  and  would  divide,  in  case  of  need.     In  a  letter,  yesterday,  to  a  committee  in  South  Carolina,  I 
gave  it  as  my  judgment,  in  the  event  of  Fremont's  election,  the  South  should  not  pause,  but  proceed  at  once  to 
'immediate,  absolute,  and  eternal  separation '    So  I  am  a  candidate  for  the  first  halter." 


TREASONABLE   UTTERANCES.— TRAITORS  IN   THE   CABINET.      43 

if  Lincoln  was  elected,  he  "  would  not  remain  in  the  Union  one  hour."  He 
applauded,  as  hopeful  words  for  his  class,  the  declaration  of  Howell  Cobb 
(then  President  Buchanan's  Secretary  of  the  Treasury),  at  a  public  gather 
ing,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  that,  in  the  event  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  election, 
secession  would  have  the  "  sympathy  and  co-operation  of  the  Administra 
tion,"  and  that  he  "did  not  believe  another  Congress  of  the  United  States 
would  meet."  H<?  hailed  with  delight, 
as  chivalrous  to  the  last  degree,  the  as 
surances  of  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  in  a  public 
speech,  at  Washington,  that  President 
Buchanan  was  "pledged  to  secession, 
and  would  be  held  to  it ;"  that  "  South 
Carolina  would  shatter  the  accursed 
Union,"  and  that,  if  she  could  not  ac 
complish  it  otherwise,  ushc  would  throw 
her  arms  round  the  pillars  of  the  Consti 
tution,  and  involve  all  the  States  in  a 
common  ruin."  He  listened  with  pecu 
liar  pleasure  to  the  declaration  of  Robert 
Barn  well  Hhett,  also  of  South  Carolina, 
that  "all  true  statesmanship  in  the 

South  consists  in  forming  combinations  and  shaping  events,  so  as  to  bring 
about,  as  speedily  as  possible,  a  dissolution  of  the  present  Union,  and  a 
Southern  Confederacy." — "Ifythcr  than  submit  one  moment  to  Black  Re 
publican  rule,"  Wise  wrote  to  an  old  friend  ot  his  father,  in  the  North, 
"  I  would  fight  to  the  last  drop  of  blood  to  resist  its  fanatical  oppression. 
Our  minds  are  made  up.  The  Suuth  irill  t«>t  trttft  until  the  4fh  of  March. 
We  trill  be  irtll  undtr  arm*  before  tin  n,  or  our  safety  must  be  guaranteed.''1 

Everywhere  the  conspirators  and  their  followers  and  agents  were  sleep 
less  in  vigilance  and  tireless  in  energy.  Hundreds  of  telegraphic  messages, 
volumes  of  letters,  and  scores  of  couriers,  went  from  plantation  to  planta 
tion,  from  village  to  village,  from  city  to  city,  and  from  State  to  State, 
wherever  the  Slave  power  held  sway,  stirring  up  the  people  to  revolt ; 
whilst  prominent  individuals  and  public  bodies  hastened,  on  hearing  of  the 
result  of  the  election,  to  swell  the  grand  chorus  of  treasonable  speech,  led 
by  the  dozen — they  were  but  a  little  more  in  number — of  the  chief  con 
spirators.9 

Three,  if  not  four,  of  these  chief  conspirators  were  President  Buchanan's 
cabinet  ministers  and  constitutional  advisers.  The  three  were  Howell 
Cobb,  of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  John  B.  Floyd,  of  Virginia, 
Secretary  of  War;  and  Jacob  Thompson,  of  Mississippi,  Secretary  of  the 
Interior.  William  II.  Trescot,  of  South  Carolina,  who  for  many  years  had 


1  Autograph  letter  to  Josiah  Williams,  of  Ponehkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  dated  '•Rnlleston.  nr-ar  Norfolk.  Va..  D 
comber '24,  1S60."  Governor  Wise,  It  will  be  remembered,  wa»  chiefly  instrumental  in  j^-oc'ii.'ng  *.he  .-xjrutio 
of  John  Hrown  for  treason,  less  than  a  year  before.  Four  years  later,  his  estate  of  "  IJollost«>n.  »ev  K-*-*-JV 
was  occupied  as  a  camp  for  freed  neeroes;  and,  in  hi»  mansion,  a  daughter  of  John  Brown  was  t*ochtw  •»<*%•*» 
children  how  to  read  and  write  the  English  language. 

*  See  the  remarks  nf  Horace  Maynard,  on  page  85. 


44  COBB'S   PLAN"   OF   REVOLUTION. 

been  plotting  against  the  life  of  the  nation,  was  then  Assistant  Secretary  of 
State,  and  their  confederate  in  crime.  These  men,  while  in  office,  and 
pledged  by  solemn  oaths  to  support  the  National  Constitution  and  laws, 
were  for  months  plotting  schemes  for  the  destruction  of  the  former  and 
defiance  of  the  latter. 

From  his  official  desk  at  Washington,  Cobb  wrote""  an  inflam- 
Ci860.         matory  address  to  the  people  of  Georgia,  in  which  he  said,  in 

conclusion  : — "  On  the  4th  of  March,  1861, 
the  Federal  Government  will  pass  into 
the  hands  of  the  Abolitionists.  It  will 
then  cease  to  have  the  slightest  claim 
either  upon  your  confidence  or  your  loy 
alty  ;  and,  in  my  honest  judgment,  each 
hour  that  Georgia  remains  thereafter  a 
member  of  the  Union  will  be  an  hour 
of  degradation,  to  be  followed  by  cer 
tain  and  speedy  ruin.  I  entertain  no 
doubt  either  of  your  right  or  duty  to  se 
cede  from  the  Union.  Arouse,  then,  all 
your  manhood  for  the  great  work  before 
you,  and  be  prepared,  on  that  day,  to 
announce  and  maintain  your  independ 
ence  of  the  Union,  for  you  will  never 
again  have  equality  and  justice  in  it.  Identified  with  you  in  heart,  feeling, 
and  interest,  I  return  to  share  in  whatever  destiny  the  future  has 

*DeCTs60.r8'    in  store  for  our  State  and  ourselves."      Two   days  afterward,5 
Cobb   resigned  his  office,1  hastened  to  Georgia,  and  afterward 
took  up  arms  against  his  country.2 


1  In  his  letter  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  resigning  his  office,  Mr.  Cobb  frankly  informed  him  that  duty  to  his  State 
required  him  to  sever  his  connection  with  the  National  Government,  and  lend  his  powers  for  the  good  of  hia 
own  people.     "  I  have  prepared,"  he  said,  "and  must  now  issue  to  them  an  address,  which  contains  the  calm  and 
solemn  convictions  of  my  heart  and  judgment."    As  his  views  would,  if  he  remained  in  the  Cabinet,  expose 
himself  to  suspicion,  and  put  the  President  in  a  false  position,  he  thought  it  proper  to  resign.     In  this,  Mr.  Cobb 
was  more  honest  and  honorable  than  his  traitorous  associates  in  the  Cabinet,  who  remained  almost  a  month 
longer. 

2  Cobb's  plans  had  been  matured  before  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln.    So  early  as  the  1st  of  November, 
1860,  Trescott,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  wrote  to  the  editor  of  the  Charleston  Mercury,  as  follows  :— 

"WASHINGTON,  Nov.  1,  I860. 

"DEAR  RHETT:  I  received  your  letter  this  morning.  As  to  my  views  or  opinions  of  the  Administration,  I 
tan,  of  course,  say  nothing.  As  to  Mr.  Cobb's  views,  he  is  willing  that  I  should  communicate  them  to  you.  in 
order  that  they  may  aid  you  in  forming  your  own  judgment;  but,  you  will  understand  that  this  is  confidential 
•—that  is,  neither  Mr.  Cobb  nor  myself  must  be  quoted  as  the  source  of  your  information.  I  will  not  dwell  on 
this,  as  you  will,  on  a  moment's  reflection,  see  the  embarrassment  which  might  be  produced  by  any  auUiorized, 
statement  of  his  opinions.  I  will  only  add.  by  way  of  preface,  that  after  the  very  fullest  and  freest  conversations 
Vvith  him,  I  feel  sure  of  his  earnestness,  singleness  of  purpose,  and  resolution  in  the  whole  matter. 

u  Mr.  Cobb  believes  that  the  time  is  come  for  resistance;  that  upon  the  election  of  Lincoln,  Georgia  ought 
to  secede  from  the  Union,  and  that  she  will  do  so.  That  Georgia  and  every  other  State  should,  as  far  as  seces 
sion,  act  for  herself,  resuming  her  delegated  powers,  and  thus  put  herself  in  position  to  consult  with  other  sov 
ereign  States  who  take  the  same  ground.  After  the  secession  is  effected,  then  will  be  the  time  to  consult.  But 
he  is  of  opinion,  most  strongly,  that  whatever  action  is  resolved  on,  should  be  consummated  on  the  4th  of 
March,  not  before.  That  while  the  action  determined  on  should  be  decisive  and  irrevocable,  its  initial  point 
should  be  the  4t-h  of  March.  He  is  opposed  to  any  Southern  convention,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  consulta 
tion.  If  a  Southern  convention  is  held,  it  must  be  of  delegates  empowered  to  act,  whose  action  is  at  once 
binding  on  the  States  they  represent. 

"But  he  desires  me  to  impress  upon  you  his  conviction,  that  any  attempt  to  precipitate  the  actual  issue 
'upon  this  Administration  will  be  most  mischievous — calculated  to  produce  differences  of  opinion  and  destroy 


THE   TREACHERY   OF   FLOYD   AND   THOMPSON.  45 

Floyd's  treachery  consisted  more  in  secret,  efficient  action  than  in  open 
words.  As  we  shall  observe  presently,  he  had  used  the  power  of  his 
official  station  to  strip  the  arsenals  of  the  Free-labor  States  of  arms  and 
ammunition,  and  to  crowd  those  of  the  Slave-labor  States  with  these  mate 
rials  of  war ;  while  Thompson,  for  more  than  ten  years  an  avowed  dis- 
unionist,  was  now  plotting  treason,  it  seems,  by  night  and  by  day.  II*1 
wrote  from  his  official  desk  at  Washington,  as  early  as  the  20th  of  No 
vember  : — "  My  allegiance  is  due  to  Mis 
sissippi1  and  her  destiny.  I  believe  she 
ought  to  resist,  and  to  the  bitter  end, 
Black  Republican  rule.  .  .  .  As  long  as 
I  am  here,  I  shall  shield  and  protect 
the  South.  Whenever  it  shall  come  to 
pass  that  I  think  I  can  do  no  further  good 
here,  I  shall  return  to  my  home.  Buchanan 
is  the  truest  friend  to  the  South  I  have 
ever  known  in  the  North.  He  is  a  jewel 
of  a  man."  After  speaking  <>f  the  in 
tended  secession  of  Mississippi,  he  said  : — 
"  I  want  the  co-operation  of  the  Southern 
States.  I  wish  to  do  all  I  can  to  secure 
their  sympathy  and  co-operation.  A  con- 
federacy  of  the  Southern  States  will  be 

strong  enough  to  command  the  respect  of  the  world,  and  the  love  and  con 
fidence  of  our  people  at  home.  South  Carolina  will  go.  I  consider  Georgia 
and  Florida  as  certain.  Alabama  probable.  Then  Mississippi  must  go. 
l>ut  I  want  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  North  Carolina, 
Virginia;  and  Maryland  will  not  stay  behind  long.  .  .  .  As  soon  as 
our  mechanics,  our  merchants,  our  lawyers,  our  editors,  look  this  mat 
ter  in  the  face,  and  calculate  the  consequences,  they  will  see  their  in- 


urmniinily.  lit  think*  it  of  great  itnjxtrttinct  that  the  cotton  crop  thonld  ao  forward  at  once,  and  that  tht 
money  *hould  be  in  the  hand*  of  the  people,  that  the  cry  of  popular  dittrr**  *hall  not  be  heard  at  the.  out- 
«et  of  thin  more*  . 

"My  own  opinion  is,  that  it  would  be  well  to  have  a  discreet  man,  one  who  knows  the  value  of  silence,  who 
can  listen  wisely,  present  in  Milledgeville,  at  the  meeting  of  the  State  Legislature,  as  there  will  be  there  an  out 
side  gathering  of  the  very  ablest  men  of  that  State. 

44  And  the  next  point,  that  you  should,  at  the  earliest  possible  day  of  the  session  of  our  own  legislature, 
elect  a  man  us  governor,  whose  name  and  character  will  conciliate  as  well  as  give  confidence  to  all  the  men  of 
the.  State.  If  we  do  act.  I  really  think  this  half  the  battle  ;  a  man  upon  whose  temper  the  State  can  rely. 

"  I  say  nothing  about  a  convention,  as  I  understand,  on  all  hands,  that  that  is  a  fixed  fact,  and  I  have  confined 
myself  to  answering  your  question.  I  will  bo  much  obliged  to  you  if  you  will  write  me  soon  and  fully  from 
Columbia.  It  is  impossible  to  write  to  you,  with  the  constant  interruption  of  the  otlicc.  and  as  you  want  Cobb's 
opinions,  not  mine.  I  send  this  to  you.  Yours,  W.  II.  T."1 

The  original  of  the  above  letter  is  in  my  jMissession. 

1  Ten  years  before,  this  man,  then  engaged  in  treasonable  schemes,  dating  his  letter  at  Washington,  "  House 
of  Representatives,  September  '2,  1S50,"  wrote  to  General  Quitman,  then  Governor  of  Mississippi,  on  whom 
the  mantle  of  Calhoun,  as  chief  conspirator  against  American  Nationality,  had  worthily  fallen,  saying: — "When 
the  President  of  the  United  States  commands  me  to  do  one  act,  and  the  Executive  of  Mississippi  commands  me 
to  do  another  thing,  inconsistent  with  the  first  order,  I  obey  the  Governor  of  my  State.  To  Mississippi  I  owe 
alleffinntf,  and,  because  she  commands  me,  I  owe  obedience  to  the  United  Suites." — Life,  and  Correspondence 
of  John  A.  Quitman  :  by  .T.  F.  II.  Claiborne,  ii.  63.  This  is  the  pure  doctrine  of  Supreme  State  Sovereignty,  on 
which  the  conspirators  founded  their  justification  for  the  so-called  secession  of  the  StaU-s  from  the  Union. 


•  The  iniquity  »f  tut*  recommendation  of  Cubb  ii  made  apparent  l>y  the  fart,  that  it  wni  a  common  practice  for  the  planter  U 
re.tMTi-  jmy  for  hit  crop  in  advance.  The  crop  now  to  "  pi  forward"  WAI  already  paid  for.  The  money  to  be  received,  on  it*  delivery 
was  for  the  next  year'*  crop,  which  would  never  be  delivered.  Here  wa»  a  prupvcition  for  a  tcbeuie  to  iwiudle  .Northern  men  to  the 

at  of  many  uiillioui  of  dollar*. 


46 


REVOLUTIONARY   MOVEMENTS   IN  SOUTH   CAROLINA. 


Carolina  Legislature  to  meet  in  extra- 


terest  so  strong  in  the  movement,  I  fear  they  will  be  violent  beyond  con 
trol."  The  seizure  of  the  Government,  before  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration, 
was  a  part  of  the  plan  of  operations.  "The  successful,  unrestricted  instal 
lation  of  Lincoln,"  wrote  this  viper,  nestled  in  the  warm  bosom  of  the  Re 
public,  "  is  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  Slavery." l  Thompson  afterward 
took  up  arms  against  the  Republic,  plotted  the  blackest  crimes  against  the 
people  of  his  country  while  finding  an  asylum  in  Canada,  and  was  finally 
charged  with  complicity  in  the  murder  of  President  Lincoln.  Floyd,  in 
dicted  for  enormous  frauds  on  the  Government  while  in  office,  perished 
ignobly,  after  wearing  the  insignia  of  a  brigadier-general  among  the  insur 
gent  enemies  of  his  country. 

The  Governors  and  Legislatures  of  several  of  the  Slave-labor  States  took 
early  action  against  the  National  Government.  The  South  Carolina  poli 
ticians  moved  first.  They  were  traditionally  rebellious,  gloried  in  their 
turbulence,  and  were  jealous  of  any  leadership  or  priority  of  action  in  the 
great  drama  of  Treason  about  to  be  opened. 

Governor  Gist  called  the  South 
ordinary  session,  in  the  old  State  House  at  Columbia,  on  Monday,  the  5th 
of  November,  for  the  purpose  of  choosing,  on  the  following  day,  Presiden 
tial  electors.2  In  his  message  to  both  Houses,  he  recommended  the  author 
ization  of  a  convention  of  the  people,  to  consider  the  expediency  of  with 
drawing  the  State 
from  the  Union,  in 
the  event  of  Lin 
coln's  election.  He 
expressed  a  desire 
that  such  withdraw 
al  should  be  accom 
plished.  "The  in 
dications  from 
many  of  the  South 
ern  States,"  he  said, 
"justify  the  conclu 
sion  that  the  seces 
sion  of  South  Carolina  will  be  immediately  followed,  if  not  adopted  simul 
taneously,  by  them,  and  ultimately  by  the  entire  South.  .  .  .  The  State 
has,  by  great  unanimity,  declared  that  she  has  the  right  peaceably  to  secede,3 
and  no  power  on  earth  can  rightfully  prevent  it.  If,  in  the  exercise  of 
arbitrary  power,  and  forgetful  of  the  lessons  of  history,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  should  attempt  coercion,  it  will  become  our  solemn  duty 
to  meet  force  by  force ;  and,  whatever  may  be  the  decision  of  the  conven- 


THE   OLD   STATE  HOUSE   AT   COLUMBIA. 


1  Letter  to  Mr.  Peterson,  of  Mississippi.     It  fell  into  the  hands  of  United  States  troops  while  in  that  region, 
in  1863. 

2  In  South  Carolina,  political  power  had  always  been  as  far  removed  from  the  people  as  possible.     The  Gov 
ernor  of  the  State  and  the  Presidential  electors  were,  by  a  provision  of  the  State  Constitution,  chosen  by  the 
Legislature,  and  not  directly  by  the  people. 

3  In  1852,  a  State  Convention  in  South  Carolina  reiterated  the  sentiments  of  the  Nullification  Convention 
twenty  years  before,  and  declared  that  the  State  had  a  "right  to  secede  from  the  Confederacy  whenever  the  occa 
sion  should  arise  justifying  her,  in  her  judgment,  in  taking  that  step."     The  Convention  informed  the  world  that 
the  State  forbore  the  immediate  exercise  of  that  right  from  considerations  of  expediency  onlv. 


MEMBERS   OF   CONGRESS   COUNSEL  REVOLUTION.  47 

tion  representing  the  sovereignty  of  the  State,  and  amenable  to  no  earthly 
tribunal,  it  shall,  during  the  remainder  of  my  administration,  be  carried  out 
to  the  letter,  regardless  of  any  hazard  that  may  surround  its  execution." 
He  recommended  the  immediate  arming,  "with  the  most  efficient  weapons 
of  modern  warfare,"  every  white  man  in  the  State  between  the  ages  of 
eighteen  and  forty-five,  and  placing  the  whole  military  force  of  the  Common 
wealth  "  in  a  position  to  be  used  at  the  shortest  notice,  and  with  the  great 
est  efficiency."  lie  also  recommended  the  immediate  acceptance  of  ten. 
thousand  volunteers,  to  be  officered  and  drilled,  and  held  in  readiness  to  be 
called  upon  at  the  shortest  notice. 

These  recommendations  to  prepare  for  revolt  were  made  on  tlie  day 
before  the  election  of  3Ir.  Lincoln.  They  met  with  a  hearty  response.  On 
that  evening,  prominent  South  Carolinians,  who  were  in  attendance,  were 
serenaded  and  made  speeches.  One  of  these  was  James  Chesnut,  Jr.,  a 
member  of  the  United  States  Senate.  He  told  the  crowd  of  listeners  that 
he  had  no  doubt  of  the  election  of  3fr.  Lincoln  on  the  morrow,  and  that 
then  they  had  arrived  "at  the  initial  point  of  a  new  departure.  We  have 
two  ways  before  us,"  he  said,  "in  one  of  which,  whether  we  will  or  not,  we 
must  tread.  ...  In  both  lie  dangers,  difficulties,  and  troubles,  which  no 
human  foresight  can  foreshadow  or  perceive;  but  they  are  not  equal  in  mag. 
nitude.  One  is  beset  with  humiliation,  dishonor,  ('fm-tttt-n,  rebellions — with 
submission,  in  the  beginning,  to  all,  and  at  all  tiihes,  and  confiscation  and 
slavery  in  the  end.  The  other,  it  is  true,  has  its  difficulties  and  trials,  but 
no  disgrace.  Hope,  duty,  and  honor  shine  along  the  path."  "The  Hlack  Re 
publicans,"  lie  said,  "claim  the  dogmas  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
as  part  of  the  Constitution,  and  that  it  is  their  right  and  duty  to  so  administer 
the  Government  as  to  give  full  effect  to  them.  The  people  now  must  choose 
whether  they  will  be  governed  by  enemies  or  govern  themselves.  For  my 
self,  I  would  unfurl  the  Palmetto  Hag,  fling  it  to  the  breeze,  and,  with  the 
spirit  of  a  brave  man,  determine  to  live  and  die  as  becomes  our  glorious 
ancestry,  and  ring  the  clarion  notes  of  defiance  in  the  ears  of  an  insolent 
foe."  lie  spoke  of  the  undoubted  right  of  South  Carolina  to  withdraw 
from  the  Union,  and  recommended  its  immediate  action  in  that  direction, 
saying,  "the  other  Southern  States  will  flock  to  our  standard."  His 
speech  was  received  with  vehement  applause,  and  met  with  greetings  of 
satisfaction  throughout  the  State. 

In  a  similar  manner,  W.   W.  Boyce,  who  had  been  a  member  of  Con 
gress    since    1853,   responded   to   a   serenade    on    the    following 
evening,"  from  the  balcony  of  the  Congaree  House.      "In  my         J^" 
opinion,"  he  said,  "the  South  ought  not   to  submit.     If  you  in 
tend  to  resist,  the  way  to  resist  in  earnest  is  to  act ;  the  way  to  enact  revo 
lution  is  to  stare  it  in  the  face.     I  think  the  only  policy  for  us  is  to  arm  as 
soon  as  we  receive  authentic  intelligence  of  the  election  of  Lincoln.     It  is 
for  South  Carolina,  in  the  quickest  manner,  and  by  the  most  direct  means, 
to   withdraw  from  the  I7nion.      Then*  we    will    not    submit,   whether    the 
other  Southern  States  will  act  with  us  or  with  our  enemies.  .  .  .  When  an 
ancient  philosopher  wished  to  inaugurate    a    revolution,    his    motto    was: 
To  dare  !  To  dare  !"     From  .that  moment,  he  was  zealously  engaged  in  efforts 
to  destroy  his  Government. 


48          EDMUND   RUFFIN.— RESIGNATION   OF   CIVIL   OFFICERS.  - 

From  the  same  balcony  Edmund  Ruffin,  of  Virginia,  a  white-haired  otct 
man,  made  a  speech  to  the  excited  people.  lie  was  well  known  as  a  political 
and  agricultural  writer,  and  a  warm  personal  friend  and  admirer  of  John  C. 
Calhoun  and  his  principles.  He  had  made  it  an  important  part  of  the  busi 
ness  of  his  life  to  applaud  the  system  of  Slavery,  and  to  create  in  the  Slave- 
labor  States  a  hatred  of  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States.  He  soon  after 
ward  acquired  the  unenviable  distinction  of  having  raised  the  first  spade- 
full  of  earth  in  the  construction  of  military  works  for  the  assault  on  Fort 
Sumter,  and  also  of  having  fired  the  first  shot  at  that  fortification.1  He  had 
now  hastened  from  his  home  in  Virginia  to  Columbia,  to  urge  the  importance 
of  immediate  secession.  "  I  have  studied  the  question  now  before  the  coun 
try,"  he  said,  "  for  years.  It  has  been  the  one  great  idea  of  my  life.  The 
defense  of  the  South,  I  verily  believe,  is  only  to  be  secured  through  the 
lead  of  South  Carolina.  Old  as  I  am,  I  have  come  here  to  join  her  in  that 

lead.  I  wish  Virginia  was  as  ready  as 
South  Carolina,  but,  unfortunately,  she 
is  not.  But  the  first  drop  of  blood 
spilled  on  the  soil  of  South  Carolina 
will  bring  Virginia  and  every  other 
Southern  State  to  her  side." 

It  had  been  agreed  that  revolution 
ary  movements  should  commence  im 
mediately  after  the  fact  should  be  made 
known  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected. 
Accordingly,  on  the  evening 
of  the  7th,a  a  dispatch  went 
up  to  Columbia  from  Charles 
ton,  saying  that  many  of  the  National 
officers  had  resigned.  That  morning, 
the  United  States  District  Court  had 
assembled  in  Charleston,  over  which  one  of  the  leaders  of  rebellion,  Judge 
A.  G.  Magrath,  presided.  The  Grand  Jury,  according  to  instructions,  de 
clined  to  make  any  presentments.  They  said  that  the  action  of  the  ballot-box 
on  the  previous  day  had  destroyed  all  hopes  of  a  permanent  confederacy  of  the 
"Sovereign  States,"  and  that  the  public  mind  was  constrained  to  "rise  above 
the  consideration  of  details  in  the  administration  of  law  and  justice,  up  to 
the  vast  and  solemn  issues  that  have  been  forced  upon  us — issues  which 
involve  the  existence  of  the  Government  of  which  this  Court  is  the  organ." 
They  therefore  declined  to  act.  This  solemn  judicial  farce  was  perfected 
by  the  formal  resignation  of  Judge  Magrath.  With  ludicrous  gravity,  he 
said  to  the  jurors  : — "  For  the  last  time  I  have,  as  Judge  of  the  United 


EDMUND    RUFFIN. 


1  Ruffin  was  in  Richmond  at  the  close  of  the  following  summer,  and  visited  the  National  prisoners  who 
were  captured  at  the  battle  of  Bull's  Run  in  July.  He  told  them  that  he  was  then  a  resident  of  Charleston,  in 
South  Carolina,  and  boasted  that  he  was  the  person  who  fired  the  first  shot  at  Sumter.  Mr.  Ely,  member  of 
Congress,  who  was  among  the  prisoners,  speaks  of  him  in  his  Journal,  kept  while  in  confinement  in  Richmond, 
as  "a  patriarchal  citizen,  whose  long  locks  extended  over  his  shoulders,  whitened  by  the  snows  of  more  than 
seventy  winters."  Ruffin  did  not  appear  prominently  in  the  war  that  ensued.  He  survived  the  conflict,  in 
which  he  lost  all  of  his  property.  On  Saturday,  the  17th  of  June,  1S65,  he  committed  suicide'by  blowing  off  the 
top  of  his  head  with  a  gun,  at  the  residence  of  his  son,  near  Danville,  in  Virginia.  He  left  a  note,  in  which  he 
fcaid  v— "  I  cannot  survive  the  liberties  of  my  country ."  The  wretched  man  was  then  almost  eighty  years  of  age. 


DISLOYAL   PROCEEDINGS   IN   SOUTH   CAROLINA. 


49 


States,  administered  the  laws  of  the  United  States  within  the  limits  of 
South  Carolina.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  the  Temple  of  Justice,  raised 
under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  is  now  closed."  He  then  laid 
aside  his  gown,  and  retired. 

The  Collector  of  Customs  at 
Charleston,  C.  J.  Colcock,  and  James 
Conner,  the  United  States  District 
Attorney,  resigned  at  the  same  time; 
and  B.  C.  Pressley,  the  National 
Sub-treasurer,  also  announced  his  de 
termination  to  resign,  as  soon  as  he 
could  with  due  respect  to  President 
Buchanan.  Although  a  convention  to 
make  a  formal  declaration  of  the  with 
drawal  of  the  State  from  the  Union 
had  not  yet  been  authorized,  the  con 
spirators  and  their  political  instru 
ments  throughout  South  Carolina  now 
acted  as  if  disunion  had  been  actually 
accomplished. 

On  the  morning  of  the  7th,"  when  the  telegraph  h.nl  flashed 
intelligence  of  Lincoln's  election  over  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land,  and  bore  tidings  of  great  joy  elsewhere  because  of  the  auspicious 
event,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  rebellious  people  in  Charleston  was  unbounded 
and  irrepressible.  The  conspirators  and  their  friends  greeted  each  other 
with  signs  of  the  greatest  exultation.  They  grasped  each  other's  hands, 
and  ^oine  of  them  cordially  embraced,  in  the  ecstasy  of  their  pleasure. 

in 'mated  by  bonfires.  The 
wished-for  pretext  for  insur 
rection  was  at  hand,  and  the 
masterspirits  of  treason  were 
everywhere  jubilant.  Their 
work,  begun  so  hopefully  in 
the  Convention  at  Charles 
ton,  in  April,  was  now  well- 


A.    G.     M. Vr.lt ATI!. 


November, 
1S60. 


Tin-  Palmetto  flag  was  eve 
rywhere  unfurled  ;  and  from 
the  crowded  streets  went  up 
cheer  after  cheer  for  a  South 
ern  Confederacy.  All  day 
the  enthusiasm  was  kept  up 
by  speeches,  harangues,  and 
the  booming  of  cannon  ;  and, 
at  evening,  the  city  was  illu- 


nigh  finished  in  November. 

The  genii  of  revolution  then   planted  had  expanded,  and  budded,  and  blos 
somed,  ami  now  promised  abundant  fruit. 

There  was  intense  excitement  at  Columbia,  on  the  morning  after  the 
election.  Governor  Gist  was  the  recipient  of  many  messages  by  telegraph: — 
"  The  Governor  and  Council  are  in  session,"  said  one  from  Kaleigh,  North 
Carolina.  "The  people  are  very  much  excited.  North  Carolina  is  ready 
to  secede." — "Large  numbers  of  Bell  men,"  said  another,  from  Montgomery, 
Alabama,  "headed  by  T.  II.  Watts,1  have  declared  tor  secession,  since  the 
announcement  of  Lincoln's  election.  The  State  will  undoubtedly  secede." 
—  "The  hour  for  action  has  come,''  said  a  message  from  Milledgeville,  Geor- 

1  Thomas  II.  Watts  was  a  "Bell-Everett"  elector,  but  espoused  the  muse  «>f  the  conspirators  at  the  very 
beginning  of  their  open  earcrr.     He  was  elected  Governor  of  Alabama  in  lr>63,  and  used  his  otlicial  power  to  iU 
utmost  in  favor  of  the  rebellion. 
Vol..  I.— 4 


50  THE  FEELING   IN  SLAVE-LABOR   STATES. 

gia.     "This  State  is  ready  to  assert  her  rights  and  independence.     The 
leading  men  are  eager  for  the  business." — "  There  is  a  great  deal  of  excite 
ment  here,"    said   a  dispatch  from  Washington   City ;    "  several   extreme 
Southern  men,  in  office,  have  donned  the  Palmetto  cockade,1  and  declared 
themselves  ready  to  march  South." — "  If  your    State  se 
cedes,"  said  another,  from  Richmond,  Virginia,   "  we   will 
send  you  troops  of  volunteers  to  aid  you." — "  Placards  are 
posted  about  the  city,"  said-a  message  from  New  Orleans, 
"  calling  a  convention  of  those  favorable  to  the  organiza 
tion  of  a  corps   of  Minute-men.      The    Governor    is    all 
right." — "  Be  firm,"  said  a  second  dispatch  from  Washing 
ton  ;  "  a  large  quantity  of  arms  will  be  shipped  South  from 
the  Arsenal  here,  to-morrow.     The  President  is  perplexed. 
SECESSION  COCKAUE.     His  feelings  are  with  the  South,  but  he  is  afraid  to  assist 
them  openly." — "  The  bark  James  Gray,  owned  by  Cush- 
ing's  Boston  line,  lying  at  our  wharves,"  said  a  message  from  Charleston, 
"  has  hoisted  the  Palmetto  flag,  and  fired  a  salute  of  fifteen  guns,  under 
direction  of  her  owner.     The  Minute-men  throng  the  streets  with  Palmetto 
cockades  in  their  hats.     There  is  great  rejoicing  here." 

Stimulated  by  these  indications  of  sympathy,  the  South  Carolina  Legis 
lature  took  bold  and  vigorous  action.  Joint  resolutions  were  offered  in  both 
Houses,  providing  for  the  calling  of  a  State  Convention  at  an  early  day,  for 
the  purpose  of  formally  declaring  the  withdrawal  of  the  State  from  the 
Union.  These,  generally,  contemplated  immediate  separate  State  action, 
before  the  excitement  caused  by  the  election  should  subside,  and  the  heads 
of  the  people  should  become  cool  and  capable  of  sober  reflection.  But  there 
were  able  men  in  that  Legislature,  who  foresaw  the  perils  which  a  single 
State,  cut  loose  from  her  moorings  during  a  terrible  storm  of  passion,  would 
have  to  encounter,  and  pleaded  eloquently  for  the  exercise  of  reason  and 
prudence.  They  were  as  zealous  as  their  colleagues  for  ultimate  secession, 
but  regarded  the  co-operation  of  at  least  the  other  Cotton-growing  States  as 
essential  to  success.  "  If  the  State,  in  her  sovereign  capacity,  determines 
that  secession  will  produce  the  co-operation  which  we  have  so  earnestly 
sought,"  said  Mr.  McGowan,  of  Abbeville,  "  then  it  shall  have  my  hearty 
approbation.  .  .  .  If  South  Carolina,  in  Convention  assembled,  deliberately 
secedes — separate  and  alone,  and,  without  hope  of  co-operation,  decides  to 
cut  loose  from  her  moorings,  surrounded  as  she  is  by  Southern  sisters  in  like 
circumstances — I  will  be  one  of  her  crew,  and,  in  common  with  every  true 
son  of  hers,  will  endeavor,  with  all  the  power  that  God  has  given  me,  to 

'  Spread  all  her  canvas  to  the  breeze, 

Set  every  threadbare  sail, 
And  give  her  to  the  God  of  storms, 

The  lightning  and  the  gale.'  " 

But  these  cautious  men  were  overborne  by  the  fiery  zealots.'  One  of 
these  (Mullins,  from  Marion),  in  his  eagerness  to  hurry  the  State  out  of  the 
Union,  revealed  not  only  the  fact  that  the  heads  and  hearts  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  of  South  Carolina  were  not  in  unison  with  the  desperate 


Made  of  blue  silk  ribbon,  with  a  button  in  the  center,  bearing  the  image  of  a  Palmetto-tree. 


ACTION   IX   SOUTH   CAROLINA   AND   GEORGIA.  51 

politicians  who  were  exciting  them  to  revolt,  but  another  fact,  afterward 
made  clear — that  months  before  Mr.  Lincoln's  election,  emissaries  of  the  con 
spirators  had  been  sent  to  Europe,  to  prepare  the  way  for  aid  and  recog 
nition  of  the  contemplated  Southern  Confederacy  by  foreign  powers.  "If 
we  wait  for  co-operation,"  he  said,  "  Slavery  and  State  Riyht*  (fill  be  aban 
doned.  State  Snverriynty  and  tin  ran**  of  the  South  lost  forever  ;  and  we 
would  be  subjected  to  a  dominion,  the  parallel  to  which  is  that  of  the  poor 
Indian  under  the  British  Kast  India  Company.  When  we  have  pledged 
ourselves  to  take  the  State  out  of  the  Union,  and  place  it  on  record,  then  I 
am  willing  to  send  a  commissioner  to  Georgia,  or  any  other  Southern  State, 
to  announce  our  determination,  and  to  submit  the  question  whether  they 
will  join  us  or  not.  We  have  it  from  high  authority,  that  the  representative 
of  one  of  the  imperial  powers  of  Europe,  in  view  of  the  prospective  separa 
tion  of  one  or  more  of  the  Southern  States  from  the  present  Confederacy, 
has  made  propositions  in  advance  for  the  establishment  of  such  relations 
between  it  and  the  government  about  to  be  established  in  this  State,  as  will 
insure  to  that  power  such  a  supply  of  cotton  for  the  future  as  their  increas 
ing  demand  for  that  article  will  require.*'1 

Led  by  Robert  Harnwell  Khett,  Senior,  the  extremists  in  the  South  Caro 
lina  Legislature  held  sway  in  that  body,  and  on  the  9th  of  November^!  bill 
calling  a  convention  for  the  purpose  of  secession  passed  the  Senate,  and 
was  concurred  in  by  the  House  on  the  12th.  It  provided  for  the  election 
of  delegates  on  the  Oth  of  December,  to  meet  in  convention  on  the  17th  of 
that  month.  This  accomplished,  Messrs.  Chesnut  and  Hammond  formally 
offered  the  resignation  of  their  seats  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
The  offer  was  accepted  with  great  applause,  as  the  beginning  of  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Union. 

Georgia  was  the  first  to  follow  the  bad  example  of  South  Carolina.  Its 
Legislature  was  convened  on  the  7th  of  November.  Robert  Toombs  and 
Alfred  Iverson,  then  United  States  Senators,  and  others,  had  been  laboring 
with  intense  zeal,  during  the  Presidential  canvass,  to  arouse  the  people  to 
revolt  when  the  leaders  should  give  the  signal.  Many  influential  men  were 
co-workers  with  them.  It  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  seduce  the  people  of 
that  State  from  their  affection  for  the  Union.  They  succeeded,  however,  in 
producing  a  general  ferment  and  unrest  throughout  the  State;  and,  by 
falsehoods,  impassioned  addresses,  and,  in  some  cases,  intimations  of  im 
pending  wrath  for  Union  men,  they  confused,  distracted,  and  divided  the 
people.  Toombs,  like  Khett,  was  anxious  for  the  immediate  ami  separate 
secession  of  his  State. 

By  the  time  the  Legislature  met,  which  was  on  the  day  after  the  Presi 
dential  election,"  there  had  been  created  quite  a  strong  disunion  ^  _ 
feeling  throughout  the  State.  It  permeated  the  woof  of  society, 
and  was  prominent  in  the  whole  social  fabric.  The  Legislature  was  divided 
in  sentiment ;  and  a  majority  of  them  did  not  coincide  with  the  Speaker,  who, 
in  opening  the  session,  declared  that  the  triumph  of  the  Republican  party 
would  lead  to  a  nullification  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law;  the  exclusion  of 
Slavery  from  the  Territories;  the  non-admission  of  any  more  Slave  States 


1  This  matter  Is  eluci<lftte<l  in  another  portion  of  this  work. 


52  THE   GEORGIA   LEGISLATURE.— STATE   SUPREMACY. 

into  the  Union ;  the  abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia ;  the 
desecration  of  the  Church,  by  the  installation  therein  of  an  "Anti-slavery 
God ;"  the  dissolution  of  every  bond  of  union  between  the  North  and  the 
South,  and  a  practical  application  of  the  theory  that  the  Republic  could  not 
exist,  half  slave  and  half  free.  These  predictions  of  the  Speaker,  through 
the  operations  of  war,  were  fulfilled  to  the  letter.  They  are  now  History. 

Governor  Joseph  E.  Brown's  message  to  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  was 
long,  temperate  in  language,  but  very  hostile  toward  the  people  of  the 
North.  After  reviewing,  at  great  length,  the  legislation  in  several  of  the 
Northern  States  concerning  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  he  urged  the  enact 
ment,  as  a  retaliatory  measure,  of  a  law  making  it  a  penal  offense  to  intro 
duce  any  goods,  wares,  or  merchandise  into  Georgia  from  any  of  those  States. 
"  In  my  opinion,"  he  said,  "  the  time  for  bold,  decided  action,  has  arrived.'1 
He  was  opposed  to  secession  as  a  remedy  for  existing  evils,  and  did  not  like 
the  project  of  a  Southern  Convention  of  States  looking  to  that  end,  which 
had  been  proposed ;  yet,  he  recommended  the  appropriation  of  a  million  of 
dollars  for  the  purpose  of  arming  the  State. 

The  Legislature  discussed  the  exciting  topics  presented  to  them  with 
calmness.  It  was  generally  agreed  that  the  State  could  not  remain  within 
the  Ujiion  excepting  on  certain  conditions,  such  as  the  repeal  of  the  Per 
sonal  Liberty  Laws  existing  in  some  of  the  Free-labor  States,  and  the 
enactment  of  laws  by  Congress  for  the  protection  of  Slave  property  in  the 
Territories.  By  a  heavy  majority  they  voted  that  a  "  Sovereign  State  "  of 
the  LTnion  had  a  right  to  secede  from  it,  adopting  as  their  own  the  doctrine 
put  forth  by  the  Governor  in  his  message,  that  the  States  of  the  Union  are 
not  subordinate  to  the  National  Government ;  were  not  created  by  it,  and 
do  not  belong  to  it ;  that  they  created  the  National  Government ;  from  them 
it  derives  its  powers  ;  to  them  it  is  responsible,  and,  when  it  abuses  the  -trust 
reposed  in  it,  they,  as  equal  sovereigns,  have  a  right  to  resume  the  powers 
respectively  delegated  to  it  by  them. 

This  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  doctrine  of  State  supremacy,  as 
defined  and  inculcated  by  Calhoun  and  his  followers,  for  the  evident  pur 
pose  of  weakening  the  attachment  of  the  people  to  the  Union,  and  so  dwarf 
ing  their  patriotism  that  narrow  State  pride  should  take  the  place  of  the 
lofty  sentiment  of  nationality,  and  predispose  them  to  acquiescence  in  the 
scheme  for  forming  a  "  Southern  Confederacy,"  to  be  composed  of  the 
Slave-labor  States.  That  definition  of  the  character  of  our  Government 
has  no  real  foundation  in  truth,  discoverable  in  the  teachings  or  actions  of 
the  founders  of  the  Republic  who  framed  the  National  Constitution,  nor  in 
the  revealments  of  history.1  It  defines,  with  proximate  accuracy,  the  char- 

1  Let  us  here  consider  two  or  three  expressions  of  those  founders  : — 

u  I  hold  it  for  a  fundamental  point,  that  an  individual  independence  of  the  States  is  utterly  irreconcilable 
with  the  idea  of  an  aggregate  sovereignty/' — Letter  to  Edmund  Randolph,  April  8,  ITS",  by  James  Madison. 

"The  Swiss  Cantons  have  scarce  any  union  at  all,  and  have  been  more  than  once  at  war  with  one  another. 
How,  then,  are  all  these  evils  to  be  avoided?  Only  by  such  a  complete  sovereignty  in  the  General  Govern 
ment  as  will  turn  all  the  strong  principles  and  passions  above  mentioned  on  its  side.11 — Speech  l>y  Alexander 
Hamilton  in  the  Constitutional  Convention,  June  IS,  1TST. 

"  A  thirst  for  power,  and  the  bantling — I  had  like  to  have  said  the  MOBSTER — sovereignty,  which  have  taken 
such  fast  hold  of  the  States  individually  will,  when  joined  by  the  many  whose  personal  consequence  in  the  lino 
of  State  politics  will,  in  a  manner,  be  annihilated,  form  a  strong  phalanx  against  it." — Letter  of  Washington 
to  John  Jay,  March  10,1787,  on  proposed  changes  in  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  land. — Life  of  Jay,  i.  259. 

See  also,  Two  Lectures  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  by  Francis  Lieber,  LL.  D. 


TOOMBS  AND  STEPHENS  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE.       53 

acter  of  the  Government  under  the  old  Confederation,  which  existed  for 
eight  or  ten  years  before  the  National  Constitution  became  the  supreme  law 
of  the  land  ;  but  it  is  clearly  erroneous  as  applied  to  the  Government  which 
was  founded  on  that  Constitution  in  1789.  Instead  of  the  National  Govern 
ment  being  a  creation  of  the  States  as  States,  it  is  a  creation  of  the  jwople 
of  the  original  thirteen  States  existing  when  the  present  Government  was 
formed,  and  is*  the  political  creator  of  every  State  since  admitted  into  the 
Union,  first  as  a  Territory,  and  then  as  a  State,  solely  by  the  exercise  of  its 
potential  will  expressed  by  the  general  Congress.  Without  the  consent  of 
Congress,  under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  no  State  can  enter  the 
Union.1  This  subject  has  received  the  attention  due  to  its  importance  in 
another  portion  of  this  work.  It  is  introduced  here  incidentally,  to  mark 
the  line  of  difference  between  Unionists  and  Secessionists  at  the  beginning 
of  the  great  struggle — between  those  who  hold  that  our  Republic  is  a  unit 
or  consolidated  nation,  composed  of  distinct  commonwealths,  and  those  who 
hold  that  it  is  only  a  league  of  Sovereign  States,  whose  existence  may  be 
ended  by  the  withdrawal,  at  its  own  pleasure,  of  any  member  of  the  league. 
We  will  only  add,  that  the  leaders  in  the  great  rebellion  found  their  full 
justification  in  the  doctrine  of  the  supremacy  of  the  States,  which,  if  it  be 
the  true  interpretation  of  our  system  of  government,  makes  secession  and 
consequent  disunion  lawful. 

Whilst  the  Georgia  Legislature  was  considering  the  great  questions  of 
the  day,  and  Kobert  Toombs  and  other  conspirators  were  urging  them  to 
treasonable  action,  Alexander  II.  Stephens,  a  leading  man  in  intellect  and 
personal  character  in  that  State,  and  for  a  long  time  its  repre 
sentative  in  Congress,  addressed  a  large  concourse  of  people,"  in 
the  Assembly  Chamber  at  Milledgeville.  Toombs  had  harangued 
them  on  the  previous  evening,  with  his  accustomed  arrogance  of  manner 
and  insolence  of  speech.  He  denounced  the  National  Government  as  a 
curse,  and  made  many  false  charges  concerning  its  partiality  to  Northern 
interests,  to  the  injury  of  Southern  interests.  He  also  urged  the  Legislature 
to  act  on  the  subject  of  Secession,  independent  of  the  people.  He  was 
u afraid  of  conventions,"  he  said;  that  is  to  say,  he  was  afraid  to  trust  the 
people.  His  language  was  violent  and  seditious  in  the  extreme.2  He  de 
manded  unquestioning  acquiescence  in  his  secession  schemes,  and,  with  the 
bravado  characteristic  of  a  nature  lacking  true  courage,  he  said  : — "I  ask  you 
to  give  me  the  sword;  for,  if  you  do  not  give  it  to  me,  as  God  lives,  I  will 
take  it  myself," — and  much  more  of  like  tenor.  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  say, 
in  this  connection,  that,  during  the  war  that  ensued,  Toombs  was  made  a 
brigadier-general  in  the  armies  of  the  conspirators,  and,  acting  in  accordance 
with  the  maxim,  that  "Prudence  is  the  better  part  of  valor,"  was  never 


i  See  Section  3,  Article  IV.  of  the  National  Constitution. 

1  After  telling  the  people  that  after  the  4th  of  March  cnsuinjr,  the  National  Government,  which  had  from 
the  l(eg;nnin£  Ix-en  controlled  by  men  from  the  Slave-laU»r  Suites,  would  be  in  the  hands  of  the  majority  com 
posing  the  jNtpulation  of  the  Free-labor  States,  he  said :— "  Withdraw  your  sons  from  the  Army,  from  the  Navy, 
and  every  department  of  the  Federal  public  service.  Keep  your  own  taxes  in  your  own  coffers.  Buy  arms 
with  them,  and  throw  the  bloody  sj»ear  into  this  den  of  incendiaries  and  assassins,  and  let  God  defend  the 
right  .  .  .  Twenty  years  Of  labor,  and  toils,  and  taxes,  all  expended  upon  preparation,  would  not  make  up 
for  the  advantage  your  enemies  would  gain  if  the  rising  sun  on  the  5th  of  March  should  find  you  in  *he  Union. 
Then  strike  while  it  is  yet  time  !" 


54  STEPHENS'S   UNION   SPEECH. 

known  to  remain  a  moment  longer  than  he  was  compelled  to  in  a  place  of 
danger  to  himself. 

Stephens's  matter  and  manner  were  the  reverse  of  all  this.  He  was  calm, 
cool,  dignified,  dispassionate,  and  solemn,  but  apparently  earnest.  "My 
object,"  he  said,  "  is  not  to  stir  up  strife,  but  to  allay  it ;  not  to  appeal  to 
your  passions,  but  to  your  reason."  With  the  fervor  which  patriotic  inv 
pulses  inspire,  and  the  apparent  candor  as  well  as  sagacity  of  n  philosopher, 
he  commented  on  the  election  just  ended,  its  significance,  and  its  probable 
bearing  upon  the  future  history  of  the  country,  and  especially  of  the  Slave- 
labor  States.  "Let  us  reason  together,"  he  said.  "Shall  the  people  of  the 
South  secede  from  the  Union  in  consequence  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  ?  My  countrymen,  I  tell  you  frank 
ly,  candidly,  and  earnestly,  that  I  do  not  think  that  they  ought.  In  my 
judgment,  the  election  of  no  man,  constitutionally  chosen,  to  that  high 
office,  is  sufficient  cause  for  any  State  to  separate  from  the  Union.  It  ought 
to  stand  by  and  aid  still  in  maintaining  the  Constitution  of  the  country.  To 
make  a  point  of  resistance  to  the  Government,  to  withdraw  from  it,  because 
a  man  has  been  constitutionally  elected,  puts  us  in  the  wrong.  We  are 
pledged  to  maintain  the  Constitution.  Many  of  us  have  sworn  to  support 
it.  Can  we,  therefore,  for  the  mere  election  of  a  man  to  the  Presidency,  and 
that,  too,  in  accordance  with  the  prescribed  forms  of  the  Constitution,  make 
a  point  of  resistance  to  the  Government,  by  withdrawing  from  it,  without 
becoming  the  breakers  of  that  sacred  instrument  ourselves?  Would  we 
not  be  in  the  wrong  ?  Whatever  fate  is  to  befall  this  country,  let  it  never 
be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  people  of  the  South,  and  especially  to  the  people 
of  Georgia,  that  we  were  untrue  to  our  national  engagements.  Let  the 
fault  and  the  wrong  rest  upon  others.  If  all  our  hopes  are  to  be  blasted — if 
the  Republic  is  to  go  down — let  us  be  found  to  the  last  moment  standing  on 
the  deck,  with  the  Constitution  of  the  L'nited  States  waving  over  our  heads. 
Let  the  fanatics  of  the  North  break  the  Constitution,  if  that  is  their  fell 
purpose.  Let  the  responsibility  be  upon  them.  I  shall  speak  presently 
more  of  their  acts ;  but  let  not  the  South — let  us  not  be  the  ones  to  commit 
the  aggression.  We  went  into  the  election  with  this  people.  The  result 
was  different  from  what  we  wished ;  but  the  election  has  been  constitution 
ally  held.  Were  we  to  make  a  point  of  resistance  to  the  Government,  and 
go  out  of  the  Union  on  that  account,  the  record  would  be  made  up  here 
after  against  us." 

Mr.  Stephens  then  showed,  that  with  a  majority  of  the  United  States 
Senate  and  of  the  Supreme  Court  politically  opposed  to  him,  the  new  Presi 
dent  would  be  powerless  to  do  evil  to  the  Slave  system.  "  Why,  then,"  he 
asked,  "  should  we  disrupt  the  ties  of  this  Union  when  his  hands  are  tied, 
and  he  can  do  nothing  against  us  ?"  "  My  countrymen,"  he  continued, 
"  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  believe  this  Union  has  been  a  curse,  up  to  this 
time.  True  men,  men  of  integrity,  entertain  different  views  from  me  on 
this  subject.  I  do  not  question  their  right  to  do  so ;  I  would  not  impugn 
their  motives  in  so  doing.  Nor  will  I  undertake  to  say  that  this  Govern 
ment  of  our  fathers  is  perfect.  There  is  nothing  perfect  in  this  world,  of  a 
human  origin — nothing  connected  with  human  nature,  from  man  himself  to 
any  of  his  works.  .  .  .  But  that  this  Government  of  our  fathers,  with  all 


THE   UNION   AND   DISAPPOINTED   POLITICIANS.  55 

its  defects,  comes  nearer  the  objects  of  all  good  governments  than  any 
.other  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  is  my  settled  conviction.  .  .  .  Where 
will  you  go,  following  the  sun  in  its  circuit  round  our  globe,  to  find  a 
government  that  better  protects  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  secures  to 
them  the  blessings  we  enjoy  ?  I  think  that  one  of  the  evils  that  beset  us 
is  a  surfeit  of  liberty,  an  exuberance  of  priceless  blessings  for  which  we  are 
ungrateful." 

Mr.  Stephens  then  proceeded  to  expose  the  misstatements  and  dissipate 
the  fallacies  uttered  by  Toombs  the  previous  evening,  and  was  frequently 
applauded.  Toombs  was  present,  and  felt  the  scourge  most  keenly.  With 
ill-concealed  rage  and  disappointment,  he 
frequently  interrupted  the  speaker,  some 
times  with  tones  of  anger,  and  sometimes 
with  those  of  scorn.  These  did  not  disturb 
the  equanimity  of  his  competitor  in  the 
least.  With  perfect  coolness,  courtesy,  and 
even  gentleness,  he  went  forward  in  his  work 
of  apparently  endeavoring  to  stay  the  rising 
tide  of  revolution  against  the  Government  he 
professed  to  love  so  well,  defending  its  claim 
to  justice  and  beneficence.  "The  great  dif 
ference  between  our  country  and  all  others, 
such  as  France,  and  England,  and  Ireland, 
is,'1  he  said,"  that  here  there  is  popular  sove 
reignty,  while  there  sovereignty  is  exercised 

by  kings  and  favored  classes.  This  principle  of  popular  sovereigntv,  how 
ever  much  derided  lately,  is  the  foundation  of  our  institutions.  Constitu 
tions  are  but  the  channels  through  which  the  popular  will  may  be  expressed. 
Our  Constitution  came  from  the  people.  They  made  it,  and  they  alone  may 
rightfully  unmake  it/'  .  .  .  **  I  believe  in  the  power  of  the  people  to  gov 
ern  themselves,  when  wisdom  prevails  and  passion  is  silent.  Look  at  what 
has  already  been  done  by  them  for  their  advancement  in  all  that  ennobles 
man.  There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Look  abroad 
from  one  extent  of  the  country  to  the  other;  contemplate  our  threat  ness. 
We  are  now  among  the  first  nations  of  the  earth.  Shall  it  be  said,  then, 
that  our  institutions,  founded  upon  principles  of  self-government,  are  a 
failure  ?  Thus  far,  our  Government  is  a  noble  example,  worthy  of  imitation. 
The  gentleman  (Mr.  Cobb),1  the  other  night,  said  it  had  proven  a  failure. 
A  failure  in  what?  In  growth?  Look  at  our  expanse  in  national  power. 
Look  at  our  population,  and  increase  in  all  that  makes  a  people  great.  A 
failure?  Why,  we  are  the  admiration  of  the  civili/cd  world,  and  present  to 
it  the  brightest  hopes  of  mankind.*'  With  an  appropriateness,  armed  with  a 
peculiar  sting  for  both  Toombs  and  Cobb,  and  for  other  demagogues,  he 
added: — "Some  of  our  public  >m  n  harcf<iiln?  in  t/nir  ut*jtirtitiinut :  tlmt  /.«.• 
trm1,  and  from  th<tt  cowc-n  a  yrcut  jxtrt  <>f  our  troubles."  As  soon  as  pro 
longed  applause  ended,  Mr.  Stephens  said: — "  Xo,  there  is  no  failure  of  this 
Government  yet.  We  have  made  great  advancement  under  the  Constitu- 

'  T.  R.  II.  Cobb. 


56  STEPHENS'S    PREACHING   AND   PRACTICE. 

tion,  and  I  cannot  but  hope  that  we  shall  advance  higher  still.  Let  us  be 
true  to  our  cause." l 

Mr.  Stephens's  speech  made  a  powerful  impression  throughout  the  Re 
public,  and  many  men  in  the  North  expressed  a  wish  that  Mr.  Lincoln  might 
invite  him  to  a  seat  in  his  cabinet,  as  a  concession  to  the  South.  The  true 
friends  of  the  Government  everywhere  hoped  that  it  might  do  its  proposed 
work  of  allaying  the  storm  of  passion,  then  increasing  in  violence  in  the 
Slave-labor  States  every  hour.  That  storm  had  been  long  gathering.  Its 
elements  were  marked  by  intense  potency,  and  it  had  now  burst  upon  the 
land  with  such  force  that  no  human  work  or  agency  could  withstand  its 
blind  fury.  It  was  sweeping  onward,  roaring  with  the  most  vehement  rage, 
like  a  tropical  tornado,  making  every  thing  bend  to  its  strength.  Mr. 
Stephens  himself  was  lifted  by  it  from  the  rock  of  the  Constitution,  on 

which  he  had  so  ostentatiously  planted 
his  feet  at  this  time,  and  within  ninety 
days  he  was  riding  proudly  upon  the 
wings  of  the  tempest,  as  the  second  actor 
in  a  Confederacy  of  rebellious  men,  banded 
for  the  avowed  purpose  of  destroying 
that  Constitution,  and  laying  in  hopeless 
ruins  the  glorious  Republic  which  rested 
upon  it,  and  which  he  now  professed  so 
ardently  to  love  and  admire  !  He  did, 
indeed,  seem  to  try  hard  to  resist  the 

f  ^WM^it^ >!M^^^^^\       storm    for    several    weeks;    and,  during 

that  time,  told  his  countrymen  some  sober 
truths  concerning  the  control  of  the  Na- 
ALEXANDER  ii.  STEPHENS.  tionsil  Government  by  the  Slave  interest 

from   its  beginning,  which    should   have 

made  the  cheeks  of  every  conspirator  crimson  with  shame,  because  of  his 
mean  defiance  of  every  principle  of  honor  and  true  manhood — his  wicked 
ness  without  excuse. 

In  the  State  Convention  of  Georgia,  early  in  January,  1861,  Mr.  Stephens 
said : — "  I  must  declare  here,  as  I  have  often  done  before,  and  which  has  been 
repeated  by  the  greatest  and  wisest  of  statesmen  and  patriots  in  this  and 
other  lands,  that  it  is  the  best  and  freest  Government,  the  most  equal  in  its 
rights,  the  most  just  in  its  decisions,  the  most  lenient  in  its  measures,  and  the 
most  inspiring  in  its  principles  to  elevate  the  race  of  men,  that  the  sun  of 
heaven  ever  shone  upon.  Now,  for  you  to  attempt  to  overthrow  such  a 


1  In  a  private  letter,  written  eleven  days  after  this  speech  (dated  "  Crawfordsville,  Ga.,  Nov.  25,  I860  ''),  Mr. 
Stephens  revealed  the  fact  that  in  him  the  patriot  was  yet  subservient  to  the  politician — that  his  aspirations 
were  really  more  sectional  than  national.  He  avowed  that  his  attachment  to  Georgia  was  supremo,  and  that 
the  chief  object  of  his  speech  at  Milledgeville,  on  the  14th,  was  not  so  much  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union 
as  the  security  of  unity  of  action  in  his  State.  "The  great  and  leading  object  aimed  at  by  me,  in  Milledgeville,1" 
he  said,  "  was  to  produce  harmony  on  a  right  line  of  policy.  If  the  worst  comes  to  the  worst,  as  it  may,  and 
our  State  has  to  quit  the  Union,  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  all  our  people  should  be  united  cordially  in 
this  course.'1  After  expressing  a  desire  that  the  rights  of  Georgia  might  be  secured  "in  the  Union,"  he  said : — 
*  If,  after  making  an  effort,  we  shall  fail,  then  all  our  people  will  be  united  in  making  or  adopting  the  last  resort, 
the  ultima  ratio  regum  " — the  last  argument  of  kings — the  force  of  arms.  He  then  predicted,  that  when  the 
Union  should  be  dissevered,  "at  the  North,  anarchy  will  ensue,"  yet  he  was  doubtful  whether  the  South  would 
be  any  better  off. 


POLITICAL  RULE  OF  THE  SLAVE  INTEREST.  57 

Government  as  this^  under  which  we  have  lived  for  more  than  three-quarters 
of  a  century — in  which  we  have  gained  our  wealth,  our  standing  as  a  nation, 
our  domestic  safety,  while  the  elements  of  peril  are  around,  with  peace  and 
tranquillity,  accompanied  with  unbounded  prosperity  and  rights  unassailed — is 
the  hight  of  madness,  folly,  and  wickedness,  to  which  I  can  neither  lend  my 
sanction  nor  my  vote."1  A  month  later,  he  was  Vice-President  of  a  Con 
federacy  of  traitors  to  that  Government !  Indeed,  in  the  first  speech  here 
cited  he  had  provided  himself  with  means  for  escape,  should  there  be  an 
occasion,  growing  out  of  a  perhaps  foreshadowed  necessity,  by  declaring  : — 
"Should  Georgia  determine  to  go  out  of  the  Union,  I  speak  for  one,  though 
my  views  might  not  agree  with  them,  whatever  the  result  may  be,  I  shall 
bow  to  the  will  of  the  people  of  my  State.2  Their  cause  is  my  cause,  and 
their  destiny  is  my  destiny;  and  I  trust  this  will  be  the  ultimate  course  of 

1  In  this  speech,  Mr.  Stephens  said,  truly,  that  the  Slave-labor  States  had  always  received  from  the  National 
Government  all  they  had  ever  asked.  When  they  demanded  it,  the  Slave-trade  was  allowed,  by  a  special  pro 
vision  in  the  Constitution,  for  twenty  years.  When  they  asked  for  a  three-fifths  representation  in  Congress  for 
their  slaves,  it  was  granted.  When  they  asked  for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves,  a  provision  of  the  Constitution 
and  special  laws  were  made  for  that  purjiose.  When  they  asked  for  more  territory,  they  received  Louisiana, 
Florida,  and  Texas.  "  We  have  always  had  the  control  of  the  General  Government,"  he  said,  "and  can  yet,  if 
we  remain  in  it,  and  are  as  united  as  we  have  been.  W«  have  had  a  majority  of  the  Presidents  chosen  from  the 
South,  as  well  as  the  control  and  management  of  most  of  those  chosen  from  the  North.  We  have  had  sixty  years 
of  Southern  Presidents  to  their  twenty -four,  thus  controlling  the  Kxccutive  Department  So  of  the  judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court;  there  have  been  eighteen  from  the  South,  and  but  eleven  from  the  North.  Although  nearly 
four-flfths  of  the  judicial  business  has  arisen  in  the  Free  States,  yet  a  majority  of  the  Court  has  always  been  from 
the  South.  This  we  h.ive  received,  no  (lit  to  g\ntr<l  <nj<nn»t  tiny  inttrj»-f(<ttinn  iniftirwtililt  to  MX.  In  like  man 
ner  we  have  been  equally  watchful  to  guard  our  interests,  in  the  Legislative  branch  of  the  Government  In 
choosing  the  Presidents  of  the  Senate,  j>ro  temjtorf,  we  have  had  twenty-four  to  their  eleven.  Speakers  of  the 
House,  we  have  had  twenty-three  and  they  twelve.  While  the  majority  of  the  Representatives,  from  their 
greater  population,  have  always  been  from  the  North,  yet  we  have  generally  secured  the  Speaker,  because  he.  to 
a  great  extent  shapes  and  controls  the  legislation  of  the  country.  Nor  have  we  had  any  less  control  in  every 
other  department  of  the  General  Government.  Attorney-generals  we  have  had  fourteen,  while  the  North  have 
had  but  five.  Foreign  Ministers  we  have  had  eighty-six,  and  they  but  flfty-four."  He  then  went  on  to  show  that 
while  three-fourths  of  the  business  demanding  diplomatic  agents  abroad  was  from  the  Free-labor  States,  his 
section  had  hail  the  principal  F.mbassies;  that  a  vast  majority  of  higher  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  were 
from  the  South,  while  a  larger  portion  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  wi-re  drawn  from  the  North;  and  that  two- 
thirds  of  theclerks  in  the  Department*  at  \Vashinsrton  hadlwen  taken  from  the  Slave-labor  States,  while  they  had 
only  about  one-third  of  the  white  population.  During  the  Name  time,  over  three-fourths  of  the  revenue  collected 
for  the  support  of  the  Government  was  uniformly  raised  from  the  North.  .  ..  The  expense  for  the  transporta 
tion  of  the  mails  in  the  Free-labor  States  was,  by  the  ItejMirt  rtf  the  Postmaster-general  for  1S60.  a  little  over 
f  1. '*,<)< K),0<M>,  while  the  income  was  $H>.<MMi.OOO.  Hut  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  the  cost  of  the  transportation  of 
the  mails  was  $14.71<>.<MHi.  while  the  revenue  from  the  same  was  $>.<>( lU^fi;  leaving  a  deficit  of  ft'.,  704.974. 

In  view  of  all  this,  Mr.  Stephens  might  well  ask,  as  he  did."  For  what  purpose  will  you  break  up  this  Union 
— this  American  Government  established  by  our  common  ancestry,  cemented  and  built  up  by  their  sweat  and 
blood,  and  founded  on  the  broad  principles  of  Itiytit,  Jit*tice,  and  Humanity  f" 

7  In  contrast  with  this  subserviency  to  the  idea  of  State  supremacy,  and  with  more  enlarged  views  of  the 
duty  of  American  citizens.  Henry  Clay,  as  much  interested  in  Slavery  as  Mr.  Stephens,  once  said  on  the  floor 
of  Congress,  in  rebuke  of  disunion  sentiments:—"  If  Kentucky,  to-morrow,  unfurls  the  banner  of  resistance, 
I  never  will  flght  under  that  banner;  I  owe  a  jmramount  allegiance  to  the  whole  Union— a  subordinate  one  to 
my  own  Slate."  A  writer  in  the  New  York  Ertning  I'o*t  ("  W.  L.  P.").  of  February  *th,  1S6.\  in  a  long  poem, 
called  "Aleck  and  Abv,*'  thus  alludes  to  Stephens' a  defection,  which  some  have  attributed  to  "coercion:" 

"  But  by  and  by.  our  doleful  friend  Screamed  Yancey.  *  You  shall  eat  those  words, 

Received  a  rousing  start  As  sure  as  I  am  I." 

As  Yancey  waved  his  lucifers  And.  sooth,  he  did  it  in  a  twink. 

To  '  fire  the  Southern  heart'  With  many  a  wry  grimace  ; 

'  Hold,  there  !'  shrieked  Aleck,  in  dismay;  As  .Jeff,  and  Toombs  stood  by.  and  shook 

'  Was  ever  wretch  so  rash?  A  halter  in  his  face. 

If  you  ignite  that  magazine.  And  when  the  words  were  all  devoured. 

You'll  blow  us  all  to  smash  !'  With  right  hand  on  his  breast 

Outspoke  the  Fire-fiend  of  the  South :  He  whimpered,  '  Pray,  forgive  me,  friends; 

•  Not  so.  by  grandest  odds—  Indeed,  I  did  but  jest 

If  I  let  off  this  rnacnzine  And  now  I've  had  my  little  joke, 

We  all  become  as  gods!'  And  you  your  natural  "swear;" 

4  You  lie,'  cried  Aleck, '  in  your  thnmt;  I'm  all  agog  to  back  your  aims— 

And  more,  you  know  you  He!'  What's  first  to  do  or  dare?'  * 


November  12, 
I860. 


58  A   CONVENTION'  AUTHORIZED. 

all.  Let  us  call  a  convention  of  the  people  ;  let  all  these  matters  be  submitted 
to  it;  and  when  the  will  of  a  majority  of  the  people  has  thus  been  expressed, 
the  whole  State  will  present  one  unanimous  voice  in  favor  of  whatever  may 
be  demanded." 

Influences  more  powerful  than  any  Mr.  Stephens  could  command  were  at 
work  upon  the  public  mind.     Only  two  days  before  his   speech 
was  pronounced,  a  Military  Convention   was  held  at  Milledge- 
ville,"  which  was  addressed  by  the  Governor  of  the  State,  in  very 
incendiary  language.     He  affirmed  the  right  of  secession,  and  also  the  duty 
of  all  the  Southern  States  to  sustain  the  action  of  the  South  Carolina  Legis 
lature.     "I  would  like,"  he  said  "to  see  Federal  troops  dare,  attempt  the 
coercion  of  a  seceding  Southern  State.     For  every  Georgian  who  should  fall 
in  a  conflict  thus  incited,  the  lives  of  two  Federal  soldiers  should  expiate  the 
outrage  on  State  Sovereignty."     These  were  brave  words  in  the  absence  of 
all  danger.      When  that  danger  was  nigh — when  "Federal  sol- 
N°1vse6mber'   diers"   under   Sherman,  just   four   years  later,6    were   marching 
through  Georgia,  in  triumphant  vindication  of  the  National  au 
thority,  Governor  Brown  and  many  mem 
bers  of  the  Legislature  were  trembling  fugi 
tives  from  that  very  capitol  where  Toombs, 
and  Cobb,  and  Iverson,  and  Benning,  and 
Brown  himself,  had  fulminated  their  foolish 
threats. 

The  Military  Convention,  by  a  heavy 
majority,  voted  in  favor  of  secession  ;  and 
this    action    had    great    weight    with   the 
Legislature  and  the  people.  On 

•  November  13.     t    &  f  .,         .  ,  *  ,         T 

the  following  day,  the  Legis 
lature  voted  an  appropriation  of  a  million 
°f  dollars  for  arming  and  equipping  the 

OSEPH  E.  BROWN  militia  of  the  State  ;    and  on   the   7th   of 

December,  an  act,  calling  a  convention  of 

« 1861  *^e  Pe°P^e'  was  Passed,  which  provided  for  the  election  of  dele 
gates  on  the  2d  of  January/  and  their  assemblage  on  the  16th. 
The  preamble  to  the  bill  declared  that,  in  the  judgment  of  that  Assembly,  the 
"present  crisis  in  National  affairs  demands  resistance,"  and  that  "  it  is  the 
privilege  of  the  people  to  determine  the  mode,  measure,  and  time  of  such 
resistance."  Power  to  do  this  was  given  to  the  Convention  by  the  act 

On  the  14th  of  December,  a  large  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Legis 
lature  assembled  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  agreed  to  an  address  to  the 
people  of  South  Carolina,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Florida,  urging  upon  them 
the  importance  of  co-operation,  rather  than  separate  State  action,  in  the  matter 
of  secession.  "  Our  people  must  be  united,"  they  said  ;  "  our  common  interests 
must  be  preserved."  The  address  was  signed  by  fifty-two  members  of  the 
Legislature.  It  was  so  offensive  to  the  Hotspurs  of  the  South  Carolina  State 
Convention,  that  that  body  refused  to  receive  it.  We  shall  again  refer  to 
the  action  of  the  Georgia  Legislature. 

The  Legislature  of  Mississippi  assembled  at  Jackson  early  in  November, 
and  adjourned  on  the  30th.  The  special  object  of  the  .session  was  to  make 


PROCEEDINGS   IX    MISSISSIPPI.  59 

preparations  for  the  secession  of  the  State.  An  act  was  passed,  providing 
for  a  Convention,  to  be  hold  on  the  7th  of  January  ;  and  the  20th  of  Decem 
ber  was  the  day  appointed  by  it  for  tbe  election  of  delegates  thereto.  The 
Governor  (John  J.  Pettus)  was  authorized  to  appoint  commissioners  to  visit 
each  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  for  the  purpose  of  officially  informing  the 
governors  or  legislatures  thereof,  that  the  State  of  Mississippi  had  called  a 
Convention,  "to  consider  the  present  threatening  relations  of  the  Northern 
and  Southern  sections  of  the  Confederacy,  aggravated  by  the  recent  election 
of  a  President  upon  principles  of  "hostility  to  the  States  of  the  South;  and 
to  express  the  earnest  hope  of  Mississippi,  that  those  States  will  co-operate 
with  her  in  the  adoption  of  efficient  measures  for  their  common  defense  and 
safety."  A  portion  of  the  Legislature  was  for  immediate  separation  and 
secession.  The  press  of  the  State  was/livided  in  sentiment,  and  so  were  the 
people,  while  their  representatives  in 
Congress  were  active  traitors  to  their 
government.  One  of  these  (Lucius 
Quintius  Curtius  Lamar,  a  native  of 
Georgia,  who  remained  in  Congress  until 
the  12th  of  January,  1861,  and  was  after 
ward  sent  to  the  Russian  C<>urt,  as 
a  diplomatic  aj^ent  of  the  conspirators)^ 
submitted  to  the  people  of  Mississippi,  be 
fore  the  close  of  November,  IKQO,  a  plan 
for  a  "Southern  Confederacy."  After 
reciting  the  ordinance  by  which  Missis 
sippi  was  created  a  State  of  the  Union, 
and  proposing  her  formal  withdrawal 
therefrom,  the  plan  proposed  that  the 

State  of  Mississippi  should  "consent  to  form  a  Federal  Union"  with  all  the 
Slave-labor  States,  the  Territory,  of  New  Mexico,  and  the  Indian  Territory 
west  of  Arkansas,  *'  under  the  name  and  style  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  and  according  to  the  tenor  and  effect  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,"  with  slight  exceptions.  It  proposed  to  continue  in  force  all 
laws  and  treaties  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  they  applied  to  Mississippi, 
until  the  new  Confederation  should  be  organized,  and  that  all  regulations, 
contracts,  and  engagements  made  by  the  old  Government  should  remain  in 
force.  It  provided  that  the  Governor  of  Mississippi  should  perform  the  func 
tions  of  President  of  the  new  United  States,  within  the  limits  of  that  State, 
and  that  all  public  officers  should  remain  in  place  until  the  new  government 
should  be  established.  It  was  also  provided  that  the  accession  of  nine  States 
should  give  effect  to  the  proposed  ordinance  of  confederation;  and  that, 
when  such  accession  should  occur,  it  should  be  the  duty  of  the  Governor  to 
order  an  election  of  Congressmen  and  Presidential  Electors.  This  scheme, 
like  a  score  of  others  put  forth  by  disloyal  men,  ambitious  to  appear  in  his 
tory  as  the  founders  of  a  new  empire,  soon  found  its  appropriate  place  in  the 
tomb  of  forgotten  things. 

The  southern  portion  of  Alabama  was  strongly  in  favor  of  secession, 
while  the  northern  portion  was  as  strongly  in  favor  of  Union.  The  Governor 
(Andrew  H.  Moore)  sympathized  with  the  secessionists,  and,  with  Yancey 


60  PROCEEDINGS   IN  ALABAMA. 

and  others,  stirred  up  the  people  to  revolt.     He  had  been  active  in  procuring 
the  passage  of  joint  resolutions  by  the  Legislature  of  that  State, 
"  Feb™*ry  24'  long  before  the  Presidential   election,"  which  provided,  in  the 
event  of  the  election  of  the  Republican  candidate,  for  a  conven 
tion  to  consider  what  should  be  done  ;  in  other  words,  to  declare  the  seces 
sion  of  the  State  from  the  Union,  in  accordance  with  the  long  and  well- 
devised  plan  of  the  conspirators.     So  early  as  October,  Herschell  Y.  John 
ston,  the   candidate  for  Vice-President  on  the   Douglas  ticket, 
» October  24.  declared,  in  a  speech  in  the  Cooper  Institute,  New  York,6  that 
Alabama  was  ripe  for  revolt,  in  the  event  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  elec 
tion — "  pledged,"  he  said,  "  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  and  has  appro 
priated  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  military  contingencies."1     In  an 
address  to  the  people  of  the  State,  early  in  November,  the  Governor  declared 
that,  in  his  opinion,  "  the  only  hope  and  future  security  for  Alabama  and 
other  Slaveholding  States,  is  in  secession  from  the  Union."     On  the  6th  of 
December  he  issued  a  proclamation,  assuring  the  people  that  the  contingency 
contemplated  by  the  Legislature  had  occurred,  namely  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and,  by  the  authority  given  him  by  that  body,  he  ordered  delegates 
to  be  chosen  on  the  24th  of  December,  to  meet  in  convention  on 
ei86i.        the  7th  of  January/     Five  days  before  that  election,  the  Alabama 
Conference  of  the  "  Methodist  Church  South,"  a  very  large  and 
most  influential  body,  sitting  at  Montgomery,  resolved  that  they  believed 
"  African  Slavery,  as  it  existed  in  the  Southern  States  of  the  Republic, 
to  be  a  wise,  humane,  and  righteous  institution,  approved  of  God,  and  calcu 
lated  to  promote,  to  the  highest  possible  degree,  the  welfare  of  the  slave  ;2 
that  the  election  of  a  sectional  President  of  the  United  States  was  evidence 
of  the  hostility  of  the  majority  to  the  people  of  '  the  South,'   and   which, 
in  fact,  if  not  in  form,  dissolves  the  compact  of  Union  between  the  States, 
and  drives  the  aggrieved  party  to  assert  their  independence  ;"  and  therefore 
they  said,  "  our  hearts  are  with  the  South,  and  should  they  ever  need  our 
hands  to  assist  in  achieving  our  independence,  we  shall  not  be  found  want 
ing  in  the  hour  of  danger."3 

Florida,  the  most  dependent  upon  the  Union  for  its  prosperity  of  all  the 
States,  and  the  recipient  of  most  generous  favors  from  the  National  Govern 
ment,  was,  by  the  action  of  its  treasonable  politicians,  and  especially  by  its 
representatives  in  Congress,  made  the  theater  of  some  of  the  earliest  and 
most  active  measures  for  the  destruction  of  the  Republic.  Its  Legislature 
met  at  Tallahassee  on  the  26th  of  November,  and  its  Governor,  Madison  S. 
Perry,  in  his  message  at  the  opening  of  the  session,  declared  that  the 

1  Report  of  Johnson's  speech,  in  the  New  York  World,  October  25,  1860. 

2  See  Note  3,  page  38. 

3  In  the  first  act  of  the  melodrama  of  the  rebellion,  there  were  some  broad  farces.     One  of  these  is  seen 
in  the  action  of  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  United  States  for  the  Middle  District  of  Alabama.     That  body  made  the 
following  presentment  at  the  December  Term,  1860: — 

"That  the  several  States  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  New  York,  Ohio,  and  others,  have 
nullified,  by  acts  of  their  several  Legislatures^  several  laws  enacted  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  for 
the  protection  of  persons  and  property  ;  and  that  for  many  years  said  States  have  occupied  an  attitude  of  hos 
tility  to  the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  said  Middle  District  of  Alabama.  And  the  said  Federal  Government, 
having  failed  to  execute  its  enactments  for  the  protection  of  the  property  and  interests  of  said  Middle  District, 
and  this  court  having  no  jurisdiction  in  the  premises,  this  Grand  Jury  do  present  the  said  Government  as  worth 
less,  impotent,  and  a  nuisance.  C.  G.  GUNTHER,  Foreman, 

and  nineteen  others.'11 


PROCEEDINGS   IN  FLORIDA  AND  LOUISIANA.  61 

"  domestic  peace  and  future  prosperity  "  of  the  State  depended  upon  "  seces 
sion  from  their  faithless  and  perjured  confederates."  He  alluded  to  the 
argument  of  some,  that  no  action  should  be  taken  until  they  knew  whether 
the  policy  of  the  new  Administration  would  be  hostile  to  their  interests  or 
not ;  and,  with  the  gravity  of  the  most  earnest  disciple  of  Calhoun,  he  flip 
pantly  said  : — "  My  countrymen,  if  we  wait  for  an  overt  act  of  the  Federal 
Government,  our  fate  will  be  that  of  the  white  inhabitants  of  St.  Domingo. 
Why  wait  ?"  he  asked.  "  What  is  this  Government?  It  is  but  the  trustee, 
the  common  agent  of  all  the  States,  appointed  by  them  to  manage  their 
affairs,  according  to  a  written  constitution,  or  power  of  attorney.  Should 
the  Sovereign  States  then — the  principals  and  the  partners  in  the  association 
— for  a  moment  tolerate  the  idea  that  their  action  must  be  graduated  by  the 
will  of  their  agent  ?  The  idea  is  preposterous."  This  was  but  another 
mode  of  expressing  the  doctrine  of  State  Supremacy. 

Louisiana  was  rather  slow  to  move  in  the  direction  of  treason.  Her 
worst  enemy,  John  Slidell,  then  misrepresenting  her  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  had  been  engaged  for  years  in  corrupting  the  jnitriotism  of 
her  sons,  and  had  been  aided  in  his  task  by  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  a  Hebrew 
unworthy  of  his  race,  and  others  of  less  note.  Slidell  was  universally  de 
tested  by  right-minded  men  for  his  politic.il  dishonesty,1  his  unholy  ambi 
tion,  his  lust  for  aristocratic  rank  and  power,  and  his  enmity  to  republican 
institutions.  He  had  tried  in  vain,  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  18GO, 
to  engage  many  of  the  leading  men  in  Louisiana  in  treasonable  schemes. 
With  others,  such  as  Thomas  O.  Moore  (the  Governor  of  the  State),  and  a 
few  men  in  authority,  he  was  more  successful.  Among  the  leading  news 
papers  of  the  State,  the  New  Orleans  J)flt<i  was  the  only  open  advocate  of 
hostility  and  resistance  to  the  National  Government,  after  the  Presidential 
election. 

Governor  Moore  called  an  extraordinary  session  of  the  Legislature,  to 
meet  at  Baton  Kouge  on  the  10th  of  December,  giving  as  a  reason  the  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  by  a  party  hostile  to  "the  people  and  institutions  of  the 
South."  In  his  message  he  said,  he  did  not  think  it  comported  "  with  the  honor 
and  self-respect  of  Louisiana,  as  a  Slaveholding  State,  to  live  under  the  gov 
ernment  of  a  Black  Republican  President,"  although  he  did  not  dispute  the 
fact  that  he  had  been  elected  by  due  form  of  law.  "  The  question,"  he  said, 
"rises  high  above  ordinary  political  considerations.  It  involves  our  present 
honor,  and  our  future  existence  as  a  free  and  independent  people."  lie  as 
serted  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede ;  and  hoped  that,  if  any  attempt  should 
be  innde  by  the  National  authority  "  to  coerce  a  Sovereign  State,  and  compel 
her  to  submission  to  an  authority  she  had  ceased  to  recogni/e,"  Louisiana 
would  "  assist  her  sister  States  with  the  same  alacrity  and  courage  that  the 
Colonies  assisted  each  pther  in  their  struggle  against  the  despotism  of  the  Old 


1  A  single  incident  in  the  political  career  of  Slidell  illustrates  not  only  the  dishonesty  of  his  character,  hut 
the  facilities  which  are  frequently  offered  for  politicians  to  cheat  the  people.  Slidell  had  resolved  to  become  a 
member  of  Congress.  He  was  rich,  but  was,  personally,  too  unpopular  to  expect  votes  enou-rh  to  elect  him. 
He  resorted  to  fraud.  None  but  freeholders  ruiirht  vote  in  Louisiana.  Slidell  bought,  at  Government  price  (one 
dollar  and  twrnty-five  cents  an  acre),  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  acres  of  land,  and  deeded  it,  in  small  parcels, 
to  four  thousand  eiirht  hundred  and  eii:ht  of  the  most  degraded  population  of  New  Orleans.  They  went  to  his 
district  (Plaquemine),  where  their  land  lay,  and.  in  a  body,  pmve  him  their  votes  for  Congress,  and  elected  him! 
That  was  in  1842. 


62  PROCEEDINGS   IN   TEXAS    AND   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

World.  If  I  am  not  mistaken  in  public  opinion,"  he  said,  "the  Convention, 
if  assembled,  will  decide  that  Louisiana  will  not  submit  to  the  Presidency  of 
Mr.  Lincoln."  The  Legislature  passed  an  act  providing  for  a  State  Conven 
tion,  to  assemble  on  the  22d  of  January ;  and  another,  appropriating  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  for  military  purposes.  They  listened  to  a  commis 
sioner  from  Mississippi  (Wirt  Adams),  but  refused  to  authorize  the  Governor 
to  appoint  like  agents  to  visit  the  Slave-labor  States.  They  gave  him 
authority  to  correspond  with  the  governors  of  those  States  upon  the  great 

«is6i  topic  of  the  day,  and  adjourned  on  the  13th,  to  meet  again  on 
the  23d  of  January." 

Texas,  under  the  leadership  of  its  venerable  Governor,  Samuel  Houston, 
and  the  influence  of  a  strong  Union  feeling,  held  back,  when  invited  by  con 
spirators  to  plunge  into  secession.  So  did  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Delaware,  all  Slave-labor  States.  The 
Governor  of  Tennessee,  Isham  G.  Harris,  who  was  a  traitor  at  heart,  and  had 
corresponded  extensively  with  the  disunionists  of  the  Cotton-growing  States, 
made  great  but  unsuccessful  exertions  to  link  the  fortunes  of  his  State  with 
those  of  South  Carolina  in  the  secession  .movement. 

North  Carolina  took  early  but  cautious  action.  The  most  open  and  in 
fluential  secessionists  in  that  State  were  Thomas  L.  Clingman,  then  a  member 
of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  John  W.  Ellis,  the  Governor  of  the  Com 
monwealth.  They  made  great  efforts  to  arouse  the  people  of  the  State  to 
revolt,  but  failed.  The  Union  sentiment,  and  the  respect  for  law  and  the 
principles  of  republican  government  were  so  deeply  implanted  in  the  nature 
and  the  habits  of  the  people,  that  they  could  not  be  easily  seduced  from  their 
allegiance  to  the  National  Government.  The  Legislature  met  on  the  19th 
of  November.  An  act  was  passed  providing  for  a  Convention,  but  directing 
that  "no  ordinance  of  said  Convention,  dissolving  the  connection  of  the  State 
of  North  Carolina  with  the  Federal  Government,  or  connecting  it  with  any 
other,  shall  have  any  force  or  validity  until  it  shall  have  been  submitted  to 
and  ratified  by  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  the  State  for  members  of 
the  General  Assembly,  to  whom  it  shall  be  submitted  for  their  approval  or 
rejection  ;"  and  that  it  should  be  "  advertised  for  at  least  thirty  days  in  the 
newspapers  of  the  State,  before  the  people  should  be  called  upon  to  vote  on 
the  same." 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  preparations  for  the  marshaling  cf  the  co 
horts  of  rebellion  in  the  Slave-labor  States ;  for  a  vigorous  assault,  not  only 
upon  the  Republic,  but  upon  the  advancing  civilization  of  the  age,  and  the 
rights  of  man — upon  the  cherished  institutions  of  good  and  free  government 
inherited  from  the  patriots  of  the  old  War  for  Independence,  and  the  hopes 
of  aspirants  for  freedom  throughout  the  world. 

It  is  evident,  in  even  this  shadowy  picture,  which  reveals  similarity  of  ex 
pressions  and  actions  in  the  movements  of  the  opponents  of  the  Government 
in  widely  separated  portions  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  that  there  had  been 
long  and  thorough  preparation  for  the  revolt.  This  will  become  more  mani 
fest  as  we  proceed  in  our  inquiry ;  and  when,  at  the  close  of  this  work,  we 
shall  consider  the  history  of  political  parties  at  the  beginning  of  our  national 
career,  and  the  gradual  development  of  radical  differences  of  social  and 
political  opinions  in  sections  of  the  Republic  remote  from  each  other,  we 


LONG  PREPARATIONS  FOR  REVOLT.  63 

shall  perceive  that  rebellion  and  civil  war  were  logical  results  of  the  increasing 
activity  of  potential  antagonisms,  controlled  and  energized  by  selfish  men  for 
selfish  purposes.1 

1  The  contemplation  of  disunion,  as  an  emollient  fur  irritated  State  pride,  had  been  a  habit  of  thought  in 
Virginia  and  the  more  Southern  Slave-labor  States  from  the  beginning  of  the  Government.  Whenever  the 
imperious  will  of  a  certain  class  of  politicians  in  those  States'was  offended  by  a  public  i»olicy  opposed  to  its 
wishes,  they  were  in  the  habit  of  speaking  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  as  their  remedy  for  the  provocation. 
They  threatened  to  dissolve  the  Union  in  1T9.\  if  Jay's  Treaty  with  Great  Britain  should  be  ratified  by  the 
United  States  Senate;  and  the  famous  Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions  of  17DS,  in  which  the  doctrine  of 
State  Supremacy  was  broadly  inculcated,  familiarized  the  popular  mind  with  the  idea  that  the  National  Govern 
ment  was  only  the  agent  of  the  States,  and  might  be  dismissed  by  them  at  any  time. 

The  more  concrete  and  perfect  form  of  these  sentiments,  embodied  in  deliberate  intentions,  was  exhibited  by 
John  C.  Calhoun,  as  we  have  observed  (note  2,  page  41  >.  in  1*1'2.  Disloyalty  was  strongly  manifested  during 
the  discussions  of  the  Slavery  question  before  the  adoption  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  in  1S20.  After  the 
Tariff  Act,  so  obnoxious  to  the  Cotton-growers,  became  a  law.  in  lyJS,  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  was  loudly 
talked  of  by  the  politicians  of  the  Calhoun  school.  uThe  memorable  scenes  of  our  Revolution  have  again  to  be 
acted  over,"  said  the  Mille<tgerille  (Georgia)  ,/OM/VJ/// ;  and  the  citizens  of  St,  John's  Parish,  in  South  Carolina, 
said,  in  Convention: — "Wo  have  sworn  that  Congress  shall,  at  our  demand,  repeal  the  tariff.  If  she  does  not, 
our  State  Legislature  will  dissolve  our  connection  with  the  Union,  and  we  will  take  our  stand  among  the 
nations;  and  it  behooves  every  true  Carolinian  '  to  stand  by  his  arms,'  and  to  keep  the  halls  of  our  Legislature 
pure  from  foreign  intruders." 

When,  in  the  autumn  of  1>32,  the  famous  Nullification  Ordinance  was  passed  by  the  South  Carolina  Con 
vention,  so  certain  were  the  mad  politicians  that  composed  it  of  |»ositive  success,  that  they  caused  a  medal  to 
be  struck  with  this  inscription :—" JOHN  C.  CALIIOI-JC,  FIRST  PRESIDENT  OK  THE  SIH-THEUX  COSKEI>EKA<  Y!" 
Th'.-ir  wicked  scheme  failed,  and  Calhoun  and  his  followers  went  deliU-rately  at  work  to  excite  the  bitterest 
sectional  strife,  by  tke  publication,  in  the  name  of  Duff  Green,  as  editor  and  proprietor,  of  the  L'tiittJ  St,itt» 
Teleyrtijt/t,  at  Washington  City.  At  about  the  same  time  (l*3fi).  n  ro.vel  was  written  by  Beverly  Tucker,  of 
Virginia,  called  The  Pa>ti*<tn  Leader,  in  which  the  doctrine  of  State  Supremacy  ami  the  most  insidious 
sectionalism  were  inculcated  in  the  seductive  form  of  a  tale,  calculated,  as  it  was  intended,  to  corrupt  the  patriot 
ism  of  the  Southern  people,  and  prepare  them  for  revolution.  This  was  printed  by  Duff  Green,  the  manager  of 
Culhoun's  organ,  and  widely  circulated  in  the  South. 

Finally,  "Southern  Rights  Associations"  were  formed,  having  for  their  object  the  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
Concerning  this  movement,  Muscoe  R.  U.  Garnett,  who  was  a  Member  of  Congress  from  Virginia  when  the  lato 
civil  war  broke  out,  wrote  to  Win.  H.  Trescot  (afterward  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  under  Mr.  Buchanan),  in 
May,  !<">!,  when  great  preparations  were  made  by  the  oligarchy  fora  revolt,  saying: — "I  would  be  especially 
glad  to  be  in  Charleston  next  week,  and  witness  your  Convention  of  delegates  from  the  Southern  Rights  Asso 
ciations.  The  condition  of  things  in  your  State  deeply  interests  me;  her  wis<-  foresight  and  manly  independence 
Lave  placed  her  at  the  head  of  I  he  Smth.  to  whom  alone  true-hearted  men  can  look  with  any  hope  or  pleasure. 
Momentous  are  th«  consequences  which  dvpviid  upon  your  action."  Garnett  mourned  over  the  action  of 
Virginia,  in  hesitating  to  go  with  the  revolution.  "  I  do  not  believe,"  he  said,  "that  the  course  of  the  Legis 
lature  is  a  fair  expression  of  the  popular  feeling.  In  the  east,  at  least,  the  great  majority  believe  in  the  right 
of  secession,  and  feel  the  deepest  sympathy  with  Carolina  in  opposition  to  measures  which  they  regard  as  she 
does.  But  the  west — Western  Virginia — here  is  the  rub!  Only  *ifty  thotmnnil  start*  to  fonr  hundred  and 
iiiiiett/-finir  thottxand  tr/ntm  !  When  I  consider  this  fact,  and  the  kind  of  argument  which  we  have  heard  in 
this  body,  I  cannot  but  regard  with  the  greatest  fear  the  question,  whether  Virginia  would  assist  Carolina  in 
such  an  issue.  I  must  acknowledge,  my  dear  Sir,  that  I  look  to  the  future  with  almost  as  much  apprehension 
as  hope.  Yon  irill  of>jfrt  to  tht  term  Democrat.  Demticracy,  in  MM  original  philosophical  t,en»e,  i*  indtfd 
incompatible  ictth  Slarery.  ami  the  trhnle  Ki/*tem  of  Southern  t,ocitty.  Yet,  if  we  look  back,  what  change  will 
you  find  made  in  any  of  our  Stat«-  Constitutions,  or  in  our  legislation,  in  its  general  course,  for  the  last  fifty 
years,  which  was  not  in  the  direction  of  Democracy  ?  Do  not  its  principles  and  theories  In-come  daily  more 
fixed  in  our  practice? — I  had  almost  said,  in  the  opinions  of  our  people,  did  I  not  remember  with  pleasure  the 
great  improvement  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  abstract  question  of  Slavery.  And  it"  such  is  the  case,  what  have 
we  to  hope  for  the  future?  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say.  that  if  the  question  is  raised  between  Carolina  and  the 
Federal  Government,  and  the  latter  prevails,  the  last  hope  of  Republican  Government,  and,  I  fear,  of  Southern 
civilization,  is  gone.  Russia  will  then  be  a  better  Government  than  ours." 

See  pages  9'2  and  93  of  this  volume. 


MEETING  OF    COXGPwESS. 


CHAPTEE     III. 


ASSEMBLING    OF   CONGRESS.— THE    PRESIDENTS    MESSAGE. 


cember,  1860. 


HILST  the  Cotton-growing  States  were  in  a  blaze  of  excite 
ment,  and  the  Slave-labor  States  north  of  them  were  surg 
ing,  and  almost  insurgent,  with  conflicting  opinions  and 
perplexing  doubts  and  fears,  and  the  Free-labor  States 
were  looking  on  in  amazement  at. the  madness  of  their 
colleagues,  who  were  preparing  to  resist  the  power  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  land,  the  Thirty-Sixth  Con 
gress  assembled  at  Washington  City.  It  began  its  second 
and  last  session  at  the  Capitol,  on  Monday,  the  3d  of  De- 
It  was  on  a  bright  and  beautiful  morning ;  and  as  the  eye 
looked  out  from  the  western  front  of  the  Capitol  upon  the  city  below,  the 
winding  Potomac  and  the  misty  hights  of  Arlington  beyond,  it  beheld  a  pic 
ture  of  repose,  strongly  contrasting  with  the  spirits  of  men  then  assembling 
in  the  halls  of  Congress. 

Never,  since  the  birth  of  the  Nation — more  than  seventy  years  before — 
had  the  people  looked  with  more  solemn  interest  upon  the  assembling  of  the 
National  Legislature  than  at  this  time.  The  hoarse  cry  of  Disunion,  which 
had  so  often  been  used  in  and  out  of  Congress  by  the  representatives  of  the 
Slave  interest,  as  a  bugbear  to  frighten  men  of  the  Free-labor  States  into 
compliance  with  their  demands,  now  had  deep  significance.  Its  tone  was 
terribly  earnest  and  defiant,  and  action  was  everywhere  seen  in  support  of 
It  was  evident  that  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  Republic  was 
with  demands  for  forbearance,  patience,  wisdom,  and  sound  states 
manship,  in  an  eminent  degree,  to  save  the 
nation  from  dreadful  calamities,  if  not  from 
absolute  ruin.  Therefore  with  the  deepest 
anxiety  the  people,  in  all  parts  of  the  Repub 
lic,  listened  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  President 
in  his  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  which, 
it  was  supposed,  would  indicate,  with  clearness 
and  precision,  the  line  of  policy  which  the 
Government  intended  to  pursue. 

Both  Houses  of  Congress  convened  at  noon 
on  the  3d  of  December.  The  Senate,  with 
Mr.  Breckinridge,  the  Vice-President,  in  the 
chair,  was  opened  by  a  prayer  by  the  Rev.  P. 
D.  Gurley,  D.  D.,  the  Chaplain  of  that  House, 
who  fervently  prayed  that  all^the  rulers  and 

the  people  might  be  delivered  from  "  erroneous  judgments,  from  misleading 
influences,  and  from   the  sway  of  evil  passions."     The  House  of  Representa- 


words, 
present, 


JOHN    C.    BRECKIXKIDGE. 


THE   PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE.  65 

feives,  with  William  Pennington,  the  Speaker,  in  the  chair,  was  opened  with 
prayer  by  its  Chaplain,  the  Rev.  Thomas  II.  Stockton,  who  fervently 
thanked  God  for  the  "  blessings  we  have  enjoyed  within  this  Union — natural 
blessings,  civil  blessings,  spiritual  blessings,  social  blessings,  all  kinds  of 
blessings — such  blessings  as  were  never  enjoyed  by  any  other  people  since  the 
world  began." 

Committees  were  appointed  by  each  House  to  inform  the  President  of  its 
organization,  and  readiness  to  receive  any  communication  from  him.  These 
reported  that  he  would  send  in  to  them  a  written  message  at  noon  on  Tues 
day.1  At  the  appointed  hour,  the  President's  private  Secretary,  A.  J.  Gloss- 
brenner,  appeared  below  the  bar  of  the  Senate,  and  announced  that  he  was 
there  by  direction  of  the  Chief  Magistrate,  "  to  deliver  to  the  Senate  a 
message  in  writing/'  The  House  of  Representatives  also  received  it.  It 
was  read  to  both  Houses,  and  then  its  parts  were  referred  to  appropriate 
committees,  in  the  usual  manner. 

'  The  telegraph  carried  the  President's  Message  quickly  to  every  part  of 
the  land.  The  people  sat  down  to  read  it  with  eagerness,  and  arose  from 
its  perusal  with  brows  saddened  with  the  gravest  disappointment.  This 
feeling  was  universal.  The  Message  was  full  of  evidences  of  faint-hearted- 
ness  and  indecision  in  points  where  courage  and  positive  convictions  should 
have  been  apparent  in  its  treatment  of  the  great  topic  then  filling  all  hearts 
and  minds,  and  bore  painful  indications  that  its  author  was  involved  in  some 
perilous  dilemma  into  which  lie  had  fallen,  and  was  anxiously  seeking  a  way 
of  escape.  The  method  chosen  was  most  unwise  and  unfortunate.  It  re 
coiled  fearfully  upon  the  public  character  of  the  venerable  President ;  and, 
in  the  estimation  of  thoughtful  men,  a  reputation  gained  by  many  important 
and  useful  public'  services,  during  a 
long  and  active  life,  was  laid  in  ruins. 

In  the  second  paragraph  of  his 
Message,  the  President  began  the  con 
sideration  of  the  troubles  which  then 
beset  the  nation.  After  recounting 
some  of  the  blessings  then  enjoyed  by 
the  people,  he  asked,  4<  Why  is  it,  then, 
that  discontent  now  so  extensively 
prevails,  and  the  Union  of  the  States, 
which  is  the  source  of  all  these  bless 
ings,  is  threatened  with  destruction  ?" 
He  answered  his  own  question,  by  al 
leging,  in  contradiction  of  the  solemn 
assurances  of  leaders  in  the  rising  re- 
volt  to  the  contrary,  that  "  the  long- 
continued  and  intemperate  interference  of  the  Northern  people  with  the  ques 
tion  of  Slavery  in  the  Southern  States  v"  had  produced  these  estrangements  and 

1  During  the  administration  a  of  George  Washington  and  John  Ailains,  the  message  or  speech  of  the  Presi 
dent,  at  the  opening  of  each  session  of  Congress,  was  read  to  them  by  the  Chief  Magistrate  in  person.  Mr. 
Jefferson  abandoned  this  practice  when  he  came  into  office,  because  it  seemed  to  be  a  too  near  imitation  of  the 
practice  of  the  monarchs  of  England  in  thus  opening  the  sessions  of  Parliament  in  person. 

1  Senator  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  and  others,  publicly  declared,  long  before  the  rebellion  broke  out, 
<hat  the  discussion  of  the  subject  of  Slavery  at  the  North  had  been  very  useful.  After  speaking  of  the  great 

VOL.  I.-  -5 


66  THE   PRESIDENT'S   ALLEGATIONS  DENIED. 

troubles.  He  alleged  that  the  immediate  peril  did  not  arise  so  much 
from  the  claims  on  the  part  of  Congress,  or  of  the  Territorial  Legislatures, 
to  exclude  Slavery  from  the  Territories,  or  the  enactment  of  Personal  Liberty 
Laws  by  some  of  the  Northern  States,  "  as  from  the  fact  of  the  incessant 
and  violent  agitation  of  the  Slavery  question  throughout  the  North,  for  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century."  This  agitation,  he  alleged,  had  "inspired  the 
slaves  with  vague  notions  of  freedom,"  and  hence  "  a  sense  of  security  no 
longer  exists  around  the  family  altar."  Then,  with  substantial  repetition  of 
the  words  of  John  Randolph  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  fifty  years  before,1 
he  said : — "  This  feeling  of  peace  at  home  has  given  place  to  apprehensions 
of  servile  insurrection.  Many  a  matron  throughout  the  South  retires  at  night 
in  dread  of  what  may  befall  herself  and  her  children  before  the  morning. "" 
This  state  of  things,  he  intimated,  was  a  sufficient  excuse,  if  continued,  for 
the  lifting  of  a  fratricidal  hand.  u  Should  this  apprehension  of  domestic 
danger,"  he  said,  "  whether  real  or  imaginary,  extend  and  intensify  itself, 
until  it  shall  pervade  the  masses  of  the  Southern  people,  then  disunion  will 
become  inevitable.  Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature.  .  .  .  And  no 
political  Union,  however  fraught  with  blessings  and  benefits  in  all  other  re 
spects,  can  long  continue,  if  the  necessary  consequence  be  to  render  the 
homes  and  the  firesides  of  nearly  half  the  parties  to  it  habitually  and  hope- 


value  of  Slavery  to  the  Cotton-gro-wing  States,  Mr.  Hammond  observed: — "  Such  has  been  for  us  the  happy  re 
sults  of  the  Abolition  discussion.  So  far  our  gain  has  been  immense  from  this  contest,  savage  and  malignant  as 
it  has  been.  Nay,  we  have  solved  already  the  question  of  Emancipation,  by  this  re-examination  and  exposition 
of  the  false  theories  of  religion,  philanthropy,  and  political  economy,  which  embarrassed  the  fathers  in  their  day. 
.  ,  .  At  the  North,  and  in  Europe,  they  cried  havoc,  and  let  loose  upon  us  all  the  dogs  of  war.  And  how  stands 
it  now?  Why,  in  this  very  quarter  of  a  century,  our  slaves  have  doubled  in  numbers,  and  each  slave  has  more 
than  doubled  in  value.'1— Speech  at  Barnwell  Court  House,  Oct.  27,  1S5S. 

In  July  1859,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  in  a  speech  in  Georgia,  said  he  was  not  one  of  those  who  believed  that 
the  South  had  sustained  any  injury  by  those  agitations.  "So  far,"  he  said,  "from  the  institution  of  African 
Slavery  in  our  section  being  weakened  or  rendered  less  secure  by  the  discussion,  my  deliberate  judgment  is,  that 
it  has  been  greatly  strengthened  and  fortified."' 

Senator  E.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  said,  in  I860: — "In  many  respects,  the  results  of  that  discussion  have 
not  been  adverse  to  us.'1 

Earl  Russell  said,  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Lyons,  in  May,  1861,  "that  one  of  the  Confederate  Commissioners  told 
him,  that  the  principal  of  the  causes  which  led  to  secession  was  not  Slavery,  but  the  very  high  price  which,  for 
the  sake  of  protecting  the  Northern  manufacturers,  the  South  were  obliged  to  pay  for  the  manufactured  goods 
which  they  required." 

George  Fitzhugh,  a  leading  publicist  of  Virginia,  in  an  article  in  De  Sow's  Review  (the  acknowledged  organ 
of  the  Slave  interest)  for  February,  1861,  commenting  on  the  Message,  said.— "It  is  a  gross  mistake  to  suppose 
that  Abolition  is  the  cause  of  dissolution  between  the  North  and  the  South.  The  Cavaliers,  Jacobites,  and  the 
Huguenots,  who  settled  the  South,  naturally  hate,  contemn,  and  despise  the  Puritans,  who  settled  the  North. 
The  former  are  master  races — the  latter  a  slave  race,  the  descendants  of  the  Saxon  serfs." 

The  Charleston  Mercury,  the  chief  organ  of  the  conspirators  in  South  Carolina,  scorning  the  assertion  that 
any  thing  so  harmless  as  the  "Abolition  twaddle"  had  caused  any  sectional  feeling,  declared  substantially  that 
it  was  an  abiding  consciousness  of  the  degradation  of  the  "Chivalric  Southrons"  being  placed  on  an  equality  in 
government  with  the  "boors  of  the  North,"  that  made  "Southern  gentlemen"  desire  disunion.  It  said, 
haughtily,  "We  are  the  most  aristocratic  people  in  the  world.  Pride  of  caste,  and  color,  and  privilege  makes 
every  man  an  aristocrat  in  feeling.  Aristocracy  is  the  only  safeguard  of  liberty." 

These  testimonies  against  the  President's  assertions  might  be  multiplied  by  scores. 

1  "I  speak  from  facts,"  said  Randolph,  in  1811,  "when  I  say  that  the  night-bell  never  tolls  for  fire  in  Rich 
mond,  that  the  frightened  mother  does  not  hug  her  infant  the  more  closely  to  her  bosom,  not  knowing  what  may 
have  happened.     I  have  myself  witnessed  some  of  the  alarms  in  the  capital  of  Virginia."     This  was  a  quarter 
of  a  century  before  there  was  any  "violent  agitation  of  the  Slavery  question  throughout  the  North." 

2  George  Fitzhugh,  in  the  article  in  De  Bow's  Review  just  alluded  to,  pronounced  this  statement  a  "gross 
and  silly  libel,1'  "which  could  only  have  proceeded  from  a  nerveless,  apprehensive,  tremulous  old  man.     Our 
women,"  he   continued,  "are  far  in  advance  of  our  men  in  their  zeal  for  disunion.     They  fear  not   war,   for 
«very  one  of  them  feels  confident  that  when  their  sons  or  husbands  are  called  to  the  field,  they  will  have  a  faith 
ful  body-guard  in  their  domestic  servants.     Slaves  are  the  only  body-guard  to  be  relied  on.     Bonaparte  knew  it, 
and  kept  his  Mohammedan  slave  sleeping  at  his  door."   The  same  writer  added,  that  it  was  "they  [the  women] 
and  the  clergy  who  lead  and  direct  the  disunion  movement." 


SECESSION  CONDITIONALLY  JUSTIFIED.  67 

lessly  insecure.  Sooner  or  later,  the  bonds  of  such  a  union  must  be  severed.'' 
He  then  referred  to  the  efforts  used  by  the  Abolitionists,  through  "  pictorial 
handbills  and  inflammatory  appeals,"  in  1835,  calculated  to  stir  up  the  slaves 
to  insurrection  and  servile  war,  and  said:  "This  agitation  has  ever  since  been 
continued  by  the  public  press,  by  the  proceedings  of  State  and  County  Con 
ventions,  and  by  Abolition  sermons  and  lectures.  The  time  of  Congress  has 
been  occupied  in  violent  speeches  on  this  never-ending  subject ;  and  appeals, 
in  pamphlet  and  other  forms,  indorsed  by  distinguished  names,  have  been 
sent  forth  from  this  central  point,  and  spread  broadcast  over  the  Union." 

44  How  easy  it  would  be,"  the  President  said,  "  for  the  American  people 
to  settle  the  Slavery  question  forever,  and  to  restore  peace  and  harmony  for 
this  distracted  country.  They,  and  they  alone,  can  do  it.  All  that  is  neces 
sary  to  accomplish  the  object,  and  all  for  which  the  Slave  States  have  ever 
contended,  is,  to  be  let  alone,  and  permitted  to  manage  their  domestic  insti 
tutions  in  their  own  way.  As  Sovereign  States,  they,  and  they  alone,  are 
responsible  before  God  and  the  world  for  the  Slavery  existing  among  them. 
For  this  the  people  of  the  North  are  not  more  responsible,  and  have  no  more 
right  to  interfere,  than  with  similar  institutions  in  Russia  or  Brazil.  Upon 
their  good  sense  ami  patriotic  forbearance  I  confess  I  greatly  rely." 

Having  said  so  much  that  might  be  pleasant  for  the  ears  of  the  people  of 
the  Slave-labor  States,  Mr.  Buchanan  proceeded  to  argue  that  the  election  of 
a  President  obnoxious  to  the  inhabitants  of  one  section  of  the  Republic 
afforded  no  excuse  for  the  offended  ones  to  rebel.  u  Reason,  justice,  a  re 
gard  for  the  Constitution,"  he  said,  "all  require  that  we  shall  wait  for  some 
overt  and  dangerous  act  on  the  part  of  the  President  elect  before  resorting 
to  such  a  remedy.1"  lie  also  argued,  as  Stephens  had  done  before  him,  that 
the  hands  of  the  new  President  would  be  tied  by  a  majority  against  him  in 
Congress,  and  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  lie 
then  touched  upon  the  provocations  endured  by  the  "Southern  States"  in 
connection  with  the  subject  of  Slavery  in  the  Territories,  and  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  ;  and  expressed  a  hope  that  the  State  Legislatures  would  repeal 
any  unconstitutional  and  obnoxious  enactments  on  their  statute-books — in 
other  words,  their  Personal  Liberty  Acts — so  offensive  to  the  people  of  the 
Slave-labor  States  and  the  plain  commands  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  that  the 
President  elect  would  feel  it  to  be  his  duty,  as  Mr.  Buchanan  had  done,  to 
act  vigorously  in  executing  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  "  against  the  conflicting 
enactments  of  State  Legislatures."  "The  Southern  States,"  he  said,  "stand 
ing  on  the  basis  of  the  Constitution,  have  a  right  to  demand  this  act  of  jus 
tice  from  the  States  of  the  North.  Should  it  be  refused,"  he  continued,  as 
he  warmed  with  zealous  sympathy  for  the  oppressed  people  of  the  Slave-labor 
States*  "then  the  Constitution,  to  which  all  the  States  are  parties,  will  have 
been  willfully  violated  by  one  portion  of  them,  in  a  provision  essential  to  the 
domestic  security  and  happiness  of  the  remainder.  In  that  event,  the  in 
jured  States,  after  having  first  used  all  peaceful  and  constitutional  means  to 
obtain  redress,  trun/d  be  justified  in  revolutionary  resistance  to  t/te  Govern 
ment  of  the  l^nion.""* 

Let  us  look  a  moment  at  this  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and  those  Personal 
Liberty  Laws,  the  non-execution  of  the  one  by  the  President,  and  the  non- 
repeal  of  the  others  by  the  State  Legislatures  who  enacted  them,  would,  in 


68  THE  FUGITIVE   SLAVE  LAW. 

the  opinion  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  be  a  sufficient  justification  of  the  people  of  the 
Slave-labor  States  in  "revolutionary  resistance  to  the  Government  of  the 
Union."  Knowledge  concerning  them  is  essential  to  a  proper  understanding 
of  the  early  history  of  the  rebellion. 

In  the  year  1850,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  National  Congress,  under  the 
provisions  of  the  third  clause,  second  section,  and  fourth  Article  of  the  Con 
stitution,  providing  for  the  rendition  of  slaves  who  might  escape  from  bond 
age  into  the  Free-labor  States.  The  sixth  section  of  that  law  provided  that 
the  master  of  a  fugitive  slave,  or  his  agent,  might  go  into  any  State  or  Ter 
ritory  of  the  Kepublic,  and,  with  or  without  legal  warrant  there  obtained, 
seize  such  fugitive,  and  take  him  forthwith  before  any  judge  or  commis 
sioner  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  hear  and  determine  the  case.  On  satisfac 
tory  proof  being  furnished  him,  such  as  the  affidavit  in  writing,  or  other 
acceptable  testimony,  by  the  pursuing  owner  or  agent,  that  the  arrested  person 
<c  owes  labor"  to  the  party  that  had  arrested  him,  or  to  his  principal,  it  was 
made  the  duty  of  said  judge  or  commissioner  to  use  the  power  of  his  office 
to  assist  the  claimant  in  taking  the  fugitive  back  into  bondage.  It  was  fur 
ther  provided,  that  in  no  trial  or  hearing  under  the  act,  should  the  testimony 
of  such  alleged  fugitive  be  admitted  in  evidence  •  and  that  the  parties  claim 
ing  the  fugitive  should  not  be  molested  in  their  work  of  carrying  the  person 
back  "by  any  process  issued  by  any  court,  judge,  magistrate,  or  other  per- 
ison  whomsoever." 

The  last  clause  of  the  act  was  so  offensive  to  every  sentiment  of  humanity 
and  justice,  and  so  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  the  people  in  the  Free-labor 
States,  that  while  respect  for  law,  so  deeply  interwoven  in  the  texture  of 
American  society,  caused  a  general  acquiescence  in  the  requirements  of  the 
statute,  there  was  rebellion  against  it  in  every  Christian  heart.  It  was 
plainly  seen  that,  under  that  law,  free  negroes  might,  by  the  perjury  of  kid 
nappers,  and  the  denial  of  the  common  right  to  defense  allowed  to  the  vilest 
criminal,  be  carried  away  into  hopeless  slavery,  beyond  the  reach  of  pity, 
mercy,  or  law.  This  perception  of  possible  wrong  caused  the  Legislatures  of 
several  of  the  Free-labor  States  to  pass  laws  for  the  protection  of  free  colored 
citizens  within  their  borders,  made  so  by  the  circumstance  of  birth  or  exist 
ing  laws.1 

In  the  framing  of  laws  consonant  with  the  public  sentiment  against  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  some  of  the  Legislatures  perhaps  transcended  the  con 
stitutional  limits,  and  enacted  statutes  in  direct  contravention  of  the  National 
law.  Others  were  strictly  within  the  limits  of  constitutional  requirements ; 
and  all  might  be  speedily  made  inoperative  by  a  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  a  majority  of  whose  nine  judges  were  slavehold 
ers,  and  decidedly  in  sympathy  with  that  class.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  deliv 
ery  of  the  President's  Message,  not  a  single  case  had  been  adjudicated  under 
a  Personal  Liberty  Law  in  any  State,  and  their  practical  hostility  to  the 
interests  of  the  slaveholders  was  as  unreal  as  the  tyranny  and  oppression  of 


1  The  law  in  Maine  provided,  that  no  public  officer  of  the  State  should  arrest  or  detain  (or  aid  in  so  doing) 
in  any  prison  or  building  belonging  to  the  State,  or  county  or  town  in  it,  any  person,  on  account  of  a  claim  on' 
him  as  a  fugitive  slave.  This  was  to  leave  the  whole  business  of  arrests  to  United  States  officers. 

The  law  in  New  Hampshire  provided,  that  any  slave  brought  into  the  State,  by  or  with  the  consent  of 
the  master,  should  be  free;  and  declared  that  the  attempt  to  hold  any  person  as  a  slave  within  the  State  was  a 


AVOWALS   OF   SECESSIONISTS.  69 

the  President  elect,  neither  of  them  having  had  occasion  to  act.  They  were 
made  one  of  the  several  pretexts  sought 'by  the  conspirators  for  rebellion; 
and  yet  some  of  the  bolder  ones,  who  did  not  care  for  a  pretext,  denied  that 
opposition  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  a  grievance  to  be  complained  of. 
"  The  secession  of  South  Carolina,"  said  Robert  Barnwell  Rhett  (the  most 
malignant  and  unscrupulous  of  the  conspirators  in  that  State),  in  the  Seces 
sion  Convention,  "  is  not  an  event  of  a  day.  It  is  not  any  thing  produced  by 
Mr.  Lincoln's  election,  or  by  the  non-execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 
It  is  a  matter  which  lias  been  gathering  head  for  thirty  years.  ...  In  regard 
to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  I  myself  doubted  its  constitutionality,  and 
doubted'  it  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  when  I  was  a  member  of 
that  body."  The  States^  acting  in  thdr  sovereign  capacity^ 
sJioitld  be  responsible  for  the  rendition  of  fugi 
tive  nlftves.  That  was  our  best  security/' — "  It 
is  no  spasmodic  effort,"  said  Francis  S.  Parker, 
another  member  of  the  Convention,  "  that  has 
come  suddenly  upon  us ;  it  has  been  gradually 
culminating  for  a  long  period  of  thirty  years." 
— u  As  my  friend  (Mr.  Parker)  has  said,"  spoke 
John  A.  Inglis,  another  member  of  the  Con 
vention,  "most  of  us  have  had  this  matter 
under  consideration  for  the  last  twenty  years." 
And  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  the  supporter  of 
Preston  S.  Brooks,  when  he  brutally  assailed 
Senator  Stunner  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  in 
1H5(),  who  was  also  a  member  of  the  Secession 

L.VWUEXrn   M      KTITT. 

Convention,   said: — "J    have   been  engaged   in 

this   movement  ever  since    I  entered  political  life."     Let   us  return   to  the 

Message. 

Having  informed  the  conspirators  that  they  had  many  grievances,  and 
that,  under  certain  contingencies,  the  people  of  the  Slave-labor  States  miirht 
be  justified  in  rebellion,  the  President  proceeded  to  consider  the  right  of 
secession  and  the  relative  powers  of  the  Xational  Government.  This  was 
the  topic  to  which  the  attention  of  the  people  was  most  anxiously  turned. 


felony,  unless  done  by  United  States  officers  in  the  execution  of  leu'al  process.  This  was  to  relieve  the  people 
from  the  duty  of  becoming  slave-catchers  by  command  of  United  States  otliccrs. 

The  law  in  Vermont  provided,  that  no  court,  justice  of  the  peace,  or  magistrate,  should  take  cojnizancc  of 
any  certificate,  warrant,  or  process,  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  that  no  person  should  assist  in  the 
removal  of  an  alleged  fugitive  slave  from  the  State,  excepting  United  States  oHicers.  It  also  ordered  that  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  lutbcaa  corj>\ix,  and  a  trial  of  facts  by  a  jury,  should  be  Driven  '•>  the  alleged  fugitive, 
with  the  State's  Attorney  as  COUIIM-!  ;  and  also  that  any  person  coining  into  the.  State  a  slave,  shall  be  forever 
free.  This  was  a  nullification  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  I^iw. 

The  law  in  Massachusetts  provided  for  trials  by  jury  of  alleged  fugitive  slaves,  who  might  have  the  ser 
vices  of  any  attorney.  It  forkule  the  issuing  of  any  process,  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  by  any  legal  officer 
tn  the  State,  or  "to  do  any  otlicial  net  in  furtherance  of  the  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1793,  or  that 
of  1:>50."  It  forbade  the  use  of  any  prisons  in  the  State  for  the  samt*  purpose.  All  public  officers  were  for 
bidden  to  arrest,  or  assist  in  arresting,  any  alleged  fugitive  slav«.  And  no  otlicer  of  the  Suite,  acting  as  United 
States  commissioner,  was  allowed  to  issue  any  warrant,  excepting  for  the  summoning  of  witnesses,  nor  allowed  to 
bear  and  try  any  cause  under  tho  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  This  was  a  virtual  nullification  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law. 

The  law  in  Connecticut  was  made  only  to  prevent  the  kidnapping  of  free  persons  of  color  within  its  borders, 
by  imposing  a  heavy  penalty  upon  those  who  should  arrest,  or  cause  to  be  arrested,  any  free  colored  person, 
with  intent  to  reduce  him  or  her  to  slaverv. 


JKREMIAH    6.    BLACK. 


70  OPINION  OF   THE   ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 

What  will  the  President  do  in  the  event  of  open  rebellion  ?  was  the  momen 
tous  question  on  every  lip.     It  greatly  exercised  the  mind  of  the  President 
himself,  and  he  turned  to  his  legal  adviser,  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  the  Attorney- 
General  of  the   Republic,   for   advice.    This 
was  given  him,  in  liberal  measure,  on  the  20th 
of  November.      It  was   conveyed  in  no  less 
than  three  thousand  words. 

Assuming  that  States,  as  States,  might 
rebel,  the  Attorney-General's  argument*  gave 
much  "  aid  and  comfort "  to  the  conspirators. 
After  speaking  of  occasions  when  the  Presi 
dent,  as  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  military 
forces  of  the  Republic,  might  properly  use 
them  in  support  of  the  laws  of  the  land, 
he  supposed  the  case  of  a  State  in  which  all 
the  National  officers,  including  judges,  dis 
trict  attorneys,  and  marshals,  affected  by  the 
delirium  of  rebellious  fever,  should  resign 

their  places — a  part  of  the  programme  of  revolution  in  South  Carolina 
already  adopted,  and  which  was  carried  out  a  month  later.  What  then  should 
be  done?  It  was  clearly  the  duty  of  the  President  to  fill  the  offices  with 
other  men.  "  But,"  he  said,  "  we  can  easily  conceive  how  it  might  become 
altogether  impossible."  Indeed,  this  contingency  had  been  contemplated  by 
the  conspirators,  and  provided  for  by  prospective  vigilance  committees. 
"  Then,"  he  continued,  u  there  would  be  no  courts  to  issue  judicial  process, 
and  no  ministerial  officers  to  execute  it."  What  then?  Why,  the  State  has 
virtually  disappeared  as  a  part  of  the  Republic ;  and  the  power  of  the  Su 
preme  Government  being  only  auxiliary  to  State  life  and  force,  Xational 
troops  would  certainly  "  be  out  of  place,  and  their  use  wholly  illegal.  If 
they  are  sent  to  aid  the  courts  and  marshals,  there  must  be  courts  and  mar 
shals  to  be  aided.  Without  the  exercise  of  those  functions  wrhich  belong 
exclusively  to  the  civil  service,  the  laws  cannot  be  executed  in  any  event,  no 


The  law  in  Rhode  Island  forbade  the  carrying  away  of  any  person  by  force  out  of  the  State;  and  provided 
that  no  public  oflicer  should  officially  aid  the  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  denied  the  use  of  the 
jails  for  that  purpose. 

New  York  took  no  action  on  the  subject;  neither  did  New  Jersey  or  Pennsylvania.  Their  statute-books 
had  laws  already  therein  relating  to  slavery. 

The  law  in  Michigan  secured  to  the  person  arrested  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  Jiabeas  corpus,  a  trial  by 
jury,  and  the  employment  of  the  State's  Attorney  as  counsel  for  the  prisoners.  It  denied  the  use  of  the  jails 
ef  the  State  for  the  purposes  contemplated  in  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  imposed  a  heavy  penalty  for  the 
arrest  of  a  free  colored  person  as  an  alleged  fugitive  slave. 

The  law  in  Wisconsin  was  substantially  the  same  as  that  in  Michigan,  -with  an  additional  clause  for  the  pro 
tection  of  its  citizens  from  any  penalties  incurred  by  a  refusal  to  aid  or  obey  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

Iowa,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Minnesota,  California,  and  Oregon,  made  no  laws  on  the  subject. 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  in  this  connection,  that  the  statute-books  of  every  Slave-labor  Slate  in  tJie  Union  con 
tained,  at  that  time,  Personal  Liberty  Acts,  all  of  them  as  muck  in  opposition  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  o/'ISSO  as  any  act  passed  by  the  Legislatures  of  Free-labor  States.  Some  of  them 
had  penalties  more  severe.  All  of  them  provided  for  the  use  of  law  by  the  alleged  slave;  most  of  them  gave 
him  a  trial  by  jury  ;  and  those  of  North  Carolina  and  Texas  punished  the  stcaler  and  seller  of  a  free  negro  with 
DEATH.  The  spirit  and  object  of  all  were  expressed  in  the  preamble  to  the  law  in  Georgia,  as  follows: — 
"  Whereas  free  persons  of  color  are  liable  to  be  taken  and  held  fraudulently  and  illegally  in  a  state  of  slavery 
by  wicked  white  men,  and  to  be  secretly  removed  whenever  an  effort  may  be  made  to  redress  their  grievances, 
so  that  due  inquiry  may  not  be  had  into  the  circumstances  of  the  detention  of  the  same,  and  their  right  of 
freedom,"  et  ccetera,  "  Be  it  enacted,"  &c. 


CHARACTER    OF   THE    SECESSION   MOVEMENT.  71 

matter  what  may  be  the  physical  strength  which  the  Government  has  at  its 
command.  Under  such  circumstances,  to  send  a  military  force  into  any  State, 
with  orders  to  act  against  the  people,  would  be  simply  making  war  upon 
them." 

The  Attorney-General  limited  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of  the  Executive, 
in  the  matter  in  question,  to  a  simple  protection  of  the  public  property.  If 
he  could  not  collect  the  revenue  on  account  of  insurrection,  he  had  no  war 
rant  for  the  use  of  military  force.  Congress  might  vote  him  the  power,  yet 
he  doubted  the  ability  of  that  body  to  find  constitutional  permission  to  do  so. 
It  seemed  to  him,  that  an  attempt  to  force  the  people  of  a  State  into  submis 
sion  to  the  laws  of  the  Republic,  and  to  desist  from  attempts  to  destroy  it, 
would  be  making  war  upon  them,  by  which  they  would  be  converted  into 
alien  enemies,  and  "  would  be  compelled  to  act  accordingly/'  If  Congress 
should  sanction  such  an  attempt  to  uphold  the  authority  of  the  National 
Government,  he  wished  to  know  whether  all  of  the  States  would  "not  be 
absolved  from  their  Federal  obligations  ?  Is  any  portion  of  the  people,"  he 
asked,  "  bound  to  contribute  their  money  or  their  blood  to  carry  on  a  contest 
like  this  ?"  The  Attorney-General  virtually  counseled  the  President  to  suffer 
this  glorious  concrete  Republic  to  become  disintegrated  by  the  fires  of  fac 
tion,  or  the  blows  of  actual  rebellion,  rather  than  to  use  force,  legitimately 
at  his  service,  for  the  preservation  of  its,  integrity. 

The  vital  weakness  in  the  arguments  of  the  conspirators,  and  of  those  who 
adopted  their  peculiar  political  views,  appears  at  all  times  in  the  erroneous 
assumption,  as  premises,  that  ASV///tjx,  as  such,  had  seceded,  and  that  the 
National  Government,  if  it  should  take  action  against  rebellious  movements, 
must  of  necessity  war  against  a  "  Sovereign  State."  The  undeniable  fact 
opposed  to  tliis  argument  was,  that  no  «S7//ft ;,  as  such,  had  seceded,  or  could 
secede  ;  that  the  secession  of  certain  States  had  been  declared  only  by  certain 
politician*  in  those  States,  who  were  usurpers,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter, 
of  the  rights  and  sovereignty  which  belonged  only  to  the  ]M-ojd<  /  that  only 
certain  persons  in  certain  States  were  in  rebellion,  and  that  the  Government 
could  only  act  against  those  certain  persons  in  certain  States  as  individuals 
collectively  rebellious,  like  a  mob  in  a  city.  Therefore,  there  could  be  no 
such  thing  as  the  "coercion  of  a  State.''  That  which  the  conspirators  and 
the  politicians  so  adroitly  and  effectively  exhibited  as  ki  coercion "  was  au 
unsubstantial  phantom,  created  by  the  subtle  alchemy  of  sophistry,  for  an 
ignoble  purpose — an  invention  of  disloyal  metaphysicians  in  the  Slave-labor 
States,  bearing,  to  undisciplined  and  unreasoning  minds,  the  semblance  of 
truth  and  reality.  If  we  shall  keep  this  fact  in  mind  clearly,  as  we  proceed 
in  our  consideration  of  the  events  of  the  civil  war,  we  shall  perceive  the 
wisdom,  righteousness,  and  dignity  of  the  National  Government,  and  the 
opposing  qualities  in  its  enemies,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
troubles. 

The  President  followed  the  counsel  of  his  legal  adviser  in  the  preparation 
of  that  part  of  his  Message  which  related  to  anticipated  insurrection.  But 
before  yielding  wholly  to  that  counsel,  he  said,  in  discussing  the  doctrine  of 
the  right  of  a  State  to  secede  : — "  In  ord^.r  to  justify  secession  as  a  constitu 
tional  remedy,  it  must  be  on  the  principle  that  the  Federal  Government  is  a 
mere  voluntary  association  of  States,  to  be  dissolved  at  pleasure  by  any  one 


72  THE   PEESIDENT'S   SOUND  VIEWS. 

of  the  contracting  parties.1  If  this  be  so,  the  Confederacy  is  a  rope  of  sand, 
to  be  penetrated  and  dissolved  by  the  first  adverse  wave  of  public  opinion  in 
any  of  the  States.  In  this  manner  our  thirty-three  States  may  resolve  them 
selves  into  so  many  petty,  jarring,  and  hostile  republics,  each  one  retiring 
from  the  Union  without  responsibility,  whenever  any  sudden  excitement 
might  impel  them  to  such  a  course.  By  this  process,  a  Union  might  be 
entirely  broken  into  fragments  in  a  few  weeks,  which  cost  our  fathers  many 
years  of  toil,  privation,  and  blood  to  establish." 

In  these  wise,  truthful,  and  statesmanlike  sentences  the  President  cast  off 
the  restraints  of  the  meshes  of  political  and  personal  difficulty  in  which  he 
was  evidently  entangled  ;  and  by  so  doing  he  gave  unpardonable  offense  to 
the  conspirators.  With  the  freedom  of  will  and  judgment  which  that  mo 
mentary  relief  gave  him,  and  with  a  lofty  conception  of  the  dignity  of  the 
Republic  and  his  own  position,  he  continued : — "  This  Government  is  a  great 
and  powerful  Government,  invested  with  all  the  attributes  of  sovereignty 
over  the  special  subjects  to  which  its  authority  extends.  Its  framers  never 
intended  to  implant  in  its  bosom  the  seeds  of  its  own  destruction,  nor  were 
they,  at  its  creation,  guilty  of  the  absurdity  of  providing  for  its  own  dissolu 
tion.  It  was  not  intended  by  its  framers  to  be  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision, 
which,  at  the  touch  of  the  enchanter,  would  vanish  into  thin  air ;  but  a  sub 
stantial  and  mighty  fabric,  capable  of  resisting  the  slow  decay  of  time,  and  of 
defying  the  storms  of  ages.  Indeed,  well  may  the  zealous  patriots  of  that 
day  have  indulged  fears  that  a  government  of  such  high  powers  might  vio 
late  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States,  and  wisely  did  they  adopt  the  rule  of  a 
strict  construction  of  these  powers  to  prevent  danger.  But  they  did  not 
fear,  nor  had  they  any  reason  to  imagine,  that  the  Constitution  would  ever 
be  so  interpreted  as  to  enable  any  State,  by  her  own  act,  and  without  the 
consent  of  her  sister  States,  to  discharge  her  people  from  all  or  any  of  their 
Federal  obligations." 

These  were  brave  words,  and  the  President  had  constitutional  and  popular 
power  to  follow  them  with  corresponding  brave  actions.  But  a  sense  of 
restraint  seems  to  have  paralyzed  his  will,  and  while  he  declared  that  the 
forts  and  other  public  property  must  be  protected,  he  yielded  every  thing  to 
the  conspirators  by  saying,  in  their  own  phraseology,  that  there  was  no 
power  known  to  the  Constitution  to  compel  a  "  seceding  State  "  to  return  to 
its  allegiance.  He  saw  no  way  in  which  a  "  subjugated  State  "  could  be  gov 
erned  afterward ;  and  even  if  the  National  Government  had  the  power  to- 
compel  the  obedience  of  a  State,  "  would  it  be  wise  to  exercise  it,  under  the 
circumstances  ?"  he  asked.  In  the  fraternal  conflict  that  would  ensue,  a  vast 
amount  of  blood  and  treasure  would  be  expended,  rendering  future  reconcilia 
tion  impossible.  He  declared  that  the  States  were  colleagues  of  one  another ; 
and  if  some  of  them,  he  said,  "  should  conquer  the  rest,  and  hold  them  as 
subjugated  provinces,  it  would  totally  destroy  the  whole  theory  upon  which 
they  are  now  connected.  If  this  view  of  the  subject  be  as  correct  as  I 
think  it  is,"  he  said,  "then  the  Union  must  utterly  perish  at  the  moment 


1  This,  as  we  have  observed,  is  the  vital  principle  involved  in  the  doctrine  of  Supreme  State  Sovereignty, 
and  the  corner-stone  of  the  foundation  on  which  the  great  rebellion  rested  for  justification.  Against  this  corner- 
Btone  the  President  hurled  the  conclusions  in  this  paragraph. 


AMENDMENT   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION   PROPOSED.  73 

when  Congress  shall  arm  one  part  of  the  people  against  another,  for  any 
purpose  beyond  that  of  merely  protecting  the  General  Government  in  the 
exercise  of  its  proper  constitutional  functions.  .  .  .  Congress  possesses  many 
means  of  preserving  it  by  conciliation ;  but  the  sword  was  not  placed  in 
their  hands  to  preserve  it  by  force." 

Having  declared  that  secession  was  a  crime,  and  the  doctrine  of  State 
Supremacy  a  heresy  dangerous  to  the  nationality  of  the  Republic,  but  that 
both  might  be  indulged  in  to  the  fullest  extent  with  impunity,  because  the 
Government,  as  an  executive  force,  was  constitutionally  and  utterly  impotent 
to  protect  the  nation  against  rebellious  hands  uplifted  to  destroy  it — in  other 
words,  that  the  hands  of  wicked  assassins  were  ready  with  strength  to  crush 
out  the  National  life,  but  the  Republic  possessed  no  power,  excepting  that 
of  moral  suasion,  to  protect  and  preserve  that  life — the  President  proposed  to 
conciliate  its  enemies,  by  allowing  them  to  infuse  deadly  poison  into  the 
blood  of  their  intended  victim,  which  would  slowly  but  as  surely  accomplish 
their  purpose,  in  time.  To  do  this,  he  proposed  an  u  explanatory  amend 
ment"  to  the  Constitution,  on  the  subject  of  Slavery,  which  should  give  to 
the  conspirators  every  thing  which  they  had  demanded,  namely,  the  elevation 
of  the  Slave  system  to  the  dignity  of  a  national  institution,  and  thus  sap  the 
very  foundations  of  our  free  government.  This  amendment  was  to  consist  of 
an  express  recognition  of  the  right  of  property  in  slaves,  in  the  States  where 
it  then  existed  or  might  thereafter  exist;  of  the  recognition  of  the  duty  of 
the  National  Government  to  protect  that  right  in  all  the  Territories  through 
out  their  Territorial  existence;  the  recognition  of  the  right  of  the  Slave 
owner  to  every  privilege  and  advantage  given  him  in  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  of  1850;  and  a  declaration  that  all  the  State  laws  impairing  or  defeat 
ing  that  law  were  violations  of  the  Constitution,  and  consequently  yull  and 
void. 

This  Message,  so  indecisive,  and,  in  many  respects,  inconsistent,  alarmed 
the  people.  They  felt  themselves,  in  a  measure,  adrift  upon  a  sea  of  troubles 
without  a  competent  pilot,  a  compass,  or  a  pole-star.  As  we  have  observed, 
it  pleased  nobody.  In  the  Chamber  of  the  United  States  Senate,  when  a 
motion  for  its  reference  was  made,  it  was  spoken  lightly  of  by  the  friends  and 
foes  of  the  Union.  Clingman,  of  North  Carolina,  who,  misrepresenting  the 
sentiment  of  his  State,  was  the  first  to  sound  the  trumpet  of  disunion  in  that 
hall,  at  this  time  declared  that  it  full  short  of  stating  the  case  that  was  before 
the  country.  Wigfall,  of  Texas,  said  he  could  not  understand  it ; 
and,  at  a  later  period,"  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  said  in  the  'J:l^r.v10' 
Senate,  that  it  uhad  all  the  characteristics  of  .1  diplomatic  paper, 
for  diplomacy  is  said  to  abhor  certainty,  as  nature  abhors  a  vacuum ;  and  it 
is  not  within  the  power  of  man  to  reach  any  fixed  conclusion  from  that  Mes 
sage.  When  the  country  was  agitated,  when  opinions  were  being  formed, 
when  we  are  drifting  beyond  the  power  ever  to  return,  this  was  not  what  we 
had  a  right  to  expect  from  a  Chief  Magistrate.  One  policy  or  the  other  he 
ought  to  have  taken/'  "  He  should  have  taken  the  position,"  he  said,  either 
of  a  "  Federalist,  that  every  State  is  subordinate  to  the  Federal  Government," 
and  lie  was  bound  to  enforce  its  authority ;  or  as  a  State  Rights  Democrat, 
which  he  professed  to  be,  holding  that  "the  Constitution  gave  no  power  to 
the  Federal  Government  to  coerce  a  State."  He  said,  truly,  "That  the 


74 


OPINIONS    CONCERNING   THE   MESSAGE. 


President  should  have  brought  his  opinion  to  one  conclusion  or  another,  and, 
to-day,  our  country  would  have  been  safer  than  it  is." 

Senator  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  said  that,  if  he  understood  the  Message 
on  the  subject  of  secession,  it  was  this  : — "  South  Carolina  has  just  cause  for 
seceding  from  the  Union  ;  that  is  the  first  proposition.  The  second  is,  that 
she  has  no  right  to  secede.  The  third  is,  that  we  have  no  right  to  prevent 
her  from  seceding.  He  goes  on  to  represent  this  as  a  great  and  powerful 
country,  and  that  no  State  has  a  right  to  secede  from  it ;  but  the  power  of 
the  country,  if  I  understand  the  President,  consists  in  what  Dickens  makes 
the  English  constitution  to  be — a  power  to  do  nothing  at  all.  Now,  I  think 
it  was  incumbent  on  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  point  out  definitely 
and  recommend  to  Congress  some  rule  of  action,  and  to  tell  us  what  he  re- 


TIIE   SENATE    CHAMBER   IN    I860. 

commended  us  to  do.  But,  in  my  judgment,  he  has  entirely  avoided  it.  He 
has  failed  to  look  the  thing  in  the  face.  He  has  acted  like  the  ostrich,  which 
hides  her  head,  and  thereby  thinks  to  escape  danger." 

So  thought  the  people.  They  saw  great  dangers,  but  could  not  compre 
hend  the  fearful  proportions  of  those  dangers.  Had  they  done  so,  they 
would  almost  have  despaired.  They  watched  with  intense  interest  the  rising 
waves  of  rebellion  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  and  heard  with  alarm  the  roar 
ing  of  their  surges  in  the  halls  of  Congress.  Their  thoughts  often  wandered 
back  to  an  earlier  period  in  their  history,  when  a  Chief  Magistrate  had  the 
courage  to  check  by  a  menace,  and  would  have  crushed  by  the  force  of 
arms,  if  it  had  been  necessary,  the  foul  serpent  of  rebellion,  that  appeared  a 
generation  before  as  a  petted  monster,  among  the  politicians  of  South 
Carolina,  and  was  exhibited  to  the  people  whenever  Calhoun  waved  the 


v/ 


EXPRESSIONS   OF   THE   CLERGY.  75 

sorcerer's  wand.     In  the  contrast  between  Jackson   and  Buchanan,  which 
that  retrospect  exhibited,  they  saw  cause  for  gloomy  forebodings. 

Patriotic  men  wrote  earnest  letters  to  their  representatives  in  Congress, 
asking  them  to  be  firm,  yet  conciliatory ;  and  clergymen  of  every  degree  and 
religious  denomination — Shepherds  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  the  Prince  of 
Peace — exhorted  their  flocks  to  be  firm  in  faith,  patient  in  hope,  careful  in 
conduct,  and  trustful  in  God.  "  This  is  no  time  for  noisy  disputants  to  lead 
us,"  wrote  Bishop  Lay,  at  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas.  "  We  should  ask  counsel 
of  the  experienced,  the  sober,  the  God-fearing  men  among  us.  We  may  fol 
low  peace,  and  yet  guard  our  country's  rights;  nor  should  we,  in  concern  for 
our  own,  forget  the  rights  and  duties  of  others."1 — "In  our  public  congrega 
tions,  in  our  family  worship,  in  each  heart's  private  prayers,"  wrote  Bishop 
Mcllvame,  of  Ohio,  "  I  solemnly  feel  that  it  is  a  time  for  all  to  beseech  God 
to  have  mercy  upon  our  country — not  to  deal  with  us  according  to  our  sins— 
not  to  leave  us  to  our  own  wisdom  and  might — to  take  the  counsels  of  our 
senators  and  legislators,  and  all  in  authority,  into  His  own  guidance  and  gov 
ernment."5' — "  These  evils  are  the  punishment  of  sin,"  wrote  Bishop  McFar- 
land,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  to  the  clergy  of  his  diocese,  "  and  are  to  be 
averted  only  by  appeasing  the  anger  of  Heaven.  You  will,  therefore,  request 
your  congregation  to  unite  in  fervent  prayers  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union  and  the  peace  of  the  country.  For  this  intention,  we  exhort  them  to 
say,  each  day,  at  least  one  *  Our  Father' and  one  'Hail  Mary ;' to  observe 
with  great  strictness  the  Fast-days  of  this  holy  season  ;  to  prepare  themselves 
for  the  worthy  reception  of  the  Sacraments  of  Penance  and  the  Holy 
Eucharist,  at  or  before  Christmas ;  to  give  alms  generally  to  the  poor,  and 
to  turn  their  whole  hearts  in  all  humility  to  God.":t  More  than  forty  leading 
clergymen  of  various  denominations  in  Xe\v  York,  New  Jersey, 
and  Pennsylvania  united  in  sending  forth"  a  circular  letter,  in  the 
form  of  an  appeal  to  the  churches,  in  which  they  said : — "  We 
cannot  doubt  that  a  spirit  of  candor  and  forbearance,  such  as  our  religion 
prompts,  and  the  exigencies  of  the  times  demand,  would  render  the  speedy 
adjustment  of  our  difficulties  possible,  consistently  with  every  constitutional 
right.  Unswerving  fealty  to  the  Constitution  justly  interpreted,  and  a 
prompt  return  to  its  spirit  and  requirements  wherever  there  may  have  beeii 
divergence  from  either,  would  seem  to  be  the  first  duty  of  citizens  and  legis 
lators.  It  is  our  firm,  and,  \ve  think,  intelligent  conviction,  that  only  a  very 
inconsiderable  fraction  of  the  people  of  the  North  will  hesitate  in  the  dis 
charge  of  their  constitutional  obligations;  and  that  whatever  enactments  are 
found  to  be  in  conflict  therewith  will  be  annulled."  They  urged  the  neces 
sity  of  a  more  candid  and  temperate  discussion,  on  the  part  of  the  press 
and  the  pulpit,  of  moral  and  political  questions — a  greater  regard  "  for  the 
rights  and  feelings  of  men." 

So  early  as  the  close  of  October,''  that  venerable  soldier,  Lieu-  A  Oct^r  3<l 
tenant-General  Winfield  Scott,  the  General-in-chief  of  the  armies 
of  the  Republic,  perceiving  the  gathering  cloud  betokening  a  storm,  spoke 


1  Pastoral  Letter  of  Bishop  Henry  C1.  Lay.  December  6,  1S60. 

J  1'ustoral  letter  to  the  Clergy  ami  Laity  of  the  Diocese  of  Ohio.  December  7.  1*60. 

*  Pastoral  Letter  to  the  Uoinan  Catholic  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Hartford,  December  14,  1S60. 


76 


GENERAL   WOOL'S   LETTER. 


words  of  warning  to  the  President  and  Secretary  of  War.  He  was  evi 
dently  ignorant  of  the  perplexities  of  the  former  and  the  wickedness  of  the 
latter,  or  he  would  never  have  wasted  words,  as  he  did,  in  saying :  "  From 
a  knowledge  of  our  Southern  population,  it  is  my  solemn  conviction  that 
there  is  some  danger  of  an  early  act  of  rashness  preliminary  to  secession, 
namely,  the  seizure  of  some  or  all  of  the  Southern  forts,"  which  he  named. 
"  In  my  opinion,"  he  said,  "  all  these  works  should  be  immediately  so  garri 
soned  as  to  make  any  attempt  to  take  any  one  of  them,  by  surprise  or  coup 
de  main,  ridiculous."  ..."  It  is  the  opinion  that  instructions  should  be 
given  at  once  to  the  commanders  of  the  Barancas  [Pensacola],  Forts 
Moultrie  and  Monroe,  to  be  on  their  guard  against  surprises." 

Another  veteran  warrior,  who  had  been  Scott's  companion  in  arms  for 
fifty  years,  full  of  patriotic  zeal,  and  with  a  keen  perception  of  danger,  after 
reading  the  President's  message  wrote  a  letter  remarkable  for  its  good  sense, 
foresight,  and  wisdom.  That  soldier  was  Major-General  John  Ellis  Wool, 
then  commander  of  the  Eastern  Department,  which  included  the  whole 
country  eastward  of  the  Mississippi  River.  He  wrote  to  the  venerable  Gen 
eral  Lewis  Cass  (also  his  companion-in-arms  in  the  War  of  1812),  Buchanan's 

Secretary  of  State,  on  the  6th  of  De 
cember,  saying  : — "  South  Carolina  says 
she  intends  to  leave  the  Union.  Her 
representatives  in  Congress  say  she  has 
already  left  the  Union.  It  seems  she 
is  neither  to  be  conciliated  nor  com 
forted.  I  command  the  Eastern  Depart 
ment,  which  includes  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi.  You 
know  me  well.  I  have  ever  been  a  firm, 
decided,  faithful,  and  devoted  friend  of 
my  country.  If  I  can  aid  the  Presi 
dent  to  preserve  the  Union,  I  hope  he 
will  command  my  services.  It  will  never 
do  for  him  or  you  to  leave  Washington 
without  every  star  in  this  Union  in  its  place.  Therefore,  no  time  should  be 
lost  in  adopting  measures  to  defeat  those  who  are  conspiring  against  the 
Union.  Hesitation  or  delay  may  be  no  less  fatal  to  the  Union  than  to  the 
President,  or  your  own  high  standing  as  a  statesman." 

This  patriotic  soldier  then  urged  upon  the  Government  the  absolute  neces 
sity  of  sending  re-enforcements  to  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbor ;  and  he 
spurned  the  excuse  for  not  doing  so,  urged  by  some,  that  such  a  step  would 
serve  to  increase  the  excitement  among  the  people  of  South  Carolina.  "  That 
is  nonsense,"  he  said,  "  when  the  people  are  as  much  excited  as  they  can  be, 
and  the  leaders  are  determined  to  execute  their  long-meditated  purpose  of 
separating  the  State  from  the  Union.  Do  not  leave  the  forts  in  the  harbor  in 
a  condition  to  induce  the  attempt  to  take  possession  of  them.  It  might 
easily  be  done  at  this  time.  If  South  Carolina  should  take  them,  it  might,  as 
she  anticipates,  induce  other  States  to  join  her.  The  Union  can  be  preserved, 
but  it  requires  firm,  decided,  prompt,  energetic  action  on  the  part  of  the 
President.  He  has  only  to  exert  the  power  conferred  on  him  by  the  Consti- 


LEWIS  CASS. 


A  FAST-DAY   PROCLAIMED. 


77 


tution  and  Laws  of  Congress,  and  all  will  be  safe,  and  he  will  prevent  a  civil 
war,  which  never  fails  to  call  forth  all  the  baser  passions  of  the  human  heart 
If  a  separation  should  take  place,  be  assured,  blood  would  flow  in  torrents. 
Let  me  conjure  you  to  save  the  Union,  and  thereby  avoid  the  desolating 
example  of  Mexico.  .  .  .  Think  of  these  things,  my  dear  General,  and 
save  the  country,  and  save  the  prosperous  South  from  pestilence,  famine, 
and  desolation.  Peaceable  secession  is  not  to  be  thought  of.  Even  if  it 
should  take  place  in  three  months,  we  would  have  a  bloody  war  on  our 
hands." 

The  patriotic  Cass  was  powerless.  Fully  convinced  by  recent  develop 
ments  that  the  Cabinet  was  tilled  with  traitors,  bent  upon  the  destruction  of 
the  Republic,  and  utterly  unable,  with  his  sin 
gle  hand  and  voice,  to  restrain  or  persuade 
them,  he  resigned  the  seals  of  his  office  on 
the  12th  of  December,  and  retired  to  private 
life.1  The  President,  too,  conscious  of  his 
own  impotence — conscious  that  the  Govern 
ment  was  in  the  hands  of  its  enemies — and 
despairing  of  the  salvation  of  the  Union  by 
human  agency,  issued  a  Proclamation  on  the 
14th  of  December,  recommending  the  ob 
servance  of  the  4th  day  of  January  follow 
ing  as  a  day  for  humiliation,  fasting,  and 
prayer,  throughout  the  Republic.  u  The 
Union  of  the  States,"  lie  said,  "  is  at  the 

present  moment  threatened  with  alarming  and  immediate  danger ;  panic  and 
distress,  of  a  fearful  character,  prevail  throughout  the  land;  our  laboring 
population  are  without  employment,  and,  consequently,  deprived  of  the 
means  of  earning  their  bread ;  indeed,  hope  seems  to  have  deserted  the 
minds  of  men.  All  classes  are  in  a  state  of  confusion  and  dismay,  and  the 
wisest  counsels  of  our  best  and  purest  men  are  wholly  disregarded.  In  this, 
the  hour  of  our  calamity  and  peril,  to  whom  shall  we  resort  for  relief  but  to 
the  God  of  our  Fathers?  His  omnipotent  arm  only  can  save  us  from  the 
awful  effects  of  our  own  crimes  and  follies — our  own  ingratitude  and  guilt 
toward  our  Heavenly  Father."  He  then  recommended  a  union  of  the  peo 
ple  in  bowing  in  humility  before  God,  and  said,  in  words  not  only  of  faith, 
but  of  remarkable  prophecy : — ''  An  Omnipotent  Providence  may  overrule 
existing  evils  for  permanent  good.'*3 


SKA  I.   OK   TIIK    STATK    PEI'AKl  M  I.NT. 


1  He  was  succeeded  by  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  Buchanan's  Attorney -General.     Two  days  before,  as  we  have 
observed  on  page  44,  Unwell  Cobb  left  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  because  his  "duty  to  Georsria  re 
quired  it,"  and  was  succeeded  by  Philip  K.  Thomas,  of  Maryland.     Cobb's  letter  of  resignation   was  dated  the 
8th,  but  he  did  not  leave  office,  until  the  10th. 

2  The   Proclamation,  in  sentiment  and  expression,  was  all  that  Christian  men  could  ask.  of  its  kind;  but 
lovers  of  righteousness  thought  that  a  better  formula  might  have  been  framed,  considering  the  social  condition 
of  the  nation,  after  pondering  the  following  words  in  the  fifty-eighth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  beginning  at  the  third 
verse : — 

"  Wherefore  have  we  fasted,  say  they,  and  thou  seest  not  ?  Wherefore  have  we  afflicted  our  soul,  and  thou 
takest  no  knowledge*  Ik-hold,  in  the  day  of  your  fast  you  find  pleasure,  and  exact  all  your  labors.  Behold,  ye 
fast  for  strife  nnd  debate,  and  to  smite  with  the  fist  of  wickedness:  ye  shall  not  fast  as  ye  do  this  day,  to  make 
your  voice,  to  be  heard  on  high.  Is  it  such  a  fast  that  I  have  chosen?  a  day  for  a  man  to  afflict  his  soul*  is  it 
to  bow  down  his  head  as  a  bulrush,  and  to  spread  sackcloth  and  ashes  under  him?  Wilt  thou  call  this  a  fast, 
and  an  acceptable  day  to  the  Lord?  Is  not  this  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen  ?  to  loose  the  bands  of  wickedness, 


THOMAS    L.    CLINGMAN. 


78  TREASONABLE  SPEECH  BY   CLINGMAN. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  halls  of  Congress  had  become  theaters  wherein 
treason  was  openly  and  defiantly  displayed,  especially  in  the  Senate  Chamber, 
where,  as  we  have  observed,  Senator  Clingman,  of  North  Carolina,  who 
afterward  became  a  brigadier-general  in  the  Confederate  army,  had  first 
sounded  the  trumpet-note  of  revolt.  The  occasion  was  the  discussion  of  his 

own  motion  to  print  the  President's  Mes 
sage.  Adopting  the  false  assumption  as 
true,  that  the  people  of  the  Free-labor 
States  had  resolved,  because  they  formed 
a  constitutional  majority,  to  oppress  and 
despoil  of  their  rights  the  people  of  the 
Slave-labor  States,  and  had  elected  a  Pre 
sident  "because  he  was  known  to  be  a 
dangerous  man  "  to  the  latter  section,  he 
boldly  announced  the  determination  of 
the  South — that  is  to  say,  the  politicians, 
like  himself,  of  the  Slave-labor  States — to 
submit  no  longer  to  the  authority  of  the 
National  Government.  To  his  political 
opponents,  on  the  other  side  of  the  House, 

he  said: — "I  tell  those  gentlemen,  in  perfect  frankness,  that,  in  my  judg 
ment,  not  only  will  a  number  of  States  secede  in  the  next  sixty  days,  but 
some  of  the  other  States  are  holding  on  merely  to  see  if  proper  guaranties 
can  be  obtained.  We  have  in  North  Carolina  only  two  considerable  parties. 
The  absolute  submissionists  are  too  small  to  be  called  a  party."  He  falsely 
alleged  that  the  great  "  mass  of  the  people  consist  of  those  who  are  for  imme 
diate  action,"  and  then  threatened,  that  unless  ample  guaranties  should  be 
given,  by  amendments  o£  the  Constitution,  for  the  protection  of  the  rights 
of  the  South  in  regard  to  Slavery,  they  would  see  "most  of  the  Southern 
States  in  motion  at  an  early  day.  I  will  not  undertake  to  advise,"  he  said; 
"  but  I  say  that,  unless  some  comprehensive  plan  of  some  kind  be  adopted, 
which  shall  be  perfectly  satisfactory,  in  my  judgment,  the  wisest  thing  this 
Congress  can  do  would  be  to  divide  the  public  property  fairly,  and  apportion 
the  public  debt.  I  say,  Sir — and  events  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  will 
determine  whether  I  am  right  or  not — in  my  judgment,  unless  decisive 
constitutional  guaranties  are  obtained  at  an  early  day,  it  will  be  best  for  all 
sections  that  a  peaceable  division  of  the  public  property  should  take  place." 
After  thus  demanding  "guaranties"  or  concessions,  Mr.  Clingman  broad 
ly  intimated  that  no  concessions  would  satisfy  the  South  ;  and,  after  drawing 
a  picture  of  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  secession  by  the  people  of  the 
Slave-labor  States,  he  protested  against  waiting  for  an  overt  act  of  offense  on 
the  part  of  the  President  elect.  He  wanted  no  further  parley  Avith  the  peo 
ple  of  the  Free-labor  States.  "They  wish,"  he  said  "to  have  an  opportunity, 
by  circulating  things  like  Helper's  book,1  of  arraying  the  non-slaveholders 

to  nndo  the  heavy  burden*,  and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free,  and  that  ye  break  every  yoke?  Is  it  not  to  deal 
thy  bread  to  the  hungry,  and  that  thou  bring  the  poor  that  are  cast  out  to  thy  house  ?  When  thou  seest  the 
naked,  that  thou  cover  him;  and  that  thou  hide  not  thyself  from  thine  own  flesh  ?  .  .  .  Then  shalt  thou  call,  and 
the  Lord  shall  answer ;  thou  shalt  cry,  and  he  shall  say,  Here  I  am." 

1  In  1S59,  a  volume  was  published,  entitled   The  Impending  Crisis  of  the  South,  by  Hinton  Eowan  Helper, 
a  North  Carolinian.     It  was  an  appeal  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  to  break  loose 


CRITTENDEN'S  REBUKE.— HALE'S  REMARKS.  79 

and  poor  men  against  the  wealthy.  I  have  no  doubt  that  would  be  their 
leading  policy,  and  they  would  be  very  quiet  about  it.  They  want  to  get  up 
that  sort  of  'free  debate'  which  has  been  put  into  practice  in  Texas,  accord 
ing  to  the  Senator  from  New  York  [Mr.  Seward],  for  he  is  reported  to  have 
said,  in  one  of  his  speeches  in  the  Northwest,  alluding  to  recent  disturbances, 
to  burnings  and  poisonings  there,  that  Texas  was  '  excited  by  free  debate.' 
Well,  Sir,"  continued  Clingman,  with  peculiar  emphasis,  "a  Senator  from 
Texas1  told  me,  the  other  day,  that  a  good  many  of  those  l  debated  irere 
hanging  np  by  the  trees  in  that  country  !" 

When  Clingman  ceased  speaking,  the  venerable  John  Jay  Crittenden,  of 
Kentucky,  tottering  with  physical  infirmities  and  the  burden  of  seventy-five 
years — the  Nestor  of  Congress — instantly  arose  and  mildly  rebuked  the  Sena 
tor,  while  his  seditious  words  were  yet  ringing  in  the  ears  of  his  amazed  peers. 
"I  rise  here,"  he  said,  "to  express  the  hope,  and  that  alone,  that  the  bad 
example  of  the  gentleman  will  not  be  followed."  He  spoke  feelingly  of 
costly  sacrifices  made  for  the  establishment  of  the  Union ;  of  its  blessings 
and  promises ;  and  hoped  that  "  there  was  not  a  Senator  present  who  was 
not  willing  to  yield  and  compromise  much  for  the  sake  of  the  Government 
and  the  Union." 

Mr.  Crittenden's  mild  rebuke,  and  earnest  appeal  to  the  patriotism  of  the 
Senate,  was  met  by  more  scornful  and  violent  harangues  from  other  Senators, 
in  which  the  speakers  seemed  to  emulate  each  other  in  the  utterance  of  sedi 
tious  sentiments.  Clingman,  more  courteous,  than  most  of  his  compeers,  said, 
'k  I  think  one  of  the  wisest  remarks  that  Mr.  Calhoun  ever  made  was,  that  the 
Union  could  not  be  saved  by  eulogies  upon  it."  Senators  Alfred  Iverson,  of 
Georgia,  Albert  G.  Brown,  of  Mississippi,  and  Louis  T.  Wigfall,  of  Texas,  fol 
lowed.  They  had  been  stirred  with  anger  by  stinging  words  from  Senator 
Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  who  replied  to  some  of  Clingman's  remarks  : — "  If 
the  issue  which  is  presented  is,  that  the  constitutional  will  of  the  public  opinion 
of  this  country,  expressed  through  the  forms  of  the  Constitution,  will  not 
be  submitted  to,  and  war  is  the  alternative,  let  it  come  in  any  form  or  in  any 
shape.  The  Union  is  dissolved,  and  it  cannot  be  held  together  as  a  Union,  if 
that  is  the  alternative  upon  which,  we  go  into  an  election.  If  it  is  j ire- 
announced  and  determined  that  the  voice  of  the  majority,  expressed  through 
the  regular  and  constitutional  forms  of  the  Constitution,  will  not  be  sub 
mitted  to,  then.  Sir,  this  is  not  a  Union  of  equals;  it  is  a  Union  of  a 
dictatorial  oligarchy  on  the  one  side,  and  a  herd  of  slaves  and  cowards  on 
the  other.  That  is  it,  Sir;  nothing  more;  nothing  less." 

The  conspirators  were  not  accustomed  to  hear  such  defiant  words  from 
their  opponents.  '  They  indicated  a  spirit  of  resistance  to  their  demands 
— powerful,  resolute,  and  unyielding.  They  were  astonished  and  enraged. 
They  felt  compelled  to  cast  oft*  all  disguises  and  cease  circumlocution.  Hale 
had  said,  "The  plain,  true  way,  is,  to  look  this  thing  in  the  face — see  where 
we  are."  The  conspirators  now  thought  so  too,  and  accepted  the  challenge. 
Senators  Iverson  and  Wigfall,  the  most  outspoken  of  the  disloyalists  present, 


from  their  social  and  political  vassalage  to  the  largo  IP  .d  and  slave  owners,  and  to  aid  in  freeing  the  Republic 
of  slavery. 

1  The  Senators  from  Texas  were  John  Hemphi'    .nd  Louis  T.  Wigfall. 


80  IVERSON'S   TREASONABLE   SPEECH. 

revealed  to  the  country,  in  bold  outlines,  the  plans  and  intentions  of  the 
plotters  against  the  life  of  the  nation,  in  speeches  marked  by  a  superciliousness 
of  tone  and  manner  exceedingly  offensive  at  that  time,  but  perfectly  ridicu 
lous  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  history  to-day.  They  evidently  felt  confident 
of  success  in  all  their  treasonable  undertakings.  They  knew  how  well  their 
people  were  prepared  for  military  operations,  by  means  of  the  teachings  of 
their  State  military  schools  for  years,  their  drillings  during  the  past  year,  and 
the  wealth  of  the  arsenals  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  made  so  by  the  impover 
ishment  of  those  of  the  North,  by  the  Secretary  of  War.  They  had  arranged 
deep  plans,  which  were  afterward  carried  out,  for  the  subjugation  of  the 
people  of  the  Slave-labor  States  to  their  will ;  and  they  felt  well  assured  that  the 
great  party  in  the  Free-labor  States  which  had  been  in  political  sympathy  with 
them  would  keep  the  sword  of  the  Republic  in  its  scabbard,  while  commerce, 
ever  sensitive  to  the  least  disturbance  of  its  peace  and  quiet,  would  join  hands 
with  the  politicians  in  keeping  btund  in  triple  chains  the  fierce  dogs  of  war. 

Senator  Iverson,  a  man  over  sixty  years  of  age,  and  a  member  of  the  Mil 
itary  Committee  of  the  Senate,  startled  that  body  by  his  boldness  in  seditious 
speech.  He  admitted  that  a  State  had  no  'constitutional  right  to  secede,  but 
he  claimed  for  all  the  right  of  revolution.  He  then  announced  that  the  Slave- 
labor  States  intended  to  revolt.  "  We  intend  to  go  out  of  this  Union,"  he 
said.  "  I  speak  what  I  believe,  that,  before  the  4th  of  March,  five  of  the 
Southern  States,  at  least,  will  have  declared  their  independence.  .  .  .  Although 
there  is  a  clog  in  the  way  of  the  lone-star  State  of  Texas,  in  the  person  of  her 
Governor  (Houston),  who  will  not  consent  to  call  her  Legislature  together,  and 
give  the  people  of  that  State  an  opportunity  to  act,  yet  the  public  sentiment 
there  is  so  decided  in  favor  of  this  movement,  that  even  the  Governor  will  be 
overridden ;  and  if  he  does  not  yield  to  public  sentiment,  some  Texan  Brutus 

will  arise  to  rid  his  country  of  the  hoary- 
headed  incubus  that  stands  between  the 
people  and  their  sovereign  will.  We  intend 
to  go  out  peaceably,  if  we  can ;  forcibly,  if 
we  must.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  going  to 
be  war.  ...  If  five  or  eight  States  go  out 
of  this  Union,  I  would  like  to  see  the  man 
who  would  propose  a  declaration  of  war 
against  them,  or  attempt  to  force  them  into 
obedience  to  the  Federal  Government  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet  or  the  sword.  .  .  .  We 
shall,  in  the  next  twelve  months,  have  a 
Confederacy  of  the  Southern  States,  and  a 

ALFRED  IVERSON.  government,  inaugurated    and   in    successful 

operation,  which,   in   my   opinion,  will   be   a 

government  of  the  greatest  prosperity  and  power  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
There  will  be  no  war,  in  my  opinion.  .  .  .  The  fifteen  Slave  States,  or  the 
five  of  them  now  moving,  banded  together  in  one  government,  and  united  as 
they  are  soon  to  be,  would  defy  the  world  in  arms,  much  less  the  Northern 
States  of  this  Confederacy.  Fighting  on  our  own  soil,  in  defense  of  out- 
own  sacred  rights  and  honor,  we  could  not  be  conquered,  even  by  the  com 
bined  forces  of  all  the  other  States ;  and  sagacious,  sensible  men  in  the 


SPEECHES   OF   DAVIS    AXD    WIGFALL.  81 

Northern  States  would  understand  that  too  well  to  make  the  effort."  He 
said  that  if  they  were  allowed  to  go  in  peace,  they  would  condescend  to 
consider  the  Free-labor  States  as  "  a  favored  nation,  and  give  them  all  the 
advantages  of  commercial  and  amicable  treaties."  He  referred  to  the  hostile 
feeling  in  the  Senate  as  a  type  of  that  of  the  sections.  "  You  sit,  upon  your 
side,"  he  said,  "  silent  and  gloomy.  We  sit,  upon  ours,  with  knit  brows  and 
portentous  scowls ;"  and  added,  wickedly  or  ignorantly,  "  I  believe  that  the 
Northern  people  hate  the  South  worse  than  ever  the  English  people  hated 
France ;  and  I  can  tell  my  brethren  over  there,  that  there  is  no  love  lost 
upon  the  part  of  the  South."  He  concluded  with  angry  voice  and  gesture, 
saying,  "I  do  not  believe  there  will  be  any  war;  but  if  war  is  to  come,  let  it 
come.  We  will  meet  the  Senator  from  Xew  Hampshire,  and  all  the  myrmi 
dons  of  Abolitionism  and  Black  Republicanism  everywhere,  upon  our  own 
soil ;  and,  in  the  language  of  a  distinguished  member  from  Ohio  in  relation 
to  the  Mexican  War,  we  will  '  welcome  you  with  bloody  hands  to  hospitable 
graves.'  ' 

Senator  Jefferson  Davis  followed  with  a  few  words,  soft,  but  significant  of 
treason  in  his  purpose.  "I  am  here,"  he  said,  uto  perform  the  functions  of  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States.  Before  a  declaration  of  war  is  made  against 
the  State  of  which  I  am  a  citizen,  I  expect  to  be  out  of  this  Chamber ;  that 
when  that  declaration  of  war  is  made,  the  State  of  which  I  am  a  citizen  will 
be  found  ready  and  quite  willing  to  meet  it.  While  we  remain  here,  nctintj  as 
einlxtsscuhtrs  of  $<n*<>reif/n  *SY</tex,  at  least  under  the  form  of  friendship,  held 
together  by  an  alliance  as  close  as  it  is  possible  for  Sovereign  States  to  stand 
to  each  other,  threats  from  one  to  the  other  seem  to  be  wholly  inappropriate." 

Wigfall,  of  Texas,  a  truculent  debater,  of  ability  and  ready  speech,  of 
whom  it  might  have  been  truthfully  said,  in  Shakspeare's  words : — 

"Here's  a  large  mouth,  indeed, 

That  spits  forth  death,  and  mountains,  rocks,  and  seas; 
Talks  as  familiarly  of  roaring  lions 
As  maids  of  thirteen  do  of  puppy-dogs," 

did  not  seem  to  agree  with  the  cautious,  wily,  and  polished  Mississippi  Sena 
tor.  After  declaring  that  State  after  State 
would  soon  leave  the  Union,  and  that,  so 
far  as  he  was  concerned,  he  chose  not  to 
give  a  "reason  for  the  high  sovereign  act,"' 
he  said,  "  Now,  Sir,  I  admit  that  a  consti 
tutional  majority  has  a  right  to  govern. 

If  we   proposed    to  remain  in   this 

Union,  we  should  undoubtedly  submit  to 
the  inauguration  of  any  man  who  was 
elected  by  a  constitutional  majority.  We 
propose  nothing  of  that  sort.  We  simply 
say  that  a  man  who  is  distasteful  to  us  has 
been  elected,  and  we  choose  to  consider 

that  as  a  sufficient  ground  for  leaving  the  Ioris  T  WI(;FALL. 

Union,  and  we  intend  to  leave  the  Union. 

Then,  if  you  desire  it,''  he  said,  with  a  half  sneering,  half  defiant  tone,  "bring 
us  back.     When  you  undertake  that,  and  have  accomplished  it,  you  may  be 
VOL.  1—6 


82  COTTON  PROCLAIMED   KING. 

like  the  man  who  purchased  the  elephant — you  will  find  it  rather  difficult  to 
decide  what  you  will  do  with  the  animal." 

Some  days  later,  the  same  speaker,  in  a  few  sentences,  revealed  the  main 
spring  of  the  hopes  of  success  in  their  treasonable  work,  entertained  by  the 
conspirators.  It  was  the  cotton  crop  of  the  planting  coast  States,  upon 
which  England,  France,  and  the  States  north  of  the  Potomac,  chiefly  de 
pended  for  the  supply  of  their  mills.  For  fifty  years  the  orators  and  pub 
licists  of  the  Cotton-growing  States  had  proclaimed  the  power  of  cotton  in 
the  preservation  of  peace  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
because  of  the  commanding  influence  of  the  commercial  and  manufacturing 
interests  in  the  politics  of  the  latter  country,  to  which  American  cotton  had 
become  almost  an  indispensable  commodity.  It  had,  indeed,  become  a  power, 
both  social  and  political,  yet  not  so  absolutely  omnipotent  as  the  conspirators 
believed  it  to  be.  So  palpable  was  its  commercial  importance,  however,  and 
so  evident  was  it  that  the  mills  of  Europe,  and  those  of  the  Free-labor  States 
in  America,  with  their  five  millions  of  spindles,  were,  and  must  continue  to 
be,  mostly  dependent  upon  the  product  of  only  an  inconsiderable  portion  of 
ten  of  the  States  of  our  Republic,  that  its  puissance  was  generally  conceded. 
In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  March,  1858,  Senator  Hammond,  of 
South  Carolina,  said,  exultingly : — "  You  dare  not  make  war  upon  Cotton. 
Xo  power  on  earth  dares  to  make  war  upon  it.  Cotton  is  KING.  Until 
lately  the  Bank  of  England  was  king;  but  she  tried  to  put  her  screws,  as 
usual,  the  Fall  before  last,  on  the  cotton  crop,  and  was  utterly  vanquished. 
The  last  power  has  been  conquered.  Who  can  doubt,  that  has  looked  at 
recent  events,  that  Cotton  is  supreme  ?" 

Cotton  is  KING  !  shouted  the  great  land  and  slave  holders  of  the  Gulf 
States,  whose  fields  were  hoary  with  his  bounteous  gifts,  when  they  thought 
of  rebellion,  and  revolution,  and  independent  empire ;  for  they  believed  that 
his  scepter  had  made  England  and  France  their  dependents,  and  that  they 
must  necessarily  be  the  allies  of  the  cotton-growers,  in  the  event  of  war. 

Cotton  is  KING  !  echoed  back  submissively  the  spindles  of  Old  and  New 

England. 

"  Old  Cotton  will  pleasantly  reign 

When  other  kings  painfully  fall, 
And  ever  and  ever  remain 
The  mightiest  monarch  of  all," 

sang  an  American  bard1  years  before;  and  now,  a  Senator  (Wigfall)  of  the 
Republic,  with  words  of  treason  falling  from  his  lips,  like  jagged  hail,  in  the 
very  sanctuary  where  loyalty  should  be  adored  exclaimed : — "  I  say  that 
Cotton  is  KING,  and  that  he  waves  his  scepter,  not  only  over  these  thirty- 
three  States,  but  over  the  Island  of  Great  Britain  and  over  Continental 
Europe ;  and  that  there  is  no  crowned  head  upon  that  island,  or  upon  the 
continent,  that  does  not  bend  the  knee  in  fealty,  and  acknowledge  allegiance 
to  that  monarch.  There  are  five  millions  of  people  in  Great  Britain  who  live 
upon  cotton.  You  may  make  a  short  crop  of  grain,  and  it  will  never  affect 
them;  but  you  may  cram  their  granaries  to  bursting;  you  may  cram  them 


1  The  late  George  P.  Morris,  whose  son,  Brigadier-General  William  II.  Morris,  gallantly  fought  some  of  the 
Cotton-lords  and  their  followers  on  the  Peninsula,  in  the  "  Wilderness,"  and  in  the  open  fields  of  Spottsylvania, 
in  Virginia,  where  he  was  wounded. 


THE   COTTON   KINGDOM. 


83 


until  the  corn  actually  is  lifting  the  shingles  from  the  roofs  of  their  barns, 
and  exhaust  the  supply  of  cotton  for  one  week,  and  all  England  is  starving." 
Then  referring  to  threats  of  war,  and  expectations  of  negro  insurrections 
that  might  follow,  TTigfall  said  : — "  I  tell  you,  Senators,  that  next  year  you 
will  see  the  negroes  working  as  quietly  and  contentedly  as  if  their  masters 
were  not  leaving  that  country  for  a  foreign  land,  as  they  did,  a  few  years  ago, 
when  they  were  called  upon  to  visit  the  Republic  of  Mexico."  The  cotton 
crop,  he  said,  was  worth  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  a  year,  and 
would  never  be  less.  That  amount,  the  people  of  the  new  Confederacy  would 
export,  and  it  would  bring  the  same  amount  of  imports  into  the  country, 


THE   roTToS    u  KINGDOM "    IS    THE   VNITKP    STATES. 


"not  through  Host  on,  and  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,"  but  through  their 
own  ports.  "  What  tariff  we  shall  adopt  as  a  war  tariff,"  he  said,  "  I  expect 
to  discuss  in  a  few  months  later,  in  another  chamber.  I  tell  you  that  Cotton 
is  KING!"' 


1  The  production  of  cotton  for  commerce  has  hitherto  boon  confined  to  a  portion  of  ton  Suites,  as  indicated 
on  the  accompanying  map,  the  northern  limit  of  the  profitable  culture  of  the  plant  being,  it  is  said,  the  northern 
boundary  of  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  and  North  Carolina.  The  entire  area  of  the  ten  Cotton-producing  States,  in 
1S60,  was  606,1%  square  miles,  of  which  only  I0.5*s  square  miles  were  devoted  to  the  cotton  culture  in  that  year. 
On  those  10,SN>  square  miles,  4.675,770  bales  of  cotton,  weighing  4iK»  pounds  each,  were  raised  in  1S59-60.  Of 
this  amount  Great  Britain  took.  '2.019.-252  bales,  or  more  than  one-third  of  the  entire  crop;  France  took  430,696 
bales,  and  the  States  north  of  the  Potomac  took  760.21$  bales. 

The  accompanying  map  is  a  reduced  copy  of  a  part  of  one,  prefixed  to  a  lit port  to  tht  Barton  Board,  of  Trade 
on  tha  Cotton  Manufacture  of  IS62,  by  Edward  Atkinson.  The  solid  black  lines  inclose  the  principal  cotton 

regions  in  the  ten  States  alluded  to.  The  limit  of  cotton  culture  in  1860  is  indicated  by  a  dotted  line,  thus 

The  isothermal  line  of  mean  summer  temperature  is  shown  by  dotted  lines,  thus 

It  was  the  continual  boast  of  the  politicians  in  the  Cotton-producing  States,  that  the  money  value  of  their 
staple  was  greater  than  that  of  all  the  other  agricultural  productions  of  the  whole  country.  This  assertion  went 
from  lip  to  lip,  uncontradieted.  and  fixed  the  impression  on  the  public  mind  that  Cotton  really  was  King.  Every 
census  contradicted  it,  but  the  people  in  the  Slave-labor  States  were  allowed  to  know  very  little  about  the 


84  THE   INTENTIONS   OF   THE   CONSPIRATORS. 

How  utterly  fallacious  were  all  the  promises,  hopes,  and  expectations 
founded  upon  the  assumption  that  Cotton  was  KING,  will  be  seen  hereafter. 

It  was  plain  to  some  of  the  least  discerning,  that  the  whole  scheme  of 
revolt  had  been  deliberately  planned  long  before  the  assembling  of  Congress, 
and  that  the  talk  about  guaranties,  and  concessions,  and  compromises,  on  the 
part  of  the  conspirators,  was  sheer  hypocrisy,  intended  to  deceive  their  con 
stituents,  and  to  lull  the  suspicions  of  the  loyal  people  of  the  Republic.  "  You 
talk  about  concessions,"  exclaimed  the  out-spoken  Iverson.  "  You  talk  about 
repealing  the  Personal  Liberty  Bills,  as  a  concession  to  the  South  !  Repeal 
them  all  to-morrow,  Sir,  and  it  would  not  stop  the  progress  of  this  revolution. 
...  It  is  the  existence  and  the  action  of  the  public  sentiment  of  the  North 
ern  States  that  are  opposed  to  this  institution  of  Slavery,  and  are  determined 
to  break  it  down — to  use 'all  the  power  of  the  Federal  Government,  as  well 
as  every  other  power  in  their  hands,  to  bring  about  its  ultimate  and  speedy 
extinction.  That  is  what  we  apprehend,  and  what,  in  part,  moves  us  to  look 
for  security  and  protection  in  secession  and  a  Southern  Confed- 
"  DeCeSoer  13'  eracy."— "  Before  this  day  next  week,"  said  Wigfall,a  "  I  hazard  the 
assertion  that  South  Carolina,  in  convention  assembled,  will  have 
revoked  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  which  makes  her  one  of  these  United 
States.  Having  revoked  that  ratification,  she  will  adopt  an  amendment  to 
her  constitution,  by  which  she  will  have  vested  in  the  government  of  South 
Carolina  all  those  powers  which  she,  conjointly  with  the  other  States,  had 
previously  exercised  through  this  foreign  department ;  and  in  the  government 
of  South  Carolina  will  be  vested  the  right  to  declare  war,  to  conclude  peace, 
to  make  treaties,  to  enter  into  alliances,  and  to  do  all  other  matters  and 
things  which  Sovereign  States  may  of  right  do.  When  that  is  done,  a  min 
ister  plenipotentiary  and  envoy  extraordinary  will  be  sent  to  present  his 
credentials ;  and  when  they  are  denied,  or  refused  to  be  recognized  by  this 
Government,  I  say  to  you,  that  the  sovereignty  of  her  soil  will  be  asserted, 
and  it  will  be  maintained  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet."  Then,  referring  to  a 
threat  that  "  seceding  States  would  be  coerced  into  submission,"  he  expressed 
a  hope  that  such  Democrats  as  Vallandigham,  and  Richardson,  and  Logan, 
and  Cox,  and  McClernand,  and  Pugh,  of  Ohio — members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives — would  stand  by  the  Slave  power  in  this  matter,  and  pre- 

census.  That  of  1860  shows  that  the  wheat  crop  alone  (raised  mostly  in  the  Free-labor  States),  in  that  year,  far 
exceeded  in  value,  at  the  current  price,  that  of  the  entire  cotton  crop.  The  aggregate  value  of  the  cotton  was 
$183,000,000,  and  that  of  wheat  was  .$240.000,000,  or  $57, 000,000  greater.  The  aggregate  value  of  the  wheat,  corn, 
hay,  and  oats  crops  alone,  that  year,  was  over  $1,100,000,000.  As  an  article  of  export,  cotton  was  largely  in  excess 
of  any  other  item  of  agricultural  production.  The  total  value  of  these  productions  of  the  United  States 
exported  to  foreign  countries,  for  the  year  ending  the  30th  of  June,  1859,  was  $222.909,718.  That  of  cotton  was 
$161,434,923.  or  sixty-two  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  less  than  that  of  other  agricultural  exports.  The  value  of 
the  cotton  crop  was  not  an  eighth  part  of  that  of  the  whole  agricultural  products  of  the  country;  and  yet,  poli 
ticians,  in  order  to  deceive  the  Southern  people  with  false  notions  of  their  strength  and  independence,  and  the 
absolute  sovereignty  of  Cotton,  declared  it  to  be  greater  than  all  others.  When  the  trial  came,  and  the  claim  of 
Cotton  to  kingship  was  tested,  the  result  justified  the  poet  in  writing,  that— 

"  Cotton  and  Corn  were  mighty  Kings, 
Who  differed  at  times  on  certain  things, 

To  the  country's  dire  confusion: 
Corn  was  peaceable,  mild,  and  just, 
But  Cotton  was  fond  of  saying,    You  must ;' 
So,  after  heM  boasted,  and  bullied,  and  cussed, 

He  got  up  a  Revolution. 
But,  in  course  of  time,  the  bubble  is  bursted, 
And  Corn  is  King,  and  Cotton  is— worsted.11 


APATHY   OF  THE   ADMINISTRATION.  85 

vent  the  erection  of  (what  he  was  pleased  to  call  the  armed  power  of  the 
United  States)  "  a  military  despotism."  "  The  edifice  is  not  yet  completed," 
he  said.  "  South  Carolina,  thank  God !  has  laid  her  hands  upon  one  of  the 
pillars,  and  she  will  shake  it  until  it  totters  first,  and  then  topples.  She  will 
destroy  that  edifice,  though  she  perish  amid  the  ruins." 

Such  were  some  of  the  ravings  of  conspirators  in  the  Senate  of  the  Re 
public,  who  possessed  only  the  "guinea  stamp"  of  statesmen.  They  were 
counterfeit  coin,  made  of  the  basest  metal,  and  lacking  every  ingredient  of 
true  statesmanship.  They  had  been  palmed  off  upon  the  confiding  inhabit 
ants  of  the  Southern  States  by  the  arrogant  Slave  interest,  as  men  fitted  for 
the  high  and  holy  work  of  legislating  for  a  free  people.  They  were  mere 
demagogues — instruments  chosen  for  their  known  usefulness  as  such,  to  an 
interest  which  had  resolved  to  rule  the  Republic  with  relentless  rigor,  and 
crush  out  from  its  political  and  social  systems  every  element  of  Democracy, 
or  to  lay  that  Republic  in  ruins. 

It  will  forever  appear  incredible — an  inconsistent  tale  of  romance — that 
these  men  should  have  thus  played  the  traitor,  undisturbed  by  competent 
authority,  upon  the  very  proscenium  of  the  great  theater  of  National  legis 
lation,  with  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Republic  and  his  constitutional 
advisers  sitting  quietly  as  a  part  of  the  audience,  while  holding  in  their  hands 
the  lightning  of  the  sovereign  power  of  the  people,  which  might,  at  their 
bidding,  have  consumed  in  a  moment  those  enemies  of  the  Constitution  and 
violators  of  the  law.  Why  were  they  permitted  thus  to  play  the  traitor, 
undisturbed  ?  Perhaps  only  at  the  Great  Assize  will  the  question,  be  answered. 


86  REVOLUTIONARY   MOVEMENTS   IN   CONGRESS. 


CHAPTEE    IV. 

SEDITIOUS   MOVEMENTS   IN   CONGRESS.— SECESSION  IN    SOUTH  CAROLINA,  AND 

ITS   EFFECTS. 

HILST  Treason  was  rampant  and  defiant  in  the  Senate 
Chamber,  it  was  equally  determined,  but  less  demonstra 
tive  at  first,  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
It  first  gave  utterance  there  when  Alexander  R.  Boteler, 
of  Virginia,  proposed,  by  resolution,  to  refer  so  much  of 
the  President's  Message  as  "  related  to  the  present  peril 
ous  condition  of  the  country,"  to  a  select  committee, 
consisting  of  one  from  each  State  (thirty-three),  with 
power  to  report  at  any  time.  This  resolution  was  adopted 
by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  forty-five  to  thirty-eight.  During  the  voting, 
many  members  from  the  Slave-labor  States  exhibited  their  treasonable  pur 
poses,  some  by  a  few  words,  and  all  by  a  refusal  to  vote.  "I  do  not  vote," 
said  Singleton,  of  Mississippi,  "because  I  have  not  been  sent  here  to  make 
any  compromises  or  patch  up  existing  difficulties.  The  subject  will  be  decided 
by  a  convention  of  the  people  of  my  State."  Hawkins,  of  Florida,  said  : — 
"  The  day  of  compromise  has  passed.  I  am  opposed,  and  so  is  my  State,  to 
all  and  every  compromise.  I  shall  not  vote."  Clopton,  of  Alabama,  con 
sidered  secession  as  the  only  remedy  for  existing  evils,  and  would  not 
sanction  any  temporizing  policy.  Pugh,'  of  Alabama,  said: — "As  my  State 
intends  following  South  Carolina  out  of  the  Union,  by  the  10th  of  January 
next,  I  pay  no  attention  to  any  action  taken  in  this  body." 

No  less  than  fifty-two  members  from  the  Slave-labor  States  refused  to 
vote  on  this  occasion.  These  comprised  all  of  the  South  Carolina  delegation, 
and  most  of  those  from  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Georgia.  By  this 
action,  they  virtually  avowed  their  determination  to  thwart  all  legislation  in 
the  direction  of  compromise  or  conciliation.  And  when  Mr. 
Morris,  a  Democrat  from  Illinois,  offered  a  resolution,"  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  were  "  unalterably  and  immovably 
attached  to  the  Union  of  the  States,"  these  men  opposed  it,  and  stayed  the 
further  consideration  of  it  that  day  by  carrying  a  motion  to  adjourn.  It  was 
clearly  apparent  that  they  had  resolved  on  disunion,  and  that  nothing  in  the 
way  of  concession  would  be  accepted. 

The  appointment  of  the  Select  Committee  of  Thirty-three  was  made 
by  the  Speaker,1  and  it  became  the  recipient,  by  reference,  of  a  large 

1  The  Committee  consisted  of  the  following  persons:— Thomas  Corwin,  of  Ohio;  John  S.  Millson,  of  Vir 
ginia;  Charles  Francis  Adams,  of  Massachusetts;  W.  Winslow,  of  North  Carolina;  James  Humphreys,  of  New 
York;  Wm.  W.  Boyce,  of  South  Carolina;  James  H.  Campbell,  of  Pennsylvania;  Peter  E.  Love,  of  Georgia; 
Orris  S.  Ferry,  of  Connecticut ;  Henry  Winter  Davis,  of  Maryland ;  C.  Robinson,  of  Rhode  Island  •,  W.  G. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 


87 


number  of  resolutions,  suggestions,  and  propositions  offered  in  the  House 
for  the  amendment  of  the  National  Constitution,  most  of  them  looking 
to  concessions  to  the  demands  of  the  Slave  interest;  for  there  was  such  an 
earnest  desire  for  the  preservation  of  peace,  that  the  people  of  the  Free-labor 
States  were  ready  to  make  every  reasonable  sacrifice  for  its  sake.  The  most 
important  of  these  conciliatory  suggestions  were  made  by  Representatives 
John  Cochrane  and  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  of  Xew  York  ;  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  of 
Arkansas ;  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  of  Ohio  ;  and  John  W.  Noell,  of 
Missouri. 

Mr.  Cochrane,  who  was  afterward  a  general  in  the  National  Army,  fight 
ing"  the  Slave  interest  in  rebellion,  and  also  a  candidate  of  the  "  Radical  Aboli 
tionists  "  for  the  office  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  proposed  the 


1I.VI.L   OK   THE    HofSE   <>K    KEI'KESEXTATl VES. 


acceptance  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the  case  of  Dred  Scott, 
that  the  descendant  of  a  slave  could  not  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,1  as 
the  settled  policy  of  the  Government  toward  the  inhabitants  of  the  country, 
of  African  origin.  He  also  proposed  that  neither  Congress  nor  the  people 
of  any  Territory  should  interfere  with  Slavery  therein,  while  it  remained  a 


Whit.-ley,  <>f  Delaware;  M.  W.  Tappen,  of  New  Hampshire;  John  L.  N.  Stratton,  of  New  Jersey;  F.  M.  ftristow, 
of  Kentucky;  J.  S.  Morrill,  of  Vermont;  T.  A.  U.  Nelson,  of  Te.-messee;  Win.  MeKee  Dunn,  of  Indiana;  Miles 
Taylor,  of  Louisiana;  1'euben  Davis,  of  Mississippi;  William  Kellogg,  of  Illinois;  George  S.  Houston,  of  Ala 
bama;  F.  II.  Morse,  of  Maine;  John  S.  Phelps.  of  Missouri;  Albert  Rust,  of  Arkansas:  William  A.  Howard,  of 
Michigan;  George  S.  Hawkins,  of  Florida;  A.  J.  Hamilton,  of  Texas;  C.  C.  Washburn.  of  Wisconsin:  S.  II. 
(  urtis,  of  Iowa;  JolinC.  liurch,  of  California;  William  Winslow.  of  Minnesota;  and  Lansing  Stout,  of  Oregon. 
The  Speaker,  in  framing  this  Committee,  chose  conservative  men  of  the  Free-labor  States.  Those  holding 
extreme  anti-slavery  views  were  excluded.  Mr.  IVnnington  shared  in  the  feeling  throughout  the  Free-labor 
States,  that  conciliation  was  desirable,  and  that  every  concession,  consistent  with  right,  should  be  inado  to  the 
malcontents. 

1  See  Note,  1,  page  84. 


88  PROPOSITIONS   FOR   CONCILIATION. 

Territory  ;  that  the  Missouri  Compromise,  as  to  the  limits  of  Slavery,  should 
be  revived ;  that  Congress  should  not  have  power  to  abolish  the  inter-State 
Slave-trade ;  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  should  be  reaffirmed ;  that  slave 
holders  might  pass  unmolested  with  their  slaves  through  any  Free-labor 
State,  and  that  all  nullifying  laws  of  State  Legislatures  should  be  inoperative ; 
also,  a  declaration  that  the  Constitution  was  an  article  of  agreement  between 
Sovereign  States,  and  that  an  attempt  of  the  National  Government  to  coerce 
a  Sovereign  State  into  obedience  to  it  would  be  levying  war  upon  a  sub 
stantial  power,  and  would  precipitate  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.1 

Mr.  Sickles,  who  afterward  fought  the  secessionists  in  arms,  as  a  com 
manding  general,  and  lost  a  leg  in  the  fray,  proposed  an  amendment  declaring 
that  when  a  State,  in  the  exercise  of  its  sovereignty,  should  secede,  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  should  appoint  commissioners  to  confer  with 
duly  appointed  agents  of  such  State,  and  agree  upon  the  disposition  of  the 
public  property  and  territory  belonging  to  the  United  States  lying  within  it, 
and  upon  the  proportion  of  the  public  debt  to  be  assumed  and  paid  by  that 
State ;  also  authorizing  the  President,  when  all  should  be  settled,  to  proclaim 
the  withdrawal  of  such  State  from  the  Union.  This  was  substantially  Cling- 
man's  proposition,  when  he  made  his  seditious  speech  in  the  Senate  a  fort 
night  before.2 

Mr.  Hindman,  afterward  a  general  in  the  armies  of  the  conspirators 
arrayed  against  the  Republic,  proposed  an  amendment  that  should  guarantee 
the  express  recognition  of  slavery  wherever  it  existed ;  no  interference  with  the 
inter-State  or  domestic  Slave-trade,  from  which  Virginia  was  receiving  a  large 
annual  income  ;  to  give  free  scope  for  slaveholders  with  their  slaves  while 
traveling  in  Free-labor  States ;  to  prohibit  to  any  State  the  right  of  repre 
sentation  in  the  Congress  whose  Legislature  should  pass  laws  impairing  the 
obligations  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  ;  to  give  the -Slave-labor  States  a  neg 
ative  upon  all  acts  of  the  Congress  concerning  Slavery ;  to  make  these,  and 
all  other  provisions  of  the  Constitution  relating  to  Slavery,  unamendable  ;  and 
to  grant  to  the  several  States  authority  to  appoint  all  National  officers  within 
their  respective  limits.3 

Mr.  Valldndigham,  who  was  afterward  convicted  of,  and  punished  for, 
alleged  treasonable  acts,4  submitted  a  proposition  for  a  change  in  the  National 
Constitution,  providing  for  a  division  of  the  Republic  into  four  sections,  to 
be  called,  respectively,  The  North,  The  West,  The  Pacific,  and  The  South.5 
His  proposition,  says  a  late  writer,  "  was  the  fullest  and  most  logical  embodi 
ment  yet  made  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  subtle  device  for  enabling  a  minority  to 

Proceedings  of  Congress,  December  12,  17,  and  24, 1860,  reported  in  the  Congressional  Globe. 

Proceedings  of  Congress,  December  17,  I860,  reported  in  the  Congressional  Globe. 

Proceedings  of  Congress,  December  12,  I860,  reported  in  the  Congressional  Globe. 

See  Keport  of  his  Trial,  published  by  liickey  &  Carroll:  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1863. 

Proceedings  of  Congress,  Feb.  7,  1S61,  reported  in  Congressional  Globe.  Mr.  Vallandigham  proposed 
the  following  grouping  of  States  in  the  four  sections: — The  North,  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massa 
chusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania.  The  West,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Iowa,  and  Kansas.  The  Pacific,  Oregon  and  California.  The  South, 
Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louis 
iana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri.  These  were  all  Slave-labor  States. 

This  scheme  for  dividing  the  States,  and  the  accompanying  propositions  concerning  the  election  of  President 
and  Congressmen,  was  admirably  adapted  to  the  uses  of  the  conspirators,  for  it  would  make  the  voice  of 
three  hundred  thousand  slaveholders  as  potential,  politically,  as  that  of  twenty  millions  of  non -slaveholders. 
It  was  advocated  in  Congress  so  late  as  January,  1S63. 


AMENDMENTS   OF   TIIE   CONSTITUTION.  89 

obstruct  and  baffle  the  majority  under  a  political  system  preserving  the  forms 
of  a  republic."1 

Mr.  Xoell  proposed  to  instruct  the  Committee  to  inquire  and  report  as  to 
the  expediency  of  abolishing  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  establishing,  in  lieu  thereof,  an  Executive  Council  of  three  members,  to 
be  elected  by  districts  composed  of  contiguous  States,  as  nearly  as  possible, 
and  each  member  to  be  invested  with  a  veto  power.  He  wished  the  Com 
mittee  also  to  inquire  whether  the  equilibrium  between  the  Free-labor  and 
Slave-labor  States  might  not  be  restored  and  preserved,  particularly  by  a 
voluntary  division  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  latter  States  into  two  or  more 
States.2 

There  were  other  propositions  for  conciliation  and  the  preservation  of  the 
Union  presented,  some  similar  and  some  quite  dissimilar  to  those  already 
mentioned ;  and  it  was  evident  to  the  people  at  large  that  the  Republic 
would  not  be  saved  by  the  wisdom  of  their  representatives  alone.  There 
seemed  to  be  a  general  desire  among  patriots  to  concede  every  thing  but 
honor  and  the  best  interests  of  the  country  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union, 
while  the  conspirators,  having  trampled  both  honor  and  patriotism  under 
their  feet,  would  yield  nothing,  and  even  presented  their  requisitions  in  such 
questionable  shapes,  that  they  might  interpret  them,  at  the  critical  moment 
of  final  decision,  as  their  interests  should  dictate. 

The  result  of  the  labors  of  the  Committee  of  Thirty-three,  and  the  action 
on  measures  proposed  outside  of  that  Committee,  will  be  considered  here 
after. 

In  the  Senate  there  was  a  like  desire,  on  the  part  of  many  of  the  members 
from  the  Free-labor  and  the  Border  Slave-labor  States,  for  conciliation,  and 
a  disposition  to  compromise  much  for  the  sake  of  fraternal  good-will  and 
peace.  On  motion  of  Lazarus  W.  Powell,  of  Kentucky,  a  Committee  of 
Thirteen  was  appointed  by  Vice-President  Breckinridge,  to  consider  the 
condition  of  the  country,  and  report  some  plan,  by  amendments  of  the  Na 
tional  Constitution  or  otherwise,  for  its  pacification.3  On  the  same  day,  the 
venerable  John  J.  Crittenden  offered  to  the  Senate  a  series  of  amendments 
of  the  Constitution,  and  Joint  Resolutions,  for  the  protection  of  Slavery  and 
the  interests  of  the  slaveholders,  which,  embodied,  are  known  in  history  as  the 
Crittenden  Compromise.  The  amendments  proposed  were  substantially  as 
follows  : — 

I.  To  re-establish,  as  a  boundary  between  Free  and  Slave-labor  States  for 
ever,  the  parallel  of  36°  30'  north  latitude,  running  from  the  southern 
boundary  of  Missouri  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  known  as  the  Missouri  Com 
promise  line.  North  of  that  line  there  should  be  no  Slavery  ;  south  of  it,  the 
system  might  flourish,  and  all  interference  with  it  by  the  Congress  should 
be  forbidden.  Not  only  this,  but  the  Congress,  by  law,  should  protect  this 
'4  property"  of  the  slave-owners  from  interference  "  by  all  the  departments  of 

1    Tht  American  Conflict,  by  Horace  Greeley,  i,  3>4. 

a  Proceedings  of  Congress,  DecemU-r  12,  1660,  reported  in  Congressional  Globe. 

1  This  Committee  consisted  of  L.  W.  Powell  and  John  J.  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky  ;  William  II.  Seward,  of 
New  YorV- ;  J.  Collamer,  of  Vermont;  William  Bider,  of  Pennsylvania;  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Virginia;  Rob 
ert  Toombs,  of  Georffia;  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi ;  II.  M.  Rice,  of  Minnesota;  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of 
Illinois;  Benjamin  Wade,  of  Ohio;  J.  R.  Doolittle.  of  Wisconsin,  and  J.  W.  Grimes,  of  Iowa.  The  Committee 
was  composed  of  eight  Democrats  and  five  Republicans. 


90 


THE   ORITTENDEN   COMPROMISE. 


JOHN    JAY    CRITTKNDEN. 


the  Territorial  government,  during  its  continuance  as  such.  That  such  Terri 
tory  should,  when  legally  qualified,  be  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State, 
with  or  without  Slavery,  as  its  constitution  should  determine." 

II.  That  the  Congress  should  not  abolish  slavery  in  places  under  its  juris 
diction  when  such  places  should  be  within  the  limits  of  Slave-labor  States,  or 
wherein  Slavery  might  thereafter  be  established. 

III.  That  the  Congress  should  have  no  power  to  abolish  Slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  so  long  as  it  should  exist  in  the  adjoining  States  of 

Maryland  and  Virginia,  nor  without  the 
consent  of  the  inhabitants  thereof,  nor 
without  just  compensation  made  to  the 
owners  of  slaves  who  should  not  consent 
to  the  abolishment.  That  the  Congress 
should  not  prevent  Government  officers, 
sojourning  in  the  District  on  business, 
bringing  their  slaves  with  them,  and  taking 
them  with  them  when  they  should  depart. 

IV.  That  Congress  should   have   no 
power    to  prohibit  or  hinder  the  trans 
portation    of    slaves   from    one    State    to 
another,  or  into  Territories  where  Slavery 
should  be  allowed. 

V.  That    the    National    Government 
should   pay    to  the   owner  of  a  fugitive 

slave,  who  might  be  rescued  from  the  officers  of  the  law  when  attempting  to 
take  him  back  to  bondage,  the  full  value  of  such  "  property  "  so  detained  and 
lost ;  and  that  the  amount  should  be  refunded  by  the  county  in  which  the 
rescue  might  occur,  that  municipality  having  the  power  to  sue  for  and  recover 
the  amount  from  the  individual  actors  in  the  offense. 

VI.  That  no  future  amendments  of  the  Constitution  should  be  made  that 
might  have  an  effect  on  the  five  preceding  amendments,  or  on  sections  of 
the  Constitution  on  the  subject,  already  existing ;  nor  should  any  amend 
ment  be  made  that  should  give  to  the  Congress  the  right  to  abolish  or  inter 
fere  with  Slavery  in  any  of  the  States  where  it  existed  by  law,  or  might 
hereafter  be  allowed. 

In  addition  to  these  amendments  of  the  Constitution,  Mr.  Crittenden 
offered  four  resolutions,  declaring  substantially  as  follows: — 1.  That  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Act  was  constitutional,  and  must  be  enforced,  and  that  laws 
ought  to  be  made  for  the  punishment  of  those  who  should  interfere  with  its 
due  execution.  2.  That  all  State  laws  [Personal  Liberty  Acts]  which  impeded 
the  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  were  null  and  void ;  that  such  laws 
had  been  mischievous  in  producing  discord  and  commotion,  and  therefore 
the  Congress  should  respectfully  and  earnestly  recommend  the  repeal  of 
them,  or,  by  legislation,  make  them  harmless.  3.  This  resolution  referred  to 
the  fees  of  commissioners  acting  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  the 
modification  of  the  section  which  required  all  citizens,  when  called  upon,  to 
aid  the  owner  in  catching  his  runaway  property.  4.  This  resolution  declared 
that  strong  measures  ought  to  be  adopted  by  the  Congress  for  the  suppres 
sion  of  the  African  Slave-trade. 


MONARCHICAL   INSTITUTIONS   PREFERRED.  91 

The  results  of  the  labors  of  the  Committee  of  Thirteen,  who  acted  upon 
the  Crittenden  Compromise  and  other  measures,  will  be  considered  hereafter. 
Let  us  now,  for  a  while,  leave  the  halls  of  legislation,  and  become  spectators 
of  the  movements  in  South  Carolina,  preparatory  to  the  open  revolt  that 
occurred  in  that  State  early  in  1861. 

The  rebellious  movement  in  South  Carolina  was  under  the  control  of  a 
few  sagacious  and  unscrupulous  men,  who  were  the  self-constituted  leaders  of 
the  people.  They  wTere  men  who  hated  democracy  and  a  republican  form  of 
government — men  who  yearned  for  the  pomps  of  royalty  and  the  privileges 
of  an  hereditary  aristocracy ;  and  who  had  persuaded  themselves  and  the 
common  people  around  them  that  they  were  superior  to  all  others  on  the 
continent,  and  patterns  of  gentility,  refinement,  grace,  and  every  character 
istic  in  the  highest  ideal  of  chivalry.  "More  than  once,"  said  one  of  her 
orators,  and  an  early  conspirator,  "  has  the  calm  self-respect  of  old  Carolina 
breeding  been  caricatured  by  the  consequential  insolence  of  vulgar  imita 
tion."1  And  this  was  the  common  tone  of  thought  among  them.  They 
cherished  regret  that  their  fathers  were  so  unwise  as  to  break  the  political 
connection  with  Great  Britain.  "Their  admiration,"  says  a  correspondent 
of  the  London  Tintf^  writing  from  Charleston  at  the  close  of  April,  1861, 
"  for  monarchical  institutions  on  the  English  model,  for  privileged  classes, 
and  for  a  landed  aristocracy  and  gentry,  is  undisguised  and  apparently  genu 
ine.  Many  are  they  who  say,  4  We  would  go  back  to-morrow,  if  we  could.' 
An  intense  affection  for  the  British  connection,  a  love  of  British  habits  and 
customs,  a  respect  for  British  sentiment,  law,  authority,  order,  civilization, 
and  literature,  pre-eminently  distinguish  the  inhabitants  of  this  State,  who, 
glorying  in  their  descent  from  ancient  families  on  the  three  islands,  whose 
fortunes  they  still  follow,  and  with  whose  members  they  maintain,  not  unfre- 
quently,  familiar  relations,  regard  with  an  aversion  which  it  is  impossible  to 
give  an  idea  of  to  one  who  has  not  seen  its  manifestations,  the  people  of  New 
England  and  the  population  of  the  Northern  States,  whom  they  regard  as 
tainted  beyond  cure  by  the  venom  of  Puritanism."-  They  were  ready  for  any 
.thing  rather  than  continue  a  union  with  the  North,  with  whom  they  declared 
it  was  "an  insufferable  degradation  to  live  as  equals."  They  were  arro 
gantly  boastful  of  tlu-ir  honor,  their  courage,  their  invincibility,  and  their 
ever-willingness  to  die  in  defense  of  their  rights  and  their  '•  sacred  soil." 
How  well  the  conduct  of  these  men — these  betrayers  of  the  people — justified 
their  boastings,  let  the  history  of  the  Civil  War  determine. 

In  this  overweening  pride,  this  arrogant  self-conceit,  this  desire  for  class 
privileges  and  every  anti-republican  condition  for  the  favored  few  at  the 


1  William  II.  Troscot,  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  under  President  Buchanan,  in  an  Oration  before  the  South 
Carolina  Historical  Society,  in  1S59.     Mr.  Trescot  was  a  member  of  an  association  of  South  Carolinians,  in  1S50, 
whose  avowed  object  was  the  destruction  of  the  Republic  by  disunion. 

2  Letter  of  William  II.  Russell,  LL.1).,  dated  Charleston,  April  3(>.  1S61.     Mr.  Russell  was  sent  over  by  the 
proprietors  of  the  London   Time*,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  insurrection,  as  a  special  war  correspondent  of 
that  paper.     He  landed  in  New  York  and  proceeded  southward.     He  mingled  freely  with  the  ruling  class  there, 
among  whom  he  heard,  he  says,  but  one  Toice  concerning  their  aspirations  for  an  eternal  separation  from  democ 
racy.      "Shades  of  George  III.,  of  North,  of  Johnston,"  he  exclaims;  "of  all  who  contended  against  the  great 
rebellion  which  tore  these  colonies  from  England,  can  you  hear  the  chorus  which  rings  through  the  State  of 
Marion,  Sumter,  and  Pinckney,  and  not  clap  your  ghostly  hands  in  triumph  ?    That  voice  says,  '  If  we  could  only 
get  one  of  the  royal  race  of  England  to  rule  over  us,  we  should  be  content'    That  sentiment,  varied  a  hundred 
ways,  has  been  repeated  to  me  over  and  over  again." 


92  SEDITIOUS  MOVEMENTS. 

expense  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  around  them,  which  for  a  generation 
had  appeared  in  the  deportment,  the  public  speeches,  the  legislation,  and  the 
literature  of  the  oligarchy  of  South  Carolina,  we  may  look  for  a  solution  and 
explanation  of  that  insanity  which  made  them  emulous  of  all  others  in  the  mad 
race  toward  destruction  which  their  wicked  revolt  brought  upon  them. 

Ever  since  the  failure  of  their  crazy  scheme  of  disunion  in  1832-'3,  in 
which  John  C.  Calhoun  wras  the  chief  actor  as  well  as  instigator,  the  poli 
ticians  of  that  State — survivors  of  that  failure,  and  their  children,  trained  to 
seditious  acts — had  been  restive  under  the  restraints  of  the  National  Consti 
tution,  and  had  been  seeking  an  occasion  to  strike  a  deadly  blow  at  the  life  of 
the  Republic,  either  alone,  or  in  concert  with  the  politicians  of  other  Slave- 
labor  States.  Strong  efforts  were  made  in  that  direction  in  1*850,  when  the 
National  Congress  mortally  offended  the  Slave  interest  by  discussing  the  ad 
mission  of  California  into  the  Union  as  a  Free-labor  State.  Then  the  Legis 
lature  of  South  Carolina  openly  deliberated  on  the  expediency  of  a  "  Southern 
Congress,"  for  the  initiation  of  immediate  measures  looking  to  disunion  as  an 
end.  There  were  utterances,  in  the  course  of  that  discussion,  calculated  to 
"fire  the  Southern  heart,"  as  they  were  intended  to  do.  The  debaters  spoke 
vaguely  of  wrongs  suffered  and  endured  by  South  Carolina,  but  very  clearly 
of  the  remedy,  which  was  secession.  "  The  remedy,"  said  W.  S.  Lyles,  "  is 
the  union  of  the  South  and  a  Southern  Confederacy.  The  friends  of  the 
Southern  movement  in  the  other  States  look  to  the  action  of  South  Carolina ; 
and  I  would  make  the  issue  in  a  reasonable  time,  and  the  only  way  to  do  so 
is  by  secession.  There  will  be  no  concert  among  the  Southern  States  until  a 
blow  is  struck."  F.  D.  Richardson  said: — "We  must  not  consider  what  we 
have  borne,  but  what  we  must  bear  hereafter.  There  is  no  remedy  for  these 
evils  in  the  Government ;  we  have  no  alternative  but  to  come  out  of  the  Gov 
ernment."  John  S.  Preston  was  afraid  of  the  people,  and  opposed  a  conven 
tion.  He  thought  popular  conventions  "  dangerous  things,  except  when  the 
necessities  of  the  country  absolutely  demand  them."  He  opposed  them,  he 
said,  "  simply  and  entirely  with  the  view  of  hastening  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union."  For  the  same  reason,  Lawrence  M.  Keitt  favored  a  convention.  "  I 
think,"  he  said,  "  it  will  bring  about  a  more  speedy  dissolution  of  the 
Union."1 

The  passage  of  the   Compromise  Act2  in  September,  1850,  silenced  the 


1  At  this  time  the  Union  men  of  the  State  took  measures  for  counteracting  the  madness  of  the  disunionists. 
They  celebrated  the  4th  of  July  by  a  mass  meeting  at  Greenville,  South  Carolina.     Many  distinguished  citizens 
were  invited  to  attend,  or  to  give  their  views  at  length  on  the  great  topic  of  the  Union.     Among  these  was 
Francis  Lieber,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  History  and  Political  Economy  in  the  South  Carolina  College  at  Columbia. 
He  sent  an  address  to  his  fellow-citizens  of  the  State,  which  was  a  powerful   plea  for  the  Union  and  against 
secession.     He  warned  them  that  secession  would  lead  to  war.     "No  country,1'  he  said,  "has  ever  broken  up  or 
can  ever  break  up  in  peace,  and  without  a  struggle  commensurate  to  its  own  magnitude."     He  asked,  "  Will  any 
one  who  desires  secession  for  the  sake  of  bringing  about  a  Southern  Confederacy,  honestly  aver  that  he  would 
insist  upon  a  provision  in  the  new  constitution  securing  the  full  right  of  secession  whenever  it  may  be  desired 
by  any  member  of  the  expected  Confederacy  ?"    This  significant  question  was  answered  in  the  affirmative,  ten 
years  later,  by  the  madmen  at  Montgomery,  who  formed  such  "Confederacy  "  and  "new  constitution  ;"  and  be 
fore  the  rebellion  that  ensued  was  crushed,  the  "Confederacy"  was  in  the  throes  of  dissolution,  caused  by  the 
practical  assertion  of  the  "right  of  secession." 

2  In  February.  1850,  the  representatives  of  California  in  Congress  asked  for  the  admission  of  the  Territory  as 
a  Free-labor  State,  the  inhabitants  having  formed  a  State  constitution  in  which  Slavery  was  prohibited.   This  was 
in  accordance  with  the  doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty,  accepted  by  the  Slave  power  as  right  at  that  time,  and 
for  some  years  afterward;  and  yet  that  power  now  declared  that,  if  California  should  be  admitted  as  a  Free-labor 
State,  the  Slave-labor  States  should  leave  the  Union.    To  allay  this  feeling,  Henry  Clay  proposed  a  compromise 


REBELLION   IX  SOUTH   CAROLIXA.  93 

conspirators  for  a  while  ;  but  when,  in  1856,  John  C.  Fremont,  an  opponent 
of  Slavery,  was  nominated  for  the  Presidency  by  the  newly  formed  Republi 
can  party,  they  had  another  pretext  for  a  display  of  their  boasted  disloyalty 
to  the  Union.  One  of  their  number,  named  Brooks,  with  his  hands  stained, 
as  it  were,  with  the  blood  of  a  Senator  whom  he  had  struck  to  the  floor  in  the 
Senate  Chamber  at  Washington  with  a  bludgeon,  with  murderous  intent  (and 
who,  for  this  so-called  "  chivalrous  act,"  was  rewarded  by  his  compeers  with 
the  present  of  a  gold- headed  cane,  and  re-election  to  Congress),  said,  in  an 
harangue  before  an  excited  populace,  "  I  tell  you  that  the  only  mode  which  I 
think  available  for  meeting  the  issue  is  just  to  tear  in  twain  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  trample  it  under-foot,  and  form  a  Southern  Confederacy, 
every  State  of  which  shall  be  a  Slave-holding  State.  ...  I  have  been  a  dis- 
unionist  from  the  time  I  could  think.  If  I  were  commander  of  an  army,  I 
never  would  post  a  sentinel  who  would  not  swear  that  slavery  was  right.  .  .  . 
If  Fremont  be  elected  President  of  the  United  States,  I  am  for  the  people  in 
their  majesty  rising  above  the  laws  and  leaders,  taking  the  power  into  their 
own  hands,  going  by  concert,  or  not  by  concert,  and  laying  the  strong  arm  of 
Southern  freemen  upon  the  treasury  and  archives  of  the  Government."  This 
is  a  favorable  specimen  of  speeches  made  to  excited  crowds  all  over  South 
Carolina  and  the  Cotton-growing  States  at  that  time. 

The  restless  spirits  of  Squth  Carolina  were  quieted,  for  a  while,  by  the 
election  of  Buchanan,  in  the  autumn  of  1856.  They  were  disappointed,  be 
cause  they  seemed  compelled  to  wait  for  another  pretext  for  rebellion.  But 
they  did  not  wait.  They  conferred  secretly,  on  the  subject  of  disunion,  with 
politicians  in  other  Slave-labor  States,  and  finally  took  open  action  in  the  old 
State  House  at  Columbia.  The  lower 
House  of  the  South  Carolina  Legislature, 
on  the  30th  of  November,  1859,  re 
solved  that  the  "  Commonwealth  was 
ready  to  enter,  together  with  other  Slave- 
holding  States,  or  such  as  desire  prompt 
action,  into  the  formation  of  a  Southern 
Confederacy."  At  the  request  of  the 
Legislature,  the  Governor  of  the  State 
sent  a  copy  of  this  resolution  to  the 
Governors  of  the  other  Slave-labor  States ; 
and  in  January  following," 
C.  G.  Memminger,  one  of  the 
arch-conspirators  of  South  Carolina,  ap 
peared  before  the  General  Assembly  of  CHAKI.KS  ... 
Virginia  as  a  special  commissioner  from 

his  State.  His  object  was  to  enlist  the  representatives  of  Virginia  in  a 
scheme  of  disunion,  whilst,  with  the  degrading  hypocrisy  which  has  ever 
characterized  the  leaders  in  the  Great  Rebellion,  he  professed  zealous 
attachment  to  the  Union.  He  proposed,  in  the  name  of  South  Carolina,  a 


and  as  an  offset  for  the  admission  of  California  as  a  Free-labor  State,  the  infamous  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  which  no 
man  not  interested  in  slavery  ever  advocated  as  right  in  principle,  became  a  law  of  the  land,  with  some  other 
concessions  in  that  direction. 


94  INTER-STATE   SLAVE-TRADE. 

convention  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  to  consider  their  grievances,  and  to 
"  take  action  for  their  defense."  He  reminded  the  Virginians  of  the  coinci 
dence  of  the  people  of  the  two  States  in  long  cherishing  sentiments  of  disunior  . 
He  pointed  to  their  public  acts  relative  to  meditated  revolt,  under  certaii 
contingencies.1  He  reminded  them  of  the  dangers  which  had  just  menacQd 
their  State  by  the  raid  of  John  Brown  and  twenty  men,  at  Harper's  Ferry , 
of  the  "  implacable  condition  of  Northern  opinion "  concerning  Slavery ; 
and  the  rapid  increase  of  Abolition  sentiment  in  the  Free-labor  States. 
He  reminded  them  that  "the  South"  had  a  right  to  demand  the  repeal 
of  all  laws  hurtful  to  Slavery ;  the  "  disbanding  of  every  society  which 
was  agitating  the  Northern  mind  against  Southern  institutions ;"  and 
the  "  surrender  of  the  power  to  amend  the  Constitution  in  regard  to  Slavery," 
after  it  should  be  amended  so  as  to  nationalize  the  system.  He  made  an 
able  plea,  and  closed  by  saying: — "I  have  delivered  into  the  keeping  of 
Virginia  the  cause  of  the  South."  But  the  politicians  of  Virginia,  who,  like 
those  of  South  Carolina,  had  usurped  the  powers  of  the  people,  were  averse 
to  the  establishment  of  a  Southern  Confederacy  in  which  there  was  to  be 
free  trade  in  slaves  brought  from  Africa ;  for  that  free  trade  would  destroy 
the  inter-State  trade  in  slaves,  ft'om  which  the  oligarchy  of  Virginia  were 
receiving  an  annual  income  of  from  twelve  millions  to  twenty  millions  of 
dollars.2  The  Virginia  Legislature,  which  Mr..  Memminger  said  he  found 
"  extremely  difficult  to  see  through,"3  consequently  hesitated. 

There  was  also  another  reason  for  hesitation,  which  one  of  Virginia's 
ablest,  most  patriotic,  and  Union-loving  men  unhesitatingly  avowed  to  a 
friend,  who  wished  to  enlist  him  in  the  revolutionary  scheme  of  South  Caro 
lina : — "If  a  new  Confederacy  should  be  formed,"  he  said,  "I  could  not  go 
with  yon,  for  I  should  use  whatever  influence  I  might  be  able  to  exert  against 
entering  into  one  with  South  Carolina,  that  has  been  a  common  brawler  and 
disturber  of  the  peace  for  the  last  thirty  years,  and  who  would  give  no 
security  that  I  would  be  willing  to  accept,  that  she  would  not  be  as  faithless 


1  See  resolutions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  in  March,  1S4T,  concerning  the  measure  known  as 
the  Wilmot  Proviso,  in  relation  to  Slavery  in  the  region  just  taken  from  Mexico. 

2  When,  as  we  shall  hereafter  observe,  Virginia  hesitated  to  join  the  Southern  Confederacy,  formed  at 
Montgomery,  Alabama,  in  February,  1861,  the  threat  was  held  out  that  there  should  be  a  clause  in  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  Confederacy  prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves  from  any  State  not  in  union  with  them.     The 
threatened  loss  of  this  immense  revenue  was  the  most  powerful  argument  used  by  Virginia  politicians  in  favor 
of  uniting  the  fortunes  of  that  State  with  those  of  the  Cotton-growing  States.     The  Richmond  papers  shame 
lessly  advocated  the.  union  of  Virginia  with  those  States  in  the  revolt,  on  the  ground,  almost  solely,  that  she 
would  otherwise  lose  the  chief  source  of  income  for  "  seventy  thousand  families  of  the  State,"  arising  from  the 
sale  of  boys  and  girls,  men  and  women.    According  to  a  report  before  me,  five  thousand  slaves  were  sent  South 
from  Richmond,  Virginia,  over  the  Petersburg  Road,  five  thousand  over  the  Tennessee  Road,  and  two  thousand 
by  other  channels,  durins  the 'year  1SGO,  valued  at  one  thousand  dollars  each.     4i  Twelve  millions  of  dollars  have 
been  received  in  cash  by  the  State,"  said  the  report. 

3  Mr.  Memminger,  in  an  autograph  letter  before  me,  written  to  R.  B.  Rhett,  Jr.,  editor  of  The  Charleston 
Mercury,  and  dated  "Richmond,  Va.,  January  2S,  I860,"  revealed  some  of  the   difficulties  in  the  way  of  the 
success  of  his  treasonable  mission.     He  says: — 

u  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  see  through  the  Virginia  Legislature.  The  Democratic  party  is  not  a  unit,  and 
the  AVhigs  hope  to  cleave  it  with  their  wedge,  whenever  dissensions  arise.  Governor  Wise  seems  to  me  to  be 
really  with  us,  as  well  as  Mr.  Hunter,  but  he  seems  to  think  it  necessary  to  throw  out  tubs  to  the  Union  whale. 
The  effect  here  of  Federal  politics  is  most  unfortunate.  It  makes  this  great  State  comparatively  powerless.  I 
am  making  but  little  progress,  as  every  thing  proceeds  here  very  slowly.  They  have  got  into  a  tangle  about 
committees,  which  has  excited  considerable  feeling  to-day,  and  may  embarrass  the  result.  But  still  I  hope  that 
the  result  will  be  favorable.  I  see  no  men,  however,  who  would  take  the  position  of  leaders  in  a  Revolution. 

"As  soon  as  I  can  get  a  printed  copy  of  my  Address,  I  will  send  it  to  you. 

"  Yours  very  truly,  C.  G.  MRMMINGEK." 


MEMMIXGER'S   PROPHECIES.  95 

to  the  next  compact  as  she  has  been  to  this  which  she  is  now  endeavoring  to 
avoid."1  We  may  also  add  the  important  fact  that  the  great  mass  of  the 
people,  especially  of  Western  Virginia,  were  too  thoroughly  loyal  to  follow 
the  leadings  of  the  politicians  into  revolutionary  ways. 

Almost  a  year  rolled  away,  and  the  same  man  (Memminger)  °  November  so, 
etood  up  before  a  large  congregation  of  citizens  in  Charleston,* 
and,  in  a  speech  which  perfectly  exhibited  the  power  of  the  politicians 
over  the  people  of  South  Carolina,  foreshadowed,  in  distinct  outline,  the 
course  of  revolutionary  events  In  the  near  future.  He  foretold  the  exact 
day  when  an  ordinance  of  secession  would  be  passed  in  the  coming  State 
Convention  ;  that  Commissioners  would  be  sent  to  Washington  to  treat  on 
the  terms  of  separation  ;  that  the  demand  would  be  made  for  the  surrender 
of  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbor  into  the  hands  of  insurgents,  and  if  sur 
render  should  be  refused,  armed  South  Carolinians  would  take  them.  He 
spoke  of  the  weakness  of  the  National  Government  with  Buchanan  at  its 
head,  and  the  consequently  auspicious  time  for  them  then  to  strike  the 
murderous  blow  at  the  life  of  the  Republic.  lie  exhorted  the  people  to  be 
prepared  for  revolution,  for  it  was  surely  at  hand.  He  knew  how  plastic 
would  be  the  material  of  the  Legislature  and  the  coming  Convention  in  the 
hands  of  the  few  leaders  like  himself,  and  that  these  leaders  had  power  to 
accomplish  the  fulfillment  of  their  own  prophecies  concerning  the  course  of 
events  under  their  control. 

Memminger  was  one  of  the  managers  of  a  league  of  conspirators  in 
Charleston  known  as  u  The  1860  Association,"  formed  in  September  previous, 
for  the  avowed  purpose  of  maddening  the  people,  and  forcing  them  into 
acquiescence  in  the  revolutionary  scheme  of  the  conspirators.  As  early  as  the 
19th  of  November,  Robert  X.  Gourdin,  "  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Com 
mittee"  of  the  Association,  in  a  circular  letter  said  : — "The  Xorth  is  pre 
paring  to  soothe  and  conciliate  the  South,  by  disclaimers  and  overtures.  The 
success  of  this  policy  would  be  disastrous  to  the  cause  of  Southern  union 
and  independence,  and  it  is  necessary  to  resist  and  defeat  it.  The  Associa 
tion  is  preparing  pamphlets  for  this  special  object."  As  we  shall  observe 
hereafter,  all  of  the  time  and  labor  spent  in  Congress  in  endeavors  to  concili 
ate  the  Slave-power  was  wasted.  There  was  a  predetermination  to  accept  of 
nothing  as  satisfactory.2 

South  Carolina  was  then  in  a  blaze  of  excitement.  The  Legislature, 
which,  in  special  session,  had  provided  for  a  Convention  and  the  arming  of 
the  State,  had  adjourned  on  the  13th  of  November.  The  members  were 
honored  that  evening  by  a  great  torch-light  procession  in  the  streets  of  Co 
lumbia.  The  old  banner  of  the  Union  was  taken  down  from  the  State  House 
and  the  Palmetto  Flag  was  unfurled  in  its  place ;  and  it  was  boastfully 
declared  that  the  old  ensign — the  "  detested  rag  of  the  Union " — should 
never  again  float  in  the  free  air  of  South  Carolina. 

1  Loiter  of  John  Minor  Botts  to  "  II.  I?.  Nf.,  Esq.."  of  Staunton.  dated  November  27.  1S60. 

3  See  Chapter  IX.  In  the  circular  referred  to,  (iourdin  stated  the  principal  objects  of  the  Association  to  bo 
the  interchange  of  views  to  "prepare  the  Slave  States  to  meet  the  impending  crisis ;"  to  prepare,  print,  and 
circulate  trac^  and  pamphlets  designed  to  awaken  the  jieople  '•  to  a  sense  of  danger,"  and  to  aid  the  Legislature 
in  promptly  cstaMlshiiti:  "an  effective  military  organization."  The  object  of  this  circular  was  to  beg  for  monej 
to  carry  on  th«  work  of  the  Association.  He  stated  that  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  pamphlets  had  already 
been  distributed,  and  yet  there  was  a  pood  demand  for  them. 


96  SPEECH   OF  ROBERT  BARNWELL    RHETT 

Already  Robert  Barnwell  Rhett,  appropriately  called  the  "  Father  of 
South  Carolina  secession,"  had  sounded  the  tocsin.  He  was  an  arrogant 
demagogue,  whose  family  name  was  Smith,  and  whose  lineal  root  was  to  be 
found  in  obscurity,  among  the  sand-hills  near  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear 
River,  in  North  Carolina.  He  made  his  residence  at  Beaufort,  South  Caro 
lina,  when  he  dropped  the  name  of  Smith  and  took  that  of  Rhett — a  name 
honorable  in  the  early  history  of  that  State.1  He  succeeded  in  taking 
position  among  respectable  men  in  South  Carolina.  With  vulgar  instinct 

he  spurned  the  "  common  people,"  boasted 
of  "  superior  blood,"  and  by  the  force  of 
social  influence,  and  much  natural  talent  for 
oratory  and  intrigue,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Charleston  Mercury,  edited  by  his  equally 
disloyal  son,  he  did  more  than  any  other 
man  since  the  days  of  Hamilton,  and  Hayne, 
and  Calhoun,  to  bring  the  miseries  of  civil 
war  upon  the  State  that  gave  him  shelter  and 
honor.  From  the  moment  of  the  disruption 
of  the  Charleston  Convention  of  Democrats,  in 
April,  I860,2  he  had  been  an  active  traitor  in 
deeds  and  words  ;  and  so  early  as  the  12th  of 

ROBERT   BARNWELL   RHETT.  J 

JNovember,  the  day  betore  the  south  Carolina 

Legislature  adjourned,  he -declared  in  Institute  Hall,3  in  Charleston,  that  the 
Union  was  dissolved,  and  that  henceforth  there  would  be  deliverance,  and 
peace,  and  liberty  for  South  Carolina.  "  The  long  weary  night  of  our  humili 
ation,  oppression,  and  danger,"  he  said,  "is  passing  away,  and  the  glorious 
dawn  of  a  Southern  Confederacy  breaks  on  our  view."  Alluding  to  the  people 
of  the  North,  he  said,  "Swollen  with  insolence  and  steeped  in  ignorance,  self 
ishness,  and  fanaticism,  they  will  never  understand  their  dependence  on 
the  South  until  the  Union  is  dissolved,  and  they  nre  left  naked  to  their 
own  resources."  Then  the  poor  madman,  with  ludicrous  gravity,  began  to 
prophesy.  "  Then,  and  not  till  then,"  he  said,  "  will  they  realize  what  a 
blessing  the  Almighty  conferred  upon  them  when  he  placed  them  in  union 
with  the  South ;  and  they  will  curse,  in  the  bitterness  of  penitence  and 
suffering,  the  dark  day  on  which  they  compelled  us  to  dissolve  it  with  them. 
Upon  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  their  whole  system  of  commerce  and  manu 
factures  will  be  paralyzed  or  overthrown — their  banks  will  suspend  specie 
payments — their  stocks  and  real  estate  will  fall  in  price,  and  confusion  and 
distress  will  pervade  the  North.  Broad  processions  will  walk  the  streets  of 
their  great  cities  ;  mobs  will  break  into  their  palaces,  and  society  there  will 
be  resolved  into  its  original  chaos."  Pie  then  went  on  to  say,  that  there 
would  be  great  difficulty  in  limiting  the  Southern  Confederacy.  "Many  of 
the  Free  States,"  he  said,  "will  desire  to  join  us."  He  proposed  to  let  them 
in,  on  condition  that  "  the  Southern  Confederacy  should  be  a  Slaveholding 
Confederacy  ;"4  that  taxation  should  be  light,  and  that  the  forts  in  Charleston 

1  Note  to  article  on  "  Beaufort  District,"  by  Frederic  Kidder,  in  the  Continental  Monthly,  I§p2. 

2  See  page  19.  3  See  page  19. 

4  Anxious  to  secure  European  good-will,  the  leaders  in  the  great  revolt,  when  it  assumed  the  form  of 
civil  war,  tried  to  hide  this  fact — this  great  object  of  the  Rebellion — but  there  were  some  too  honest  or  too 


MISSIONARIES   OF  TREASON. 


97 


harbor  should  "  never  be  surrendered  to  any  power  on  earth."  Such  was  the 
language  of  a  "  leading  statesman  "  of  South  Carolina,  whom  the  people 
were  required  to  venerate  as  an  oracle  of  wisdom. 

Rhett  gave  the  key-note.  Men  went  out  at  once,  as  missionaries  of 
treason,  all  over  South  Carolina,  and  motley  crowds  of  men,  women, 
and  children — Caucasian  and  African — listened,  in  excited  groups,  at  cross 
roads,  court-houses,  and  other  usual  gathering-places.  The  burden  of  every 
speech  was  the  wrongs  suffered  by  South  Carolina,  in  the  Union  ;  her  right 
and  her  duty  to  leave  it ;  her  power  to  "  defy  the  world  in  arms  ;"  and 
the  glory  that  would  illumine  her  whole  domain  in  that  near  future,  when 
her  independence  of  the  thralls  of  the  "detested  Constitution''  should  be 
secured.  "  Statesmen,"  released  from  service  in  the  Legislature,  joined  in  this 
missionary  work.  To  the  slaveholders  one  said,  in  a  speech  in  Charleston  :— 
"Three  thousand  millions  of  property  is  involved  in  this  question,  and  if  you 
say  at  the  ballot-box  that  South  Carolina  shall  not  secede,  you  put  into 
the  sacrifice  three  thousand  millions  of  your  property.  .  .  .  The  Union 
is  a  dead  carcass,  stinking  in  the  nostrils 
of  the  South.  .  .  .  Ay,  my  friends,  a  few 
weeks  more,  and  you  will  see  floating  from 
the  fortifications  the  ensign  that  now  bears 
the  Palmetto,  the  emblem  of  a  Southern  Con 
federacy."  The  Charleston  Mercury,  con 
ducted,  as  we  have  observed,  by  a  son  of  R. 
B.  Rhett,  called  uj>on  all  natives  of  South 
Carolina  in  the  Army  or  Navy  of  the  United 
States  to  throw  up  their  commissions,  and 
join  in  the  revolt.  "  The  mother  looks  to  her 
sons,"  said  this  fiery  organ  of  treason,  "  to 
protect  her  from  outrage.  .  .  .  She  is  sick  of 
the  Union  —  disgusted  with  it,  upon  any 
terms  within  the  range  of  the  widest 
possibility."  The  call  was  responded  to 
by  the  resignations  of  many  commissions 
held  by  South  Carolinians ;  and  the  conspira 
tors,  unable  to  comprehend  a  supreme  love 
for  the  Union,  boasted  that  not  a  son  of 
that  State  would  prove  loyal  to  the  old  flag.2 


THE    PAI.MKTTO.1 


They  were  amazed  when 


patriots  like  Commodore  Shubrick  refused  to  do  the  bidding  of  traitors. 


reckless  to  keep  it  back.  At  the  end  of  almost  four  years  of  war.  the  Charleston  Mercury,  the  leading  organ 
of  rebellion  from  the  beginning,  declared  [February,  1S64] :  k>  South  Carolina  entered  into  this  strugffle  for  no 
other  purpose  thnn  tonutintnin  the  institution  of  Slitrery.  Southern  independence  has  no  other  object  or 
meaning.  .  .  .  Independence  and  Slavery  must  stand  together  or  fall  together." 

1  The  tree  of  the  palm  family,  known  as  the  Cabbage  Palmetto,  grows  near  the  shores  of  South  Caro 
lina  and  Georgia,  in  great  perfection.  It  is  confined  to  the  neighborhood  of  salt  water.  Its  timber  is  very 
valuable  in  all  submarine  constructions.  Its  unexpended  young  leaves  form  a  most  delicious  vegetable  for  the 
table.  Its  perfect  leaves  are  used  in  the  manufacture  of  hats,  mats,  baskets,  &c.  The  foliage  forms  a  broad  tuft 
at  the  upper  part  of  the  stem.  It  is  the  chief  figure  on  the  seal  of  South  Carolina,  and  has  ever  been  an  emblem 
of  the  State. 

5  One  of  those  who  abandoned  the  flag  was.  Lieutenant  .1.  li.  Hamilton,  of  the  Navy,  who,  on  the  14th  of 
January,  1861,  issued  a  circular  letter  from  Fort  Moultrie  to  his  fellow-officers  in  that  branch  of  the  service, 

VOL.  I.— 7 


98 


EXCITEMENT  IN   CHARLESTON. 


On  the  16th  of  November,  the  Chancellor  (Dunkin)  of  South  Carolina 
closed  his  court,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  when  the  members  should  reas 
semble,  it  would  be  "  as  a  court  in  an  independent  State,  and 
that  State  a  member  of  a  Southern  Confederacy."  The  next 
day  was  a  gala  one  in  Charleston.  A  pine  "  liberty-pole,"  ninety 
feet  in  height,  was  erected,  and  a  Palmetto  flag  was  unfurled 
from  its  top — a  white  flag,  with  a  green  Palmetto-tree  in  the 
middle,  and  the  motto  of  South  Carolina : — ANIMIS  OPIBUSQUE 
PAKATI  ;  that  is,  "  Prepared  in  mind  and  resources — ready  to 
give  life  and  property."  It  was  greeted  with  the  roar  of  cannon 
a  hundred  times  repeated,  and  the  "  Marseillaise  Hymn  "  by  a 
band.  This  was  followed  by  the  "  Miserere  "  from  "  II  Trova- 
tore,"  played  as  a  requiem  for  the  departed  Union.  Full  twenty 
thousand  people,  it  is  said,  participated  in  this  "  inauguration 
of  revolution ;"  and  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Gadsden  invoked  the  bles 
sing  of  God  upon  their  acts.  These  ceremonies  were  followed 
by  speeches  (some  from  Northern  men,  in  Charleston  on  busi 
ness),  in  which  the  people  were  addressed  as  "  Citizens  of  the 
Southern  Republic ;"  and  processions  filled  the  streets,  bearing 
from  square  to  square  many  banners  with  significant  inscriptions.1 
No  Union  flag  was  seen  upon  any  ship  in  the  harbor,  for 
vigilance  committees,  assuming  police  powers,  had  already  been 
formed  in  Charleston  and  other  places,  as  a  part  of  the  system 
of  coercion  put  in  practice  against  Union  men  in  the  Slave-labor 
States  immediately  after  Lincoln's  election.3 

These  vigilance  associations  were  in  active  operation  by  the 
close  of  November,  and  before  the  ordinance  of  secession  had 
been  decreed  by  the  Convention,  large  numbers  of  persons  from 
the  North  had  been  arraigned  by  them,  and  banished  from  the 
State,  after  much  suffering,  on  suspicion  of  being  unfriendly  to 
the  schemes  of  the  conspirators.    In  some  cases,  where  men  were 
accused  of  being  actual  Abolitionists,  they  were  stripped,  and 
covered   with  tar  and  feathers.     These  committees,  with  the 
power  to  torture,  soon  made  the  expressed  sentiment  of  South 
Carolina  "  unanimous  in  favor  of  secession  ;"  and  the  organ  of 
the  conspirators — the  Mercury — was  justified  in  assuring  the  South  Carolinians 
in  the  employment  of  the  United  States  Government,  when  calling  them  home, 
that  "  they  need  have  no  more  doubt  of  South  Carolina's  going  out  of  the 


STREET  FLAG 
STAFF.2 


calling  upon  them  to  follow  his  example.  It  was  a  characteristic  production.  After  talking  much  of  "honor," 
he  thus  counseled  his  friends  to  engage  in  plundering  the  Government: — "  What  the  South  most  asks  of  you  now 
is,  to  bring  with  you  every  ship  and  man  you  can.  that  we  may  use  them  against  the  oppressors  of  our  liberties, 
and  the  enemies  of  our  aggravated  but  united  people."  At  that  time,  thirty-six  naval  officers,  born  in  Slave- 
labor  States,  had  resigned. 

1  On  these  banners  were  the  words : — "South  Carolina  goes  it  alone;"  "God,  Liberty,  and  the  State;" 
*  South  Carolina  wants  no  Stripes ;"  "Stand  to  your  arms,  Palmetto  Boys;"  "Huzza  fora  Southern  Confeder 
acy  ;"  "Now  or  never,  strike  for  Independence ;"  "Good-by,  Yankee  Doodle;"  "Death  to  all  Abolitionists ;" 
"Let  us  bury  the  Union's  dead  carcass,"  &c. 

*  In  this  little  sketch  is  seen  the  spire  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral  of  St.  John  and  St.  Finbar,  mentioned 
at  near  the  close  of  Chapter  XIII.  of  this  volume. 

3  Orville  J.  Victor,  in  the  first  volume  (page  47)  of  his  History  of  the  Southern  Rebellion  and  War  for  the 
{Tnton,  cites  the  resolutions  of  the  citizens  of  Lexington  District,  South  Carolina,  in  forming  a  vigilance  asso- 


REVOLT   DETERMINED    OX   BY    CONSPIRATORS.  99 

Union  than,  of  the  world's  turning  round.  Every  man  that  goes  to  the  Con 
vention  will  be  a  pledged  man"  it  said,  " pledged  for  immediate  separate 
State  secession,  in  any  event  whatever"  This  was  before  the  members  of  the 
proposed  convention  had  been  chosen.  The  Southern  Presbyterian,  a  theo 
logical  work  of  wide  and  powerful  influence,  published  at  Columbia,  said,  on 
the  loth  of  December,  "  It  is  well  known  that  the  members  of  the  Convention 
have  been  elected  with  the  understanding  and  expectation  that  they  will  dis 
solve  the  relations  of  South  Carolina  with  the  Federal  Union,  immediately  and 
unconditionally.  This  is  a  foregone  conclusion  in  South  Carolina.  It  is  a 
matter  for  devout  thankfulness  that  the  Convention  will  embody  the  very 
highest  wisdom  and  character  of  the  State:  private  gentlemen,  judges  of  her 

higJirst  legal  tribunals,  and  ministers  of  the    Gospel Before  we  issue 

another  number  of  this  paper  the  deed  may  be  done — the  Union  may  be  dis 
solved — we  may  have  ceased  to  be  in  the  United  States."  One  of  the  most 
distinguished  literary  men  of  the  South  (William  Gilmore  Simms), 
in  a  letter  to  the  author,  dated  December  13,°  said:  "In  ten  days 
more,  South  Carolina  will  have  certainly  seceded ;  and  in  reasonable  interval 
after  that  event,  if  the  forts  in  our  harbor  are  not  surrendered  to  the  State, 
they  will  be  taken."  With  equal  confidence  and  precision  all  the  politicians 
spoke  in  the  ears  of  the  people,  and  only  a  few  men,  like  the  noble  and 
venerable  J.  L.  Pettigru  of  Charleston,  gladly  doubted  the  success  of  the 
kindling  revolt,  and  dared  to  say  so.  The  conspirators  had  settled  the 
question  beforehand ;  the  people  had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  excepting  as 
instruments  employed  to  give  to  the  work  of  these  men  the  appearance  of  its 
having  been  done  "according  to  due  forms  of  law." 

The  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  met  in  regular  session  on  the  26th  of 
November;  and  on  the  10th  of  December  it  chose  Francis  W.  Pickens  to 
be  Governor  of  the  State.  That  body  was  greeted  with  the  most  cheering 
news  of  the  spreading  of  secession  sentiments,  like  a  fierce  conflagration,  all 
over  the  Slave-labor  States ;  and  Governor  Gist,  in  his  farewell  message, 
intended  as  much  for  the  Convention  as  the  Legislature,  stimulated  it  to  revo 
lutionary  action.  lie  urged  the  necessity  of  quickly  arranged  and  efficient 
measures  on  the  part  of  South  Carolina.  lie  was  afraid  of  the  return  of  calm 
thought  to  the  minds  of  the  people.  "  The  delay  of  the  Convention,"  he 
said,  u  for  a  single  week  to  pass  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  will  have  a 
blighting  and  chilling  influence  upon  the  other  States.  He  hoped  that,  by 
the  28th  of  December,  "  no  flag  but  the  Palmetto  would  float  over  any  part 
of  South  Carolina."  Pickens,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the 
National  Congress  ten  consecutive  years,6  and  minister  to  the 
Russian  Court  by  Buchanan's  appointment,  was  a  worthy  successor  of  Gist ; 

nation,  as  a  fair  example  of  the  power  conferred  upon  these  self-constituted  guardians  of  "Southern  Rights." 
They  provided  for  monthly  meetings  of  the  officers,  who  should  have  full  power  to  decide  all  cases  that  might 
be  brought  bc-A.re  them,  which  decisions  should  be  "final  and  conclusive;"  that  the  president  should  ap 
point  as  many  captains  of  patrol  of  five  men  as  he  might  think  necessary  ;  that  the  patrol  companies  should  have 
power  to  arrest  all  suspicious  white  persons,»and  bring  them  before  the  Executive  Committee  for  trial ;  that 
they  stood  pledged  to  "put  down  all  negro  preachings,  prayer-meetings,  and  nil  congregations  of  negroes  that 
may  be  considi-red  unlawful  by  the  patrol  companies;"  that  these  companies  should  have  the  power  to  correct 
and  punish  all  slaves,  free  negroes,  mulattoes.  and  mestizoes,  as  they  may  deem  proper;  that  they  should  give 
special  passes;  that  every  person  should  be  requested  to  sign  the  resolutions,  and  thus  sanction  them  ;  that  all 
who  refuse  to  do  duty,  when  called  upon,  should  l.e  it-ported ;  and  that  all  peddlers  should  be  prohibited  from 
passing  through  the  country,  unless  duly  authorized  to  do  so. 


100 


SECESSION   CONVENTION  IN  SOUTH   CAROLINA. 


DAVID    F.    JAMISON. 


and  he  entered  into  the  schemes  of  the  conspirators  with  all  the  powers  that 
he  possessed. 

The  members   of  the  Convention  were  chosen  on  the  3d  of  December. 

Not  one  had  been  nominated  wrho  was 
opposed  to  secession ;  and 
'  DeiC86aber'  when,  on  the  17th,"  they  as 
sembled  in  the  Baptist  Church 
at  Columbia,  they  were  all  of  one  mind 
in  relation  to  the  main  question.  David 
F.  Jamison,  a  delegate  from  Barn  well 
District,  was  chosen  temporary  chairman. 
He  made  a  brief  speech,  in  which  he  coun 
seled  the  members  to  beware  of  outside 
pressure,  and  disputations  among  them 
selves.  He  trusted  that  the  door  was 
now  forever  closed  "  from  any  further 
connection  with  our  Northern  confeder 
ates;"  and  then,  either  ignorantly  or 
wickedly,  asserted  that  "  every  Northern 
State"  had  trampled  the  Constitution  under  foot,  "  by  placing  on  their  books 
statutes  nullifying  the  laws  for  the  recovery  of  fugitive  slaves  I"1  He  con 
cluded  by  saying  that  he  could  offer  them  nothing  better,  in  inaugurating  such 
a  movement,  than  the  words  of  Danton  at  the  commencement  of  the  French 
Revolution  :  a  To  dare !  and  again  to  dare !  and  without  end  to  dare  !" 

A  difficulty  now  presented  itself.  A  motion  was  made,  by  Charles  G. 
Memminger,  to  receive  the  credentials  and  swear  in  the  members.  It  was 
suggested  that  the  Constitution  of  South  Carolina. provided  that  they  should, 
on  such  an  occasion,  take  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  "  But  we  have  come  here,"  said  ex-Governor  Adams,  the  discoverer 
of  this  lion  in  the  way,  "  to  break  down  a  government,  not  to  take  an  oath  to 
support  it."  The  difficulty  was  a  slight  one,  in  the  opinion  of  lawless  men. 
What  did  they  care  for  any  constitutions  ?  There  was,  to  them,  no  sanctity 
in  oaths;  and  so  they  formed  their  Convention  without  oaths,  in  defiance  of 
the  Constitution  of  South  Carolina.  They  elected  their  temporary  chairman 
permanent  President  of  their  body,  and  appointed  B.  F.  Arthur  the  clerk. 
They  well  knew  that  the  Constitution  of  South  Carolina  declared  their 
Convention,  when  organized,  to  be  an  unlawful  assemblage,  and  that  their 
acts  could  have  no  legal  effect.  If  secession  had  been  lawful,  the  ordinances 
of  those  usurpers  were  never  legally  binding  upon  a  soul  on  the  earth. 

If  these  men  had  no  respect  for  written  constitutions,  they  had  for  the 
unwritten  and  inexorable  laws  of  being,  and  heeded  their  menaces.  They 
were  about  to  proceed  in  their  revolutionary  schemes,  after  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Breaker  had  invoked  the  blessings  of  the  Almighty  upon  their  proposed 
work,  when  intelligence  came  that  the  small-pox  was  raging  as  an  epidemic 
in  Columbia.  Men  who  were  professedly  ready  to  die  for  the  cause  turned 
pale  at  the  message,  and  proposed  an  immediate  flight,  by  railway,  to 
Charleston.  William  Porcher  Miles,  just  from  his  abandoned  seat  in  Con- 


1  See  a  refutation  of  this  misstatemeiit  in  note  1,  p:i^e  63,  concerning  Personal  Liberty  Laws. 


FLIGHT   OF   THE   CONVENTION.— ITS   PREPARATIONS. 


101 


gress,  who  feared  public  ridicule  more  than  the  contagion,  begged  them  not, 
to  flee.  "  We  shall  be  sneered  at,"  he  said.  "  It  will  be  asked  on  all  sides, 
'  Is  this  the  chivalry  of  South  Carolina  ?'  They  are  prepared  to  face  the 
world,  but  they  run  away  from  small-pox."  lie  was  afraid  of  an  hour's 
delay  in  their  treasonable  work.  He  said  that  the  last  thing  urged  upon  him 
by  Congressmen  from  the  Cotton-producing  States,  when  he  left  Washington, 
was  to  take  South  Carolina  out  of  the  Union  instantly.  "  Now,  Sir,"  he  said, 
"  when  the  news  reaches  Washington  that  we  have  met  here,  that  a  panic 
arose  about  a  few  cases  of  small-pox  in  the  city,  and  that  we  forthwith  scam 
pered  oft*  to  Charleston,  the  effect  would  be  a  little  ludicrous."  The  "  chivalry 
of  South  Carolina "  did  "  scamper  off  to  Charleston "  the  next 
morning,11  where  they  were  received  with  military  honors,  and  at  °Dcce™^rl8» 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  re-assembled  in  Institute  Hall. 

At  the  evening  session  in  Columbia, 
before  their  flight,  John  A.  Elmore,  of 
Alabama,  and  Charles  E.  Hooker,  of 
Mississippi,  were  introduced  to  the  Con 
vention  as  commissioners  from  their 
respective  States.  They  successively 
addressed  the  Convention  in  favor  of 
the  immediate  and  unconditional  seces 
sion  of  the  State  ;  and  so  anxious  was 
Governor  Moore,  of  Alabama,  that  South 
Carolina  should  not  delay  a  moment, for 
fear  of  the  people,  that  he  telegraphed 
to  Elmore  as  follows: — "Tell  the  Con 
vention  to  listen  to  no  proposition  of 
compromise  or  delay."1 

On  assembling  at  Charleston,  the  Convention  proceeded  at  once  to  busi 
ness.  They  appointed''  one  Committee  to  draft  an  ordinance  of 

,  .  6  December  ia 

secession;-  another  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  people  ot  the 
Southern  States  ;3  another  to  draft  a  declaration  of  the  causes  that  impelled 
and  justified  the  secession  of  South  Carolina;4  and  five  others,  consisting  of 
thirteen  persons  each,  and  entitled,  respectively,  "Committee  on  the  Message 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  relating  to  property;"  "Committee  on 
Relations  with  the  Slaveholding  States  of  North  America ;"  "  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations  ;v  "  Committee  on  Commercial  Relations  and  Postal 
Arrangements;"  and  "Committee  on  the  Constitution  of  this  State." 

Judge  Magrath  moved  to  refer  to  a  committee  of  thirteen  so  much  of 
President  Buchanan's  Message  as  related  to  the  property  of  the  United  States 
within  the  limits  of  South  Carolina,  and  instruct  them  to  report  "  of  what 
such  property  consists,  how  acquired,  and  whether  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  so  acquired  can  be  enjoyed  by  the  United  States  after  the  State  of  South 


1   The  Ai»tric<tn  Annual  Cyclopedia.  1SG1.  pa»rc  649. 

5  This  committee  was  composed  of  John  A.  Insrlis.  Robert  Barnwell  Rhctt,  James  Chesnut,  Jr.,  James  L. 
Orr,  Maxcy  (.trejrir.  Benjamin  Fancuil  Duncan,  and  W.  Ferguson  Hutson. 

3  This  committee  was  composed  of  Robert  Barnwell  Rhett,  John  Alfred  Calhoun,  W.  P.  Finlcy,  Isaac  D. 
Wilson.  W.  F  De  Saussure.  Lnnjrdon  Cheves,  and  Merrick  E.  Cam. 

4  This  committee  was  composed  of  C\  G.   Meiimiiujrer,  F.  H.  Wardlaw,  R.  W.  Barnwell,  J.  P.  Richardson 
B.  H.  Rutled-e.  .1.  K.  Jenkins,  and  1>.  K.   Duncan. 


102  ALLEGED   POSITION   OF   THE  ADMINISTRATION. 

Carolina  shall  have  seceded,  consistently  with  the  dignity  and  safety  of  the 
State ;  also,  the  value  of  the  property  of  the  United  States  not  in  South  Caro 
lina,  and  the  value  of  the  share  thereof  to  which  South  Carolina  would  be 
entitled  upon  an  equitable  division  thereof  among  the  United  States."  The 
President,  he  said,  had  affirmed  it  to  be  his  high  duty  to  protect  the  national 
property  in  South  Carolina,  and  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  nation  within  its 
borders.  "  He  says  he  has  no  constitutional  powers,"  said  Magrath,  "  to 
coerce  South  Carolina,  while,  at  the  same  time,  he  denies  to  her  the  right  of 
secession."  He  was  afraid  that  an  attempt  would  be  made  to  coerce  the 
Commonwealth,  under  the  pretext  of  protecting  the  property  of  the  United 
States  within  its  limits,  and  he  wanted  to  test,  at  the  very  threshold  of  their 
deliberations,  the  accuracy  of  the  President's  logic. 

This  brought  out  William  Porcher  Miles,  who  assured  the  Convention 
that  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  any  hostile  action  on  the  part  of  President 
Buchanan.  There  was  not  the  least  danger  of  his  sending  any  re-enforcements 
to  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbor  He  (Miles)  and  some  of  his 
colleagues,  he  said,  had  conversed  with  the  President"  on  the  sub 
ject,  and  had  orally  and  in  writing  admonished  him,  that  if  he 
should,  attempt  to  send  a  solitary  soldier  to  those  forts,  the  instant  the  intelli 
gence  reached  South  Carolina,  the  people  would  forcibly  storm  and  capture 
them.  They  assured  him  that  they  would  take  good  care  to  give  that  infor 
mation  to  the  people,  and  that  they  had  sources  of  information  at  Washington 
(the  traitorous  Secretary  of  War?)  which  made  it  impossible  for  an  order  for 
the  sending  of  re-enforcements  to  be  issued,  without  their  knowing  it.  They 
further  said  to  the  President,  that  "a  bloody  result  would  follow  the  sending 
of  troops  to  those  forts ;"  and  at  his  request  they  assured  him,  in  writing, 
that  in  their  opinion  there  would  be  no  movement  toward  seizing  them  by 
South  Carolinians  before  an  offer  should  be  made,  by  an  accredited  repre 
sentative,  to  negotiate  "for  an  amicable  arrangement  of  all  matters  between 
the  State  and  Federal  Governments ;  provided,  that  no  re-enforcements 
should  be  sent  into  those  forts."  There  was,  he  said,  "  a  tacit,  if  not  an 
actual  agreement,"  between  the  President  and  the  South  Carolina  delegation 
in  Congress,1  that  the  relative  military  condition  should  remain  the  same,  while 
each  party  forbore  hostile  movements.  This  statement  of  Miles  satisfied 
the  Convention  that  they  might  play  treason  to  their  hearts'  content  until  the 
4th  of  March ;  provided,  they  kept  violent  hands  off  the  property  of  the 
United  States.  The  President,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter,  denied  that  he 
ever  gave  such  pledge,  and  pronounced  the  accusation  untrue,  as  it  un 
doubtedly  was. 

After  resolutions  were  offered  and  referred,  which  proposed  a  Provisional 
Government  for  the  Slave-labor  States  that  might  secede,  on  the  basis  of  the 
National  Constitution ;  also,  to  send  Commissioners  to  Washington  to 
negotiate  for  the  cession  of  the  property  of  the  United  States  within  the 
limits  of  South  Carolina;  and  the  election  of  five  delegates,  to  meet  others 
from  Slave-labor  States,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  Southern  Con- 


1  The  written  communications  to  the  President  were  signed  by  the  following  named  persons,  then 
sentatives  in  Congress  from  South  Carolina: — John  McQueen,  William  Porcher  Miles,  M.  L.  Bonham,  W.  W, 
Boyce,  and  Lawrence  M.  Keitt. 


THE   ORDINANCE   OF  SECESSION. 


103 


federacy,  the  Committee  appointed  to  prepare  an  ordinance  of  secession 
reported.  This  was  on  the  20th  of  December.  Their  report,  submitted  by 
Mr.  Inglis,  was  very  brief,  and  embodied  the  draft  of  an  ordinance,  in  the 
following  words: — 

u  WE,  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  STATE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA,  ix  CONVENTION 
ASSEMBLED,  DO  DECLARE  AND  ORDAIN,  AND  IT  IS  HEREBY  DECLARED  AND 
ORDAINED,  THAT  THE  ORDINANCE  ADOPTED  BY  US  IN  CONVENTION,  ON  THE 
TWENTY-THIRD  DAY  OF  MAY,  IN  THE  YEAR  OF  OUR  LORD  ONE  THOUSAND 

SEVEN    HUNDRED    AND    EIGHTY-EIGHT,    WHEREBY    THE    CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

UNITED  STATES  WAS  RATIFIED,  AND  ALSO  ALL  ACTS  AND  PARTS  OF  ACTS  OF 
THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  STATE,  RATIFYING  AMENDMENTS  OF  THE 
SAID  CONSTITUTION,  ARE  HEREBY  REPEALED,  AND  THE  UNION  NOW  SUBSIST 
ING  BETWEEN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  OTHER  STATES,  UNDER  THE  NAME  OP 
THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  is  HEREBY  DISSOLVED." 


l(S  &e«^4^  etT^fct^fc*^ 


SIGNATURES    OF    THK   COMMITTEE   ON   RECESSION    ORDINANCE. 

This  ordinance  was  immediately  adopted  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the 
Convention.  The  hour  when  the  important  event  occurred  was  a  quarter 
before  one  o'clock.  The  number  of  votes  was  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine. 
AV.  F.  De  Saussure  immediately  moved  that  the  Convention  should  march  in 
procession  from  St.  Andrew's  Hall,1  where  they  had  held  their  sessions  since 
the  19th,  to  Institute  Hall,  and  there,  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  in  the 
presence  of  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  State  and  of  the  people,  sign  the 
ordinance.  The  Governor,  both  branches  of  the  Legislature,  and  several 
clergymen  were  specially  invited  to  be  present  at  the  solemn  act — "the 
great  act  of  deliverance  and  Liberty." 

The  crv  at  once  went  out: — "The,  Union  /,*  dissolved!     T/te  Union  i« 


1  Seo  page  23. 


104  REJOICINGS   IN  CHARLESTON. 

dissolved/"  An  immense  crowd  in  front  of  the  Hall  caught  up  the  words 
with  the  wildest  enthusiasm,  and  they  went  from  lip  to  lip,  until  the  whole 
city  was  alive  with  emotion.  A  placard  printed  at  the  Mercury  office,  half 
an  hour  after  the  vote  was  taken,  bearing  a  copy  of  the  ordinance,  and  the 
words,  in  large  letters,  THE  UNION  is  DISSOLVED  !  was  scattered  broad-cast 
over  the  town,  and  diffused  universal  joy.  Groups  gathered  in  many  places 
to  hear  it  read;  and  from  each  went  up  shout  after  shout,  which  attested  the 
popular  satisfaction.  All  business  was  suspended.  The  streets  of  Charleston 
were  filled  with  excited  people  huzzaing  for  a  Southern  Confederacy,  and 
several  women  made  a  public  display  of  their  so-called  patriotism,  by  appear 
ing  on  the  crowded  side-walks  with  "  secession  bonnets,"1  the  invention  of  a 
Northern  milliner  in  Charleston.  Small  Palmetto  flags,  with  a  lone  star  on 
each,  fluttered  with  white  handkerchiefs  out  of  many  a  window,  and  large 

ones  waved  over  every  public  and  many 
private  buildings.  The  bells  of  the 
churches  rang  out  merry  peals ;  and  these 
demonstrations  of  delight  were  accom 
panied  by  the  roar  of  cannon.  Some 
enthusiastic  young  men  went  to  the 
church-yard  where  the  remains  of  John 
C.  Calhoun  reposed,  and  there,  with 
singular  appropriateness,  they  formed  a 
circle  around  his  tomb,  and  made  a 
solemn  vow  to  devote  their  "  lives,  their 
fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor"  to  the 
"  cause  of  South  Carolina  independence."2 
And  Paul  H.  Hayne,  author  of  "The 
Temptations  of  Venus  "  and  other  poems, 

CALHOUN  8  TOMB    IN   6T.    PHILIP  S    CHURCH- YARD.  *•  L 

inspired  by  the  occasion,  produced,  before 

he  slept  that  night,  a  "  Song  of  Deliverance,"  in  which  is  the  following 
allusion  to  South  Carolina  and  her  position  : — 

"  See!  see!  they  quail  and  cry! 

The  dogs  of  Rapine  fly, 
Struck  by  the  terror  of  her  mien,  her  glance  of  lightning  fire  ! 

And  the  mongrel,  hurrying  pack 

In  whimpering  fear  fall  back, 
With  the  sting  of  baffled  hatred  hot,  and  the  rage  of  false  desire. 

O,  glorious  Mother  Land ! 

In  thy  presence,  stern  and  grand, 
Unnumbered  fading  hopes  rebloom,  and  faltering  hearts  grow  brave, 

And  a  consentaneous  shout 

To  the  answering  heavens  rings  out — 
4  Off  with  the  livery  of  disgrace,  the  baldric  of  the  Slave!'  " 


1  This  bonnet  was   composed   of  white  and  black  Georgia  cotton,   the  streamers  ornamented  with  Pal 
metto-trees  and  a  lone  star,  embroidered  with  gold  thread,  while  the  plumes  were  formed  of  white  and  black 
worsted. 

2  At  one  time,  during  the  civil  war,  when  it  was  believed  that  the  National  troops  would  take  possession 
of  Charleston,  three  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  friends,  professing  to  have  fears  that  the  invaders  might,  in  their  anger 
and  zeal,  desecrate  his  tomb,  and  scatter  hi?  remains  to  the  winds,  removed  them  to  a  place  of  greater  safety. 
They  were  replaced  after  the  war.    The  recumbent  slab  over  the  grave,  which  bears  the  single  word  "  CALHOUN." 
was  much  broken  by  his  admirers,  who  carried  away  small  pieces  as  relics  and  mementoes. 


SIGNING   THE   ORDINANCE   OF   SECESSION. 


105 


The  telegraph  instantly  sent  its  swift  messages  with  the  intelligence  to 
every  accessible  part  of  the  Republic;  and  within  twenty-four  hours 
after  the  passage  of  the  ordinance,  the  nation  was  profoundly  moved 
by  this  open  revolutionary  act.  Three  days  afterward,  a  railway  train  came 
in  from  Savannah  with  twenty  delegates  from  an  organization  there,  known 
as  the  "Sons  of  the  South."  They  represented,  they  said,  "three  hundred 
and  fifty  gentlemen  in  Georgia,"  and  were  authorized  to  offer  their  services 
to  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  to  aid  in  "  maintaining  her  noble  and 
independent  position."  They  brought  with  them  the  banner  of  their  associa 
tion,  which  was  white,  with  the  device  of  a  Palmetto-tree,  having  its  trunk 
entwined  by  a  rattle-snake  ;  also,  five  stars  and  a  crescent,  and  the  words, 
"  SEPARATE  STATE  ACTION." 

At  a  quarter  before  four  o'clock  the  Convention  took  a  recess,  and  while 
leaving  St.  Andrew's  Hall  and  going  in  irregular  procession  through 
Broad  Street,  to  dinner,  they  were  cheered  by  the  populace,  and  the 
chimes  of  St.  Michael's  ordinance,  which,  in  the 

Protestant  Episcopal  ^f^f^^tfa^  mean  time,  had  been 

Church1  pealed  forth  ^PPBP^55^^^  engrossed  on  a  sheet 
"Auld  Lang  Syne"  jl^^^^^^^^^m  °f  parchment  twenty- 
and  other  airs.  At  mify/f  /^|lr!Js&!^  \fl«  ^ve  ^y  thirty-three 
seven  o'clock  they  re-  ^  /ffiP^  \  H  inches  in  size,  with  the 

assembled  in  the  great  tt^L^^^jlfc^gy'^'W  great  S('a^  of  South 
hall  of  the  South  Caro-  J^^^^^^^^/Sm  Carolina  attached.  The 
lina  Institute,2  after-  ^j^^S-T^c^^^^^^  Governor-  and  his 
ward  known  as  "  Seces-  ^^BJ^J-^T^^s^^lr  Council,  and  both 

sion  Hall,"  for  the  ^^^^^-^^^^  branches  of  the  Legis- 

purpose  of  signing  the  lature  were  present, 

and  the  remainder  of  the  hall  not  occupied  by  the  Convention  and  those 
State  officials,  was  crowded  densely  with  the  men  and  women  of  Charleston. 
Back  of  the  President's  chair  was  suspended  a  banner,  a  copy  of  which, 
in  miniature,  is  given  on  the  next  page.3  It  was  a  significant  object  for  the 
contemplation  of  the  excited  multitude.  On  each  side  of  the  platform  on 
which  sat  the  President  stood  a  real  Palmetto-tree,  that  had  been  brought 
in  for  the  occasion. 


1  St.  Michael's  is  one  of  the  oldest,  if  not  the  oldest  Church  in   Charleston,  and  the  bells  chimed  for  the 
unholy  puri>ose  mentioned  in  the  text  have  interesting   historical  associations.     When  an  attack  on  Charleston 
wo*  expected,  in  1776,  the  church  spire,  which  was  white,  and  w^s  visible  from  some  distance  at  sea,  was 
painted  black,  that  the  enemy  might  riot  see  it  as  a  beacon.     It  was  a  mistake,  for  it  was  then  more  prominent 
than  ever  against  a  light  gray  sky.     When  the  British  fin.illy  took  jxtssession  of  the  city,  in  the  spring  of  17^0,  the 
bells  of  St.  Michael's  wero  Rent  to  London  n*  spoils  of  victory.     The  merchants  of  that  city  purchased  them,  and 
returned  them  to  the  church,  where  they  chimed  and  chimed,  until  the  conspirators  now  believed  they  had  sounded 
the  death-knell  of  the  Union,  which  its  vestry,  in  177C.  zealously  assisted  to  create.     St.  Michael's  spire  was  the 
target  for  General  Gillmon-'n  great  cannon,  called  "The  Swamp  Angel,"  during  his  long  siege  of  Charleston,  in 
the  latter  years  of  the  civil  war.     It  was  afterwaVd  found  that  a  shell  from  the  "  Angel"  had  gone  through  the 
church,  and,  striking  the  tablet  of  the  Commandments  on  the  wall,  effaced  every  one  of  them  but  these: — 
"Thou   shall   not  steal."    "Thou   shall  not  commit  adultery."1    So  declared  a  writer  in  the  New  York  Inde 
pendent^  who  professed  to  have  been  an  eye-witness  of  the  effects  of  the  shell. 

2  See  page  19. 

3  This  banner  is  composed  of  cotton  cloth,  with  devices  painted   in  water-colors,  by  a  Charleston  artist 
named  Alexander.     The  base  of  the  design  is  a  mass  of  broken  and  disordered  blocks  of  stone,  on  each  of  which  are 
the  name  and  arms  of  a  Free-labor  State.     Rising  from  this  mass  are  seen  two  columns  of  perfect  and  symmetri 
cal  blocks  of  stone,  connected  by  an  arch  of  the  same  material,  on  each  of  which,  fifteen  in  number,  are  seen  the 
name  and  coat-of-arms  of  a  Slave-labor  State.     South  Carolina  forms  the  key-stone  of  the  arch,  on  which  stands 
Powers'  statue  of  Culhoun  leaning  upon  the  trunk  of  a  Palmetto- tree,  and  displaying,  to  spectators,  a  scroll,  on 


106 


THE  BANNER  OF  THE  CONVENTION. 


The  ceremony  of  signing  the  ordinance  commenced  at  the  appointed 
hour.  "  The  scene  was  one  profoundly  grand  and  impressive,"  said  the 
Charleston  Mercury,  the  next  morning.  "  There  were  a  people  assembled 


BANNER   OF   THE   SOUTH    CAROLINA   CONVENTION. 


through  their  highest  representatives — men,  most  of  them,  upon  whose  henu* 
the  snows  of  sixty  winters  had  been  shed — patriarchs  in  age — dignitaries  of 
the  land — the  high-priests  of  the  Church  of  Christ — reverend  statesmen — 


which  are  the  words,  "  Truth,  Justice,  and  the  Constitution.1'  On  one  side  of  Calhoun  is  an  allegorical  figure 
of  Faith,  and,  on  the  other  side,  of  Hope.  Beyond  each  of  these  is  the  figure  of  a  North  American  Indian  armed 
with  a  rifle.  In  the  space  formed  by  the  t-.vo  columns  and  the  arch,  is  the  device  on  the  seal  and  f.ag  of  South 
Carolina,  namely,  a  Palmetto-tree  with  a  rattlesnake  coiled  around  its  trunk,  and  at  its  base  a  pavk  of  cannon, 
and  some  emblems  of  the  State  commerce.  On  a  scroll  fluttering  from  the  body  of  the  tree  are  the  words, 


THE   SIGNERS   OF  THE    ORDINANCE. 


10' 


and  the  wise  judges  of  the  law.  In  the  midst  of  deep  silence,  an  old  man, 
with  bowed  form  and  hair  as  white  as  snow,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bach  man,  advanced 
forward  with  upraised  hands,  in  prayer  to  Almighty  God  for  His  blessing 
and  favor  on  this  great  act  of  His  people  about  to  be  consummated.  The 
whole  assembly  at  once  rose  to  its  feet,  and,  with  hats  off,  listened  to  the 
touching  and  eloquent  appeal  to  the  All-wise  Disposer  of  events/' 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremonies,  when  the  signatures  had  all  been 
affixed  by  the  members,  whose  names  were  called  in  the  order  of  their  dis 
tricts,1  the  President  of  the  Convention  (Jamison)  stepped  forward,  exhibited 


"Southern  Republic."     Over  the  whole  design,  on  tho  segment  of  a  circle,  are  fifteen  stars,  the  then  number  of 
Slave -labor  States.     Underneath  all,  in  large  letters,  are  the  words,  BUILT  FROM  THE  RUINS. 

This  picture,  painted  for  the  South  Carolina  Convention,  and  under  the  direction  of  its  leaders,  is  a  remark 
able  testimony  concerning  the  real  intentions  of  the  conspirators  at  the  beginning,  which  they  continually 
attempted  to  conceal  beneath  the  mantle  of  hypocrisy.  It  wus  designed  and  painted  before  any  ordinance 
of  secession  had  been  adopted,  or  any  convention  lor  tho  purpose  had  been  held  in  any  State  excepting  South 
Carolina,  and  yet  it  foreshadows  their  grand  plan,  well  understood  by  the  conspirators  in  all  of  the  Slave-labor 
States,  toliiy  the.  Iltjtnblic  in  ruing,  <ind  upon  tho*t  ruiim  to  construct  <tn  ejnj^irt  ichone  "  corner-atone'*  xhottld 
be  NKiito  LAHOKKRS  IN  I'KRPKTI'AL  AND  HOPELESS  SLATRRV.  It  was  their  intention  to  cast  down  and  break  iu 
pieces  the  Free-labor  States,  and  build  the  new  structure  wholly  of  Slave-labor  States,  most  of  which  were 
known  to  be,  at  that  time,  hostile  to  the  disunion  schemes  of  the  South  Carolina  politicians.  Tho  egotism  and 
arrogance  of  them-  politic  iaun  are  mont  conspicuously  shown  in  making  South  Carolina  not  only  the  key-stone 
of  the  arch,  with  itn  revered  Calhouu  an  the  surmounting  figure — in  heraldic  language,  the  symbolizing  crtst 
of  the  device— but  in  giving  a*  the  prominent  feature  of  the  affair  the  palmetto,  nnake,  ic.,  which  are  the  chosen 
insignia  of  tho  power  of  tho  State.  It  said  plainly  to  the  fifteen  Slave-labor  Mates,  "South  Carolina  is  to  be 
the  head  and  heart  of  the  new  Confederacy;  the  Dictator  and  Umpire."  $he  banner  was  intended  as  a  menace 
and  a  prophecy.  How  the  events  of  four  succeeding  years  rebuked  the  arrogant  falso  prophets  !  Most  of  the 
Slave-labor  States  were  in  ruins,  and  South  Carolina,  that  was  to  be  the  key-stone  of  the  new  and  magnificent 
structure,  was  the  weakest  and  most  absolutely  ruined  of  all.  This  banner  is  now(ls«V>)  in  the  possession  of 
John  S.  II.  Fog«,  M.  I).,  of  Boston.  It  was  presented  by  the  painter  to  John  F.  Kennard,  of  Charleston,  wli... 
after  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  in  April,  l^fil.  sent  it  to  Dr.  Fogg,  by  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Fosrg.  who  was  then 
visiting  in  Charleston.  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Fggg  for  a  sketch  of  the  banner,  kindly  made  for  my  use  by  J.  M. 
Church,  of  Boston. 

1  The  signatures  were  written  In  five  columns,  and  in  tho  following  order:— 

"  I).  F.  JAMISON,  Delegate  from  Burnwell,  and  President  of  tho  Convention. 


Thnma.  Chile.  Perrin. 

R.  G.  M.  nunov.nl. 

A.  W.  IWth«a. 

John  M.  Shingler. 

R   H.   Rutledge. 

Edward    Noble. 

Jainn  rar...ns  Carrol'. 

K.   W.  «i.H.lwin. 

Daniel   Dn  Pre. 

Edward  M'Crady. 

J.  H.   Wilson. 

William  GreKif. 

William   D.  J«bn»on. 

A.  Maiyrk. 

Francis  I.    Porcher. 

Thos.    thorn**!. 

An.lrrw  J.  liammnnd. 

V  •  i.    M  I..-  -1. 

William  C.i  M. 

T.  L  Gourd  in. 

David   Lewi.  Wardlaw. 

Jinn.-.  Tompkin*. 

John   P.   Kinar.I. 

P.  «.  Snowden. 

John  S.  Palmer. 

John    Alfred  Calboun. 

James  C.  Smyly. 

Robert    Merman. 

(J.-orye   W.  Seabrook. 

John  L.    Xowell. 

John   Ixard   Middlelon. 

John  ll'i.-li   M.-ana, 

J,.v,,|,   Citltlwell. 

John  Jenkins 

John  S.  (VHear. 

H.-M  |,im  in    K.   S.  ».i..  n«. 

William  Stroiher  Lyles. 

Simon   Fuir. 

R.  (5.   DavaiiU 

John  Ci.   I.-iiiilrurn. 

J.  X.    Whiliwr. 

ll-nry  Campbell   Davis. 

Tli..  HIM   W<.rth   C,  lover. 

E.  M.  S.-«br.K,k. 

B.  B.  F.*ter. 

James  L.  Orr. 

John   Buchanan. 

Lawn-nr..   M.  K>-itU 

John  J.   Wammmaker. 

Ik.nj..ii.iiii   F.  Kilgore. 

J.  P.   Reed. 

Jnine*  C.  Furuian. 

l>..us  .1    Rowr  Bartun. 

Elia.  B.  SrotU 

J«me.  H.  Carli.le. 

R.  S.  >•!,,  ,....„. 

P.   E.  Duncan. 

Willinm  Hunter. 

J..i.  E.  JenkinL 

Sin»i*on  Bobo. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Mauldin 

.  W.  K.  tJinUy. 

An.lre«    K.   I.uifc 

LaiiRdon  Chevek 

William  Curtis. 

L.-WI.   MHlone  Aver.  Jr. 

Jiitnei  >{arri*on. 

R..b't  A.  Thoin|wnn. 

Georde  Rli.xict. 

H.  D.  Gr.-en. 

W.  Peronneau  Finley. 

W.  H.  Cainplwll. 

WllliHm  S.  Gmham. 

A.  G.  Mngmlh. 

Mathew  P.  Mayea. 

I.    I.   Brnhham. 

T     J.  \Vith-r.. 

John  Maxwell. 

Win.  Porcher  Mile*. 

Thonm.^Reese  English,  Sr. 

Benjamin   \V.  Lawton. 

JHIIICI  Chcinnt,  Jr. 

J..hn   E.  Frnmpton. 

John  Town*  nd. 

Albert  us  Chamber.  Spain. 

John  M,  Kee. 

J.wjih  Br>>\ar.|   K.Ttlmw 

.      W.  FerKu.on   Hulwn. 

Robert  X.  Gourdin. 

J.  M.   Gadberry. 

Thomas  W.  Noon. 

Thorn*.  W.  Beaty. 

\\'.  K.  De  Saiiuure. 

H.  W.  Conner. 

J.  S.  Sims. 

Rich«rd   Wood.. 

William  I.  Ellia, 

William  Hopkink 

Theodore   D.   Wagner. 

Win.  H.  Gist. 

A     Q.   Dunovanl. 

R.  L.  Crawf,,r.I. 

Jam..i  H.   A.Ui.i*. 

R.  Baniwell   Khett. 

James  JefTeries. 

J..hn   A.   Inglii. 

W.  C.  Ciiruiln-ra. 

Mazry  Kr*gX. 

C.  G.  M-mminifer. 

Anthony   W.  D..zier. 

Henry   M.Iver. 

D.  P.  R..Mn«>n. 

John  H.  Kin.lor. 

Gabriel   M.innpi.ilt. 

John  G.  Pr>-.sley. 

Stephen   J'i.'k»»M. 

H.  E.   Young. 

Ephraim  M.  Clark. 

John  Julius  Prinele  Smith. 

R.  C.    L..i,'Hn. 

W.  Pinrkney  Shinier. 

H.  W.  Gurlincton. 

Alex.  H.  Brown. 

Iwuw  W.  Hayne. 

Francis  S.  Parker. 

Peter  P.   Bonneau. 

J.'lui  D.   WiiliMini. 

F~  S.   P.  Bellinger. 

Jn.  II.  Honour. 

B.-IIJ.  Faneuil   Duncan. 

John    I*.  Rirhantioi* 

W.  D.  W,nu. 

Merri-k  E.  Cam. 

Ri.-hard   D-  Troville. 

Sam'l  Taylor   Alkin«,n. 

John    L.   Mmming. 

Th.w.  Wier. 

E.  11.  HemJ«r..m. 

Tho.na.  M.   Hanckel. 

Alex.    M.    Forster. 

John   1.   Murrain. 

H.  I.  Cnuel-man. 

Peter  Stoke*. 

A.  W.  Burnet. 

Wm.  Blackburn  Wilw>n. 

Edjfar   W.  Charles. 

John  C.  Geijter. 

Daniel   Fiud. 

Thoma.  Y.  Simon.. 

Robert  T.  Alii.  .11. 

Julius   A.   Durban. 

Paul  QuHttli-imiim. 

David  C.  Applehr. 

Arlema*  T.  Durby. 

Samuel  Rainev. 

l.aac   V).  Wilson. 

W.  B.  Rowel  I. 

R.  W.  Barnwell. 

I-  W.  Spratt. 

A.  Baxter  Spring*. 

John   M.  Timmons. 

Chealey  D.  Evan.. 

J.«.  DRn'l  Pop*. 

William.   Middleton. 

A.  I.  Barron. 

Francis  Hugh  Wardlaw. 

Win.  W.  Harllee. 

C.  P.  Brown. 

F.  D.   Richardwn. 

"  Attest,  BE.NJAWIN 

F.  ARTHUR,  Clerk  of  the 

Convention." 

108  DEBATES  IN  THE  CONVENTION. 

the  instrument  to  the  people,  read  it,  and  then  said,  "The  Ordinance  of 
Secession  has  been  signed  and  ratified,  and  I  proclaim  the  State  of  South  Caro 
lina  an  Independent  Commonwealth."  He  then  handed  it  to  the  Secretary 
of  State,  to  be  placed  for  preservation  in  the  archives  of  South  Carolina, 
at  Columbia.  A  great  shout  of  exultation  went  up  from  the  multitude,  and  at 
a  little  after  nine  o'clock  the  Convention  adjourned  until  the  next  day.  The 
audience  then  despoiled  the  two  Palmetto-trees  at  the  platform  of  their 
foliage,  every  leaf  of  which  was  borne  away  as  a  memorial  of  the  occa 
sion. 

The  question  immediately  arose  in  the  Convention,  after  the  passage  of 
the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  "How  does  this  affect  the  public  officers  in  this 
State  ?"  It  was  an  important  question.  There  was  no  precedent  on  record. 
All  felt  that  the  question  must  be  immediately  answered,  or  there  would  be 
chaos.  An  ordinance  was  offered  which  provided  for  the  continuance  in 
office,  and  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  their  respective  stations,  of  col 
lectors  of  customs,  postmasters,  and  other  officers  of  the  United  States 
Government  within  the  limits  of  South  Carolina,  as  agents  of  that  State 
alone,  until  the  Legislature,  or  other  competent  body,  should  provide  other 
wise.  This  elicited  debate.  Judge  Magrath  wished  immediate  action,  for, 
to  his  understanding,  there  was  then  no  collector  of  a  port  or  a  postmaster 
in  all  South  Carolina.  The  authority  of  every  officer  in  that  State,  appointed 
by  the  National  Government,  was  extinguished  by  the  Ordinance  of  Seces 
sion  ;  and  he  was  for  making  provisional  arrangements  for  carrying  on 
government  in  the  lone  Common\vealth. 

Mr.  Gregg  believed  that,  with  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession, 
all  the  laws  of  Congress,  in  South  Carolina,  fell  to  the  ground  instantly. 
"There  is  now,"  he  said,  "no  law  on  the  subject  of  the  collection  of  duties 
in  South  Carolina,  now  that  we  have  accomplished  the  work  of  forty  years" 
— "  The  Congress  of  the  United  States  is  no  longer  our  Government,"  said 
Mr.  Hayne.  "The  Legislature,"  he  contended,  was  competent  to  declare 
"what  laws  of  the  United  States  should  be  continued,  and  what  not." — "All 
the  revenue  and  postal  laws,"  repeated  Mr.  Gregg,  "  fell  to  the  ground  on  the 
passage  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession."  Mr.  Cheves  declared,  to  avoid 
inconvenience  to  the  people,  temporary  arrangements  must  be  adopted  for 
carrying  on  the  Government.  "An  immense  chasm,"  he  said,  "has  been 
made  in  law."  Mr.  Miles  said  that  they  must  prevent  confusion  and  anarchy 
in  the  derangement  of  governmental  affairs,  and  that  "  things  must  for  the 
present  remain  in  statu  quo,  or  confusion  will  arise." 

Mr.  Mazyck  agreed  with  Cheves  and  others,  that  the  duties  of  collectors 
and  postmasters  in  South  Carolina  were  extinguished.  He  was  favorable  to 
an  abandonment  of  a  public  postal  system  altogether,  and  giving  the  business 
into  private  hands.  Mr.  Calhoun  said,  "  We  have  pulled  the  temple  down 
that  has  been  built  for  three-quarters  of  a  century.  We  must  now  clear  the 
rubbish  away,  and  construct  another.  We  are  now  houseless  and  homeless. 
We  must  secure  ourselves  from  storms."  Chancellor  Dunkin  said,  that  the 
functions  of  all  officers  might  "  go  on  as  before.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
ordinance  to  affect  the  dignity,  honor,  or  welfare  of  the  State  of  South 
Carolina.  We  must  keep  the  wheels  of  government  in  motion."  He  thought 
the  ordinance  had  not  entirely  "abrogated  the  Constitution  of  the  LTnited 


ADDRESS   TO   SLAVE-LABOR   STATES. 


109 


States,"  and  noted  the  fact,  that  the  gold  and  silver  of  the  National  Govern 
ment  was  the  legal  tender  in  South  Carolina. 

And  so  the  argument  went  on.  Barnwell  was  for  sacrificing  postal  con 
veniences  rather  than  seem  to  have  any  connection  with  the  United  States. 
"  There  never  was  any  thing  purchased,"  he  said,  "  worth  having,  unless  at 
the  cost  of  sacrifice."  Rhett  said: — "This  great  revolution  must  go  on  with 
as  little  change  as  possible,"  and  thought  the  best  plan  was  to  use  the  United 
States  officers  then  in  place.  "  By  making  the  Federal  agents  ours,"  he  said, 
"  the  machinery  will  move  on."  This  was  finally  the  arrangement,  substan 
tially. 

On  the  21st,"  the  Convention  appointed  Robert  W.  Barnwell, 
James  II.  Adams,  and  James  L.  Orr,  Commissioners  to  proceed   " 
to  Washington,  to  treat  for  the  possession  of  the  National  prop 
erty  within  the  limits  of  South  Carolina.     On  the  same  day,  the  Committee 
appointed  to  prepare  an  "  Address  of  the  people  of  South  Carolina  to  the 
people  of  the  Slaveholding  States,"  made  a  report.     It  was  drawn  by  the 


chairman,  R.  B.  Rhett,  and  bore  in  every  sentence  indications  of  the 
characteristics  of  that  conspirator.  It  was  remarkable  for  a  reckless  disre 
gard  of  truth  in  its  assertions,  and  its  deceptive  and  often  puerile  logic.  It 
did  not,  in  a  single  paragraph,  rise  above  the  dignity  of  a  partisan  harangue. 
It  professed  to  review  the  alleged  grievances  suffered  by  South  Carolina  in 
the  Union,  but  it  actually  stated  not  one  that  might  be  perceived  by  the  eye 
of  truth.  The  fact  that  her  politicians  had  twice  placed  her  in  an  attitude 
of  hostility  to  the  National  Government,  to  whose  fostering  care  and  protec 
tion  she  was  indebted  for  her  prosperity  and  respectability,  was  shamelessly 
and  ostentatiously  paraded;  and  it  was  asserted  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  was  no  longer  a  "  Government  of  Confederated  Republics,  but 
of  a  consolidated  Democracy ;"  that  the  Constitution  was  but  an  experiment, 
and  as  such  had  failed  ;  that  the  relations  of  "  the  South  to  the  North"  were 


110  DECLARATION   OF   CAUSES  FOR   SEPARATION. 

such  as  were  those  of  the  Colonies  to  Great  Britain,  at  the  breaking  out  of 
the  Revolution ;  and  so  on,  sentence  after  sentence  of  like  tenor,  at  the  same 
time  appealing  to  the  self  esteem  of  the  Southern  people  by  saying  :  "  Whilst 
constituting  a  portion  of  the  United  States,  it  has  been  your  statesmanship 
which  has  guided  it  in  its  mighty  strides  to  power  and  expansion.  In  the 
field,  as  in  the  Cabinet,  you  have  led  the  way  to  its  renown  and  grandeur." 
The  Address,  no  doubt,  served  its  intended  purpose,  namely,  to  deceive  the 
uninformed,  to  inflame  the  public  mind  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  and  to 
hasten  the  ripening  of  the  rebellion.1 

More  dignified,  but  not  less  reckless  in  sweeping,  unsupported  assertions, 
was  the  "  Declaration  of  the  Causes  which  justify  the  Secession  of  South 
Carolina  from  the  Federal  Government,"  drawn  up  and  reported  by  Charles 
G.  Memminger,  who  was  afterward  the  financial  agent  of  the  confederated 
conspirators.  After  taking  a  glance  at  the  history  of  the  Union  down  to 
the  ratification  of  the  National  Constitution  by  the  people  of  South  Caro 
lina,  he  proceeded  in  his  difficult  task  of  searching  for  grievances  inflicted 
by  the  National  Government  upon  the  people  of  that  State.  He  was  entirely 
unsuccessful.  It  was  painfully  apparent,  that  a  once  honest  but  now  corrupt 
man  was  trying  to  deceive  himself  and  others  into  the  belief  that  a  great 
crime  was  a  commendable  virtue.  He  complained  of  the  refusal  of  the  peo 
ple  of  the  North  to  regard  with  favor  the  system  of  slavery  in  the  South, 
and  also  of  their  exercise  of  the  freedom  of  speech  on  the  subject.  He 
complained  of  their  refusal  to  believe  that  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  can  reverse  the  judgment  and  decrees  of  the  Almighty, 
as  recognized  by  the  wisest  men  in  all  time ;  and  he  pointed  to  the  actions 
of  some  of  the  States  northward  of  the  Potomac  hostile  to  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  of  1850,  as  the  strongest  evidence,  among  others,  of  "a  sectional  com 
bination  for  the  subversion  of  the  Constitution."  But  in  no  word  in  that 
"Declaration"  was  the  National  Government,  whose  authority  and  protec 
tion  he  and  his  followers  in  crime  were  defying  and  discarding,  charged  with 
the  slightest  actual  wrong-doing.  The  debate  which  this  "Declaration" 
elicited,  revealed  quite  a  diversity  of  opinion  concerning  the  real  cause  of, 
or  the  real  pretext  for,  secession.  In  that  debate,  several  members  made  the 
statements  quoted  on  page  69  of  this  volume. 

Memminger's  manifesto,  which  was  concluded  with  a  ludicrous  appropri 
ation  of  the  closing  words  of  the  great  Declaration  of  Independence  by  the 
Fathers,  in  1776,  viewed  in  the  light  of  truth  and  soberness,  appears  in  it 
self  a  solemn  protest  against  the  wicked  actions  of  the  conspirators  at  that 
time,  and  ever  afterward.  It  also  presents  a  fair  specimen  of  that  counter- 


1  "South  Carolina  desires  no  destiny  separate  from  yours,"  said  the  Address,  in  conclusion.  "To  be  one 
of  a  great  SLAVKHOLDING  CONFEDERACY— stretching  its  arms  over  territory  larger  than  any  power  in  Europe 
possesses — with  a  population  four  times  greater  than  that  of  the  whole  United  States  when  they  achieved  their 
independence  of  the  British  Empire — with  productions  which  make  our  existence  more  important  to  the  world 
than  that  of  any  other  people  inhabiting  it — with  common  institutions  to  defend,  and  common  dangers  to 
encounter,  we  ask  your  sympathy  and  confederation.  .  .  .  All  we  demand  of  other  people  is  to  be  let  alone  to 
work  out  our  own  high  destinies.  United  together,  and  we  must  t>e  the  most  independent,  as  we  are  the  most 
important,  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  United  together,  and  we  require  no  other  instrument  to  conquer 
peace  than  our  beneficent  productions.  United  together,  and  we  must  be  a  great,  free,  and  prosperous  people, 
whose  renown  must  spread  throughout  the  civilized  icorld,  and  pass  down,  we  trust,  to  the  remotest  ages. 
We  ask  you  to  join  us  informing  a  Confederacy  of  Slateholding  States." 


SOVEREIGNTY   OF  SOUTH   CAROLINA   PROCLAIMED. 


Ill 


feit  statesmanship  which  for  years  was  palmed  off  on  the  confiding  people 
of  the  Slave-labor  States  as  genuine.1 

On  the  same  day  when  the  "Declaration"  was  adopted,  Governor  Pick- 
ens  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  to  the  world  tnat  "South  Carolina 
is,  and  has  a  right  to  be,  a  separate,  sovereign,  free,  and  independent  State, 


and,  as  such,  has  a 
right  to  levy  war, 
to  conclude  peace, 
to  negotiate  treaties, 
leagues,  or  cove 
nants,  and  to  do  all 
acts  whatever  that 
rightfully  appertain 


SOt'TII    CAROLINA    MKI»A1 


to  a  free  and  inde 
pendent  State."  He 
declared  the  procla 
mation  to  be  given 
under  his  hand,  on 
the  24th  of  Decem 
ber,  1860,  "and  in 
the  eisrhtv-fifth  year 


of  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of  South  Carolina."2 

With  perfect  consistency,  the  Charleston  papers  now  published  intelli 
gence  from  all  the  other  States  of  the  Union  as  "  Foreign  News."  In  various 
ways,  the  world  was  given  to  understand  that  South  Carolina  was  a  first-class 
Power  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  whose  smiles  would  be  blessings, 
but  whose  frowns  would  be  calamitous  ;  and  a  small  medal  was  struck  in 
commemoration  of  the  great  act  of  separation,  which  was  adorned  with 
appropriate  devices  and  inscriptions.3 

On  the  day  when  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed,  the  Convention 
adopted  a  banner  for  the  new  empire.  It  was  composed  of  red  and  blue  silk, 
the  former  being  the  ground  of  the  standard,  and  the  latter,  in  the  form  of  a 
cross,  bearing  fifteen  stars.  The  largest  star  was  for  South  Carolina.  On  the  red 
field  were  a  silver  Palmetto  and  Crescent.4  The  introduction  of  the  Crescent 


1  The  Auffiitila,  (Georgia)  Chronicle  and  Stntinel.  a  leading  newspaper  in  the  South,  said,  tvrelve  days  after 
the  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed  In  the  8,outh  Carolina  Convention  :—*' It  is  a  sad  thins:  to  observe,  that 
those  who  are  determined  on  immediate  secession  have  not  the  coolness,  the  capacity,  or  the  nerve,  to  propose 
something  after  that.  .  .  .  No  statesmanship  has  ever  been  exhibited  yet,  so  Tar  as  we  know,  by  those  who 
will  dissolve  the  Union."— January  1.  1^01. 

2  The  London  Morninff  .VMr,  commenting  on  this  declaration  of  the  "Sovereignty"  of  South  Carolina,  said  : — 
u  A  nationality !     Was  there  ever,  since  the  world  began,  a  nation  constituted  of  such  materials — a  common 
wealth  founded  on  such  bases?     The  greatest  empire  of  antiquity  is  said  to  have  grown  up  from  a  group  of 
hut«,  built  in  a  convenient  location  by  fugitive  slaves  and  robber  huntsmen.     But  history  nowhere  chronicles 
the  establishment  of  a  community  of  slaveholders  solely  upon  the  alleged  right  of  maintaining  and  enlarging 
their  property  in  man.     Paganism  at  least  protected  the  Old  World  fiom  so  monstrous  a  scandal   upon  free 
commonwealths,  by  shutting  out  the  idea  of  a  common  humanity,  and  of  individual  rights  derivable  from 
Inalienable  duties.  .  .  .  They  are  not  content  to  be  left  In  undisturbed  possession  of  the  human  beings  they  have, 
bought  or  bred.     They  demand  that  the  law  and  government  of  a  confederacy  embracing  States  twice  as  popu 
lous  as  their  own    shall  consecrate  slavery  forever;  that  in  none  of  these  States  shall   there  be  any  hiding-place, 
for  the   fugitive;  nay.  no  platform  on   which   the  abstract  rights  of  the  slave   maybe  asserted.     It  is  not  on 
account  <>f  abolition  that  they  separate  from  the  I'nion,  but  of  Abolitionism.     In  the  vulgar  but  expressive 
phraseology  invented  by  themselves,  they  not  only  claim  the  right  to  'wallop  their  own  niggers,'  but  that  all 
their  neighbors  shall  for  them  turn  slave-catchers  and  scourgers.     They  would  make  the  vast  territory  of  the 
t'nion  one  great  slave-field,  and  put  in  the  hand  of  every  freeman  a  fetter  and  a  whip  for  himself  as  well  as  for 
the  negro.     Such  audacity  of  folly  and  wickedness  revolts  the  common  sense  of  mankind.     For  the  sake  of 
interests  dear  to  all  humanity,  we  pray  the  Northern  States  to  let  these  madmen  go.  rather  than  restrain  or 
chastise  them  with  the  sword.     But  the  burlesquers  of  the  grand  drama  of  American  independence  excite  only 
Rcorn.  and  their  blasphemous  appeals  to  Divine  and  human  sympathy  can  bring  down  only  the  rebuke  of  uni 
versal  hatred  and  contempt." 

3  The  engraving  is  the  exact  size  of  the  medal.     On  one  side  is  a  Palmetto-tree ;  a  group  of  barrels  and  bales 
of  cotton;  a  cannon  and  heap  of  balls;  the  date  1S6<>:  a   radiation  of  light  from  behind   the  Palmetto  and  its 
accompaniments,  and  fifteen  stars,  with  the  words,  "  No  SritamsioN  TO  THE  NORTH/'     On  the  other  side  is  a 
group  of  Southern  productions  of  the  earth,  and  over  and  around  them  the  words,  "TiiE  WEALTH  OF  THE  SOUTH 
— KICK,  TOBACCO,  Src.AR,  AND  COTTON." 

4  The  Crew ent  was  placed  in  the  South  Carolina  flag  in  1775.  under  the  following  circumstances : — The  Pro 
vincial  Council  had  taken  measures  to  fortify  Charleston,  after  the  lioyal  Governor  was  driven  away.     "  Ae  there 


112  ORGANIZATION   OF   THE    NEW   "NATION." 

or  New  Moon  on  the  standard  was  considered  even  by  thinking  South  Caro 
linians,  as  singularly  appropriate,  for  those  who  there  inaugurated  the  rebellion 
were  certainly  afflicted  with  lunacy,  "  a  species  of  in 
sanity  or  madness,"  says  the  lexicon,  "  which  is  broken 
by  intervals  of  reason,  formerly  supposed  to  be  influ 
enced  by  the  changes  of  the  Moon"  It  is  related  of  the 
late  Judge  Pettigru,  of  Charleston,  who  resisted  the 
madness  of  the  secessionists  while  he  lived,  that  on 
being  asked  by  a  stranger  in  the  streets  of  his  city 
the  right  direction  to  the  Lunatic  Asylum,  he  pointed 
to  the  east,  the  west,  the  north,  and  the  south,  and 
said,  "  It  is  there,  and  there,  and  there,  and  there — 
the  whole  State  is  a  lunatic  asylum." 
On  the  26th,  the  Convention  agreed  to  send  a  commissioner  to  each  Slave- 
labor  State  that  might  hold  a  convention,  to  bear  to  them  a  copy  of  the  South 
Carolina  Ordinance  of  Secession  ; !  to  ask  their  co-operation ;  to  propose  the 
National  Constitution  just  abandoned  as  a  basis  for  a  provisional  government ; 
and  to  invite  the  seceding  States  to  meet  South  Carolina  in  convention  at 
Montgomery,  Alabama,  on  the  13th  of  February,  1861,  for  the 
•  December  26,  pUrpOse  of  forming  a  Southern  Confederacy.  They  also  made  pro 
vision"  for  continuing  commercial  operations,  by  using  the  United 
States  officers  and  revenue  laws,  but  changing  the  style  of  all  papers  to  the 
name  of  "  South  Carolina,"  and  ordering  all  duties  to  be  paid  into  the  State 
treasury.  On  the  following  day,  the  Governor  was  authorized  to  receive 
embassadors,  ministers,  consuls,  <fcc.,  from  foreign  countries,  and  to  appoint 
the  same  officers  to  represent  South  Carolina  abroad.  It  was  also  decreed, 
that  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  were  living  within  the  limits  of 
South  Carolina  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  should 
be  considered  citizens  of  the  new  "nation." 

On  the  29th,  the  Convention,  which  assumed  supreme  dignity  in  the  State, 
transferred  to  the  Legislature  the  powers  lately  vested  in  Congress,  excepting 
during  the  session  of  the  Convention.  The  judicial  powers  of  the  United 
States  were  vested  in  the  State  Courts ;  and  Governor  Pickens,  who  had 
organized  his  cabinet,  assumed  the  exalted  position  of  the  Chief  Magistrate 
of  an  independent  nation.  His  constitutional  advisers  consisted  of  A.  G. 
Magrath,  Secretary  of  State;  D.  F.  Jamison,  Secretary  of  War;  C.  G. 
Memminger,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  W.  W.  Harllee,  Postmaster-General ; 
and  A.  C.  Garlington,  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  After  making  provision  for 


was  no  national  flag  at  the  time,"  says  General  Moultrie,  in  his  Memoirs,  "  I  -was  desired  by  the  Council  of 
Safety  to  have  one  made,  upon  which,  as  the  State  troops  were  clothed  in  blue,  and  the  fort  [Johnson,  on 
James  Island]  was  garrisoned  by  the  First  and  Second  Regiments,  who  wore  a  silver  crescent  on  the  front  of  their 
caps,  I  had  a  large  blue  flag  made,  with  a  crescent  in  the  dexter  corner,  to  be  in  uniform  with  the  troops.  This 
was  the  first  American  flag  displayed  in  the  South."  See  Lossing's  Pictorial  Field-book  of  ike  Revolution, 
ii.  545. 

1  When  this  question  was  before  the  Convention,  a  member  (Mr.  Dargan)  proposed  to  send  a  copy  of  the 
ordinance,  with  the  "  Declaration  of  Causes,  &c.,"  to  all  the  States  of  the  Union  ;  and,  when  it  was  objected  to, 
he  said  that  a  statement  of  reasons  is  required,  as  well  as  the  ordinance.  "Courtesy  to  our  late  Confederates.'1 
he  said,  "  whether  enemies  or  not,  calls  for  the  reasons  that  have  actuated  us.  It  is  not  true,  in  point  of  fact, 
that  all  the  Northern  people  are  hostile  to  the  rights  of  the  South.  We  have,  a  Spartan  band  in  every  North 
ern  State.  It  is  due  to  them  that  they  should  know  the  reasons  which  influence  us."  The  proposition  was 
not  agreed  to. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  to   visit   other   Slave-labor   States:— To 


REBELLION   IX   SOUTH   CAROLINA   APPLAUDED.  113 

military  operations,  and  transacting  some  other  business,  chiefly  in  secret 
session,  the  Convention  adjourned,  on  the  5th  of  January,  1861,  subject  to  the 
call  of  the  President.  They  had  ordered  the  table,  President's  chair,  inkstand, 
and  other  things  used  at  the  ceremony  of  signing  the  Ordinance  of  Secession, 
to  be  placed  in  the  State 'House  at  Columbia,  for  preservation. 

The  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  which  had  been  in  session  during  the 
sitting  of  the  Convention,  but  almost  idle,  now  took  measures  for  putting  the 
State  in  a  strongly  defensive  attitude.  A  loan  of  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars  was  authorized,  which  was  immediately  taken  by  the  banks  of  the 
State,  they  having  been  permitted,  by  legislative  decree,  to  suspend  specie 
payments.1  A  call  for  volunteers  was  made,  and  also  provisions  for  a  draft, 
if  it  should  be  necessary.  Little  else  was  done  during  the  session  but  prepa 
rations  for  making  the  revolutionary  movement  a  success. 

Thus  the  South  Carolina  politicians  rebelled,  and  prepared  to  resist  the 
authority  of  their  Government  by  force  of  arms.  When  intelligence  of  the 
passage  of  their  Ordinance  of  Secession  went  over  the  country,  it  produced,  as 
we  have  observed,  a  profound  sensation.  That  action  was  greeted  with  delight 
by  disunionists  in  most  of  the  Slave-labor  States.  A  hundred  guns  were  fired 
both  at  Montgomery  and  Mobile,  by  order  of  the  Governor  (Moore)  of  Ala 
bama,  in  honor  of  the  event.  In  the  latter  city  there  was  also  a  military  parade. 
Bells  were  rung  and  oratory  was  heard.  At  Macon,  Georgia,  bells  rang,  bon 
fires  blazed,  cannon  thundered,  processions  moved,  and  the  main  street  of  the 
city  was  illuminated.  A  hundred  guns  were  fired  at  Pensacola.  The  same 
number  were  discharged  in  New  Orleans,  where  the  Pelican  flag5  was  unfurled, 
speeches  were  made  to  the  populace,  and  no  other  airs  were  played  in  the 
streets  but  polkas  and  the  Marseillaise  Hymn.  At  Wilmington,  in  Xorth 
Carolina,  one  hundred  guns  were  fired.  In  Portsmouth, Virginia,  fifteen  were 
fired,  being  the  then  number  of  the  Slave-labor  States  ;  and  at  Xorfolk,  the 
Palmetto  flag  was  outspread  from  the  top  of  a  pole  a  hundred  feet  in  hight. 
A  banner  with  the  same  device  was  displayed  over  the  custom-house  at 
Richmond.  An  attempt  was  made  to  fire  fifteen  guns  in  Baltimore,  when  the 
loyal  people  there  prevented  it.  On  the  22d,  a  jubilant  meeting  at  Memphis, 
Tennessee,  "ratified"  the  ordinance.  Fifteen  guns  were  fired,  and  the  office 
of  t\\Q  Avalanche,  then  an  organ  of  the  conspirators  in  that  region,  was  illumi 
nated.  At  the  same  time,  the  politicians  of  several  of  the  Slave-labor  States, 
as  we  shall  observe  presently,  were  rapidly  placing  the  people  in  the  position 
of  active  co-operation  with  those  of  South  Carolina.  Those  who  did  not 
choose  to  follow  the  lead  of  South  Carolina  were  treated  with  amazing 
insolence  by  the  usurpers  in  that  State,  and  were  scorned  as  unworthy  of 
association  with  the  Palmetto  Chivalry. 

The  news  was  received  with  far  different  feelings  in  the  Free-labor  States, 


Alabama,  A.  P.  Calhoun ;  to  Georgia,  James  L.  Orr;  to  Florida,  L.  W.  Spratt;  to  Mississippi,  M.  L.  Bonham ; 
to  Louisiana,  .T.  L.  Manning;  to  Arkansas,  A.  (A  Spain;  to  Texas,  J.  B.  Kershaw;  to  Virginia,  John  S.  Preston. 

1  According  to  the  returns  made  to  the  Controller-general  of  South  Carolina,  for  the  month  of  December, 
ls(5<\  the  number  of  banks  in  that  State  was  only  twenty,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of  about  fifteen  millions  of 
dollars,  and  a  circulation  of  about  seven  millions  of  dollars.     They  had  only  one  million  three  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  thousand  dollars  in  specie. 

2  On  the  great  seal  of  Louisiana  is  the  device  of  a  Pelican,  hovering  over  a  nest  of  young  ones  in  the  attitude 
of  protection,  at  the  same  time  feeding  them.     The  same  device  was  on  the  Louisiana  flag.     It  was  designed  t« 
symbolize  the  parental  care  of  the  National  Government,  and  it  appeared  out  of  place  in  the  hands  of  men 
banded  to  destroy  that  government 

VOL.  I  —3 


114  FEELING   IN   THE  FREE-LABOR   STATES. 

where  reason  and  not  passion  ruled  the  people.  The  leaders  of  the  Breckin- 
ridge  Democrats,1  who  were  more  intimately  affiliated,  as  partisans,  with  the 
politicians  in  the  Slave-labor  States  than  others,  were  eager  to  suppress  all 
discussion  of  the  Slavery  question  at  the  North,  and  were  willing  to  give 
Slavery  free  scope  by  the  repeal  of  all  Personal  Liberty  Laws,  the  rigid  execu 
tion  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  and  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  so  as  to 
secure  the  right  of  property  in  slaves  everywhere.  The  Douglas  Democrats  2 
adhered  to  the  doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty,  but  were  willing  to  make 
liberal  concessions  to  the  Slave  interest  by  the  repeal  of  Personal  Liberty 
laws  and  the  rigid  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act.  The  Republicans 3 
adhered  to  their  opposition  to  Slavery,  yet  favored  conciliatory  measures,  as 
shadowed  by  one  of  their  chief  leaders  ;4  while  a  few  corrupt  politicians, 
whose  love  of  party  and  its  honors  and  emoluments  was  far  greater  than  love 
of  country,  openly  defended  the  course  of  the  traitors,  and  advocated  seces 
sion  as  not  only  a  constitutional  right,  but  as  expedient.  But  while  there 
was  a  general  desire  to  conciliate  the  madmen  of  the  South,  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  in  the  Free-labor  States,  comprising  the  bulk  of  all  parties,  were 
firmly  attached  to  the  Union,  and  resolutely  determined  to  maintain  the 
National  integrity  at  all  hazards.  Union  meetings  were  held,  and  LTnion 
sentiments  were  expressed  with  a  vehemence  and  power  which  alarmed  the 
more  discreet  leaders  in  the  South. 

The  men  of  trie  North  had  watched  the  rising  rebellion,  first  with  incre 
dulity  and  then  with  amazement ;  but  when  it  assumed  tangible  form  and 
substance — when    it   became   a    reality,   aggressive    and    implacable — they 
prepared  to  meet  it  with  calmness  and  firmness.    They  deprecated  all  inflam 
matory  proceedings  like  the  commemoration,  in  Boston,  of  the 

•  December  3.  •  /.   T   i.      T> 

execution  of  John  Brown," 5  and  were  anxious  to  be  exactly  just 
toward  their  brethren  in  the  Slave-labor  States  :  yet  they  were  ready  and 
willing  to  oppose  force  to  force,  morally  and  physically,  when  the  insurgents 
should  attack  the  bulwarks  of  the  Republic. 

The  conservative  influence  of  commerce  and  manufactures  was  a  power 
ful  restraint  upon  the  passions  of  the  indignant  people  of  the  North,  when 
they  perceived  the  utter  faithlessness  of  the  Southern  leaders,  not  only  in 
their  political,  but  in  their  business  relations.  The  South  was  an  immense 
debtor  to  the  North  for  merchandise  purchased  on  long  credits,6  and  it  was 
very  soon  apparent,  from  the  recommendations  of  the  leaders  in  the  Slave- 
labor  States,  that  a  scheme  was  on  foot  for  the  repudiation  of  all  debts  due 
to  merchants  and  manufacturers  in  the  Free-labor  States.  So  early  as  the 
day. of  the  Presidential  election,  it  was  evident  to  sagacious  men  that  a 


1  See  page  33.  2  See  page  33.  3  See  page  33. 

4  In  a  speech  at  Auburn,  New  York  (his  home),  on  the  20th  of  November,  I860,  Mr.  Seward  counseled 
moderation  and  conciliation.    He,  begged  them  to  be  patient  and  kind  toward  their  erring  brethren.    "  We  are  all 
fellow-citizens,  Americans,  brethren,"  he  said.     "  It  is  a  trial  of  issues  by  the  forces  only  of  reason." 

5  Quite  a  number  of  citizens  of  Boston,  and  some  from  other  places,  assembled  in  Tremont  Temple,  in  that 
city,  on  the   Sd  of  December,  I860,  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the  execution  of  John  Brown,  in  Virginia, 
the  year  before.     A  larger  number  of  inhabitants,  led  by  a  man  named  Fay.  also  assembled  there,  took  posses 
sion  of  the  Temple,  orsanized  a  meeting,  denounced  the  acts  of  John  Brown  as ''bloody  and  tyrannical,"  and 
his  sympathizers  as  disturbers  of  the  public  peace;  and  then,  according  to  a  published  account,  expelled  from 
the  hall  "  the  Abolitionists  and  negroes  by  sheer  force." 

6  More  than  two  hundred  millions   of  dollars  were  due  to  the  Northern  merchants  and  manufacturers  by 
Southerners. 


FINANCIAL   CONDITION   OF   THE   COUNTRY.  115 

monetary  crisis  was  impending,  and  then  commenced  business  restrictions 
and  the  withdrawal  of  capital  from  investment.  Manufacturers  and 
importers  became  anxious  to  get  rid  of  their  stocks  on  hand,  and  the 
markets,  in  commercial  centers,  were  soon  crowded. 

By  the  middle  of  November,  remittances  from  the  South  had  almost 
entirely  ceased,  partly  on  account  of  the  dishonesty  of  a  large  class  who  had 
resolved  not  to  pay,  partly  because  of  the  absolute  inability  of  others  to  do 
so,  and  partly  because  of  the  high  rates  of  exchange  on  the  Xorthern  com 
mercial  cities  and  the  depreciation  of  Southern  bank-notes,  the  Legislatures  of 
several  States  having  authorized  the  banks  to  suspend  specie  payments.  The 
consequence  was  the  subjection  of  large  business  houses,  and,  indeed,  whole 
communities  in  the  North,  to  great  financial  straits.  Added  to  this  was  the 
sad  condition  of  the  Xational  exchequer,  and  consequent  distrust  of  Govern 
ment  paper.  Ilowell  Cobb,  the  treacherous  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  who 
found  the  coffers  of  the  Government  so  overflowing  when  they  came  into  his 
custody,  in  1857,  that  the  treasury  notes  next  due  were  bought  in,  had  so 
adroitly  managed  his  scheme  for  the  paralysis  of  this  strong  arm  of  the 
Republic,  for  the  benefit  of  the  conspirators,  that  it  was  empty  in  the  sum- 
iner  of  1860;  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  he  was  in  the  market  as  a 
borrower  of  money  to  carry  on  the  ordinary  operations  of  the  Government 
and  to  pay  the  interest  on  its  loans.  His  management  had  created  such 
distrust  in  financial  circles,  that  he  was  compelled  to  pay  ruinous  premiums 
at  a  time  when  money  was  never  more  abundant  in  the  country.  Even  bids 
on  this  loan  were  not  all  paid  in ;  and  early  in  December  he  left  the  treasury 
greatly  embarrassed,  to  the  delight  of  his  fellow-conspirators. 

The  cereal  crop  of  the  West  had  filled  the  granaries  to  repletion,  and 
operators  were  pushing  heavy  quantities  to  the  sea-board  cities  lor  exporta 
tion  ;  while  the  cotton-growers,  anticipating  great  trouble  ahead,  were  in 
equal  haste  to  press  the  heavy  crop  of  their  staple  on  the  market.1  But 
capital  had  hidden  in  fear  of  danger,  and  could  not  be  found  to  assist  in  the 
movement  of  these  materials  of  national  wealth.  Doubt  and  uncertainty 
everywhere  prevailed,  and  a  desolating  panic  seemed  inevitable. 

Fortunately  for  the  Republic  and  the  cause  of  free  government,  the 
country  was  never  really  so  rich  as  at  that  moment.  Never  were  the  people 
generally  in  such  easy  circumstances.  The  banks  in  the  North  were  in  a 
very  healthy  condition.  The  exports  had  greatly  exceeded  the  imports. 
Tin?  exportation  of  cotton  and  grain  had  been  very  large,  and  the  tide  of 
trade  and  exchange  was  running  so  heavily  in  our  favor  toward  the  close 
of  November,  that  coin  soon  came  flowing  into  the  country  from  Europe 
in  immense  volume.  The  pressure  on  the  market,  in  the  mean  time,  of 
unsalable  foreign  exchange,  was  so  great,  and  the  wants  of  commis 
sion  merchants  had  become  so  pressing,  that  the  banks  of  New  York 
City,  to  give  relief,  purchased  two  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars  of  foreign  exchange,  upon  which  gold  might  be  realized  in  thirty 
days.  They  also  resolved  upon  a  liberal  line  of  discounts,  by  a  con 
solidated  fund  arrangement  with  the  Clearing-house,  and  thus  they  set 


1  See  Trosoofs  k-ttor  in  note  2.  page  44. 


116 


BRIGHTER  PROSPECTS   OBSERVED. 


loose  ten  millions  of  dollars,  and  saved   many  first-class   mercantile  houses 

from  failure.     General  John  A.  Dix,  of  New  York,  soon  afterward" 

'JaTsSiy11'    succeeded  Cobb  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  confidence  in 

its  management  and  soundness  was  restored.      The    portentous 

clouds  of  a  commercial  panic  were  dispersing  when  South  Carolinians  declared 

the  Union  to  be  dissolved,  and  there  was  an  equipoise  in  the  mind  of  the 

people  of  the  Free-labor  States,  in  view  of  their  financial  condition,  which 

made  them  strong  and  hopeful. 

While,  as  we  have  observed,  all,  and  especially  heavy  merchants  and 
manufacturers,  deprecated  national  disturbance,  and  were  willing  to  make 
costly  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  quiet,  -there  were  seen  in  the  North 
great  calmness,  firmness,  and  steadiness  among  the  masses  of  the  people, 
which  indicated  confidence  in  their  material  and  moral  strength,  and  a  con 
sciousness  of  having  done  no  wrong  to  the  constituents  of  their  turbulent 
in  aligners,  the  politicians  of  the  South.  They  were  sensible  of  the  existence 
of  sufficient  virtue  to  save  the  Republic,  and  they  resolved  to  plant  their  feet 
firmly  on  the  Constitution,  and  fight  manfully  against  the  banded  enemies  of 
our  nationality. 

The  people,  after  the  opening  of  Congress,  had  no  hope  of  aid  in  the 
impending  struggle  from  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation,  then  sitting  in 
the  chair  of  Washington  and  Jackson  ;  but  their  hearts  were  amazingly 
strengthened  by  the  oracular  utterances  of  the  accredited  organ  of  the  Presi 
dent  elect,  when  it  said: — "If  South  Carolina  does  not  obstruct  the  collection 
of  the  revenues  at  her  ports,  nor  violate  ariother  Federal  law,  there  will  be 
no  trouble,  and  she  will  not  be  out  of  the  Union.  If  she  violates  the  law, 
then  comes  the  tug  of  war.  The  President  of  the  United  States,  in  such  an 
emergency,  has  a  plain  duty  to  perform.  Mr.  Buchanan  may  shirk  it,  or  the 
emergency  may  not  exist  during  his  administration.  If  not,  then  the  Union 
will  last  through  his  term  of  office.  If  the  overt  act,  on  the  part  of  South 
Carolina,  takes  place  on  or  after  the  4th  day  of  March,  1861,  then  the  duty 
of  executing  the  laws  will  devolve  upon  Mr.  Lincoln."1 

1  The  Journal,  published  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  the  home  of  the  President  elect 


THE   FORTS   IN   CHARLESTON   HARBOR. 


117 


CHAPTEK    Y. 

EVENTS    IN    CHARLESTON    AND    CHARLESTON    HARBOR    IN    DECEMBER,    I860.  —  THE 
CONSPIRATORS    ENCOURAGED   BY    THE    GOVERNMENT    POLICY. 


'VEXTS  that  occurred  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston  during 
the  latter  part  of  December,  1860,  were  quite  as  exciting 
as  those  in  the  city  of  Charleston.  There  are  four  mili- 
j|  D  tary  works  there  belonging  to  the  National  Government, 
namely,  Castle  Pinckney,  Fort  Moultrie,  Fort  Sumter, 
and  Fort  Johnson. 

Castle  Pinckney  is  situated  upon  the  southern  extremity 
marshv    land    known     as 


of 


rASTI.F.    IMNCKNET. 


Shute's    Folly    Island,    and    is 

near   the   city.     It   presents  a 

circular  front    on    the    harbor 

side,  as  seen  in  the  engraving. 

It  is  not  strong,  and  was  never 

considered  very  valuable  as  a 

defensive  work.     At  the  time 

in  question  it  had  about  fifteen 

guns  mounted  in  bttrftt'tff,or  on 

the  parapet ;  and  some  colum- 

biads,  and  a  small  supply  of 

powder,  shot,   and   shell,  was 

within  its  walls,  but  no  garri 
son  to  use  them. 

Fort  Moultrie  is  on  Sullivan's  Island,  between  three  and  four  miles  from 

Charleston,  near  the  site  of  the  famous  little  palmetto-log  fort  of  that  name, 

which  defied  the  British  fleet  in  1  77G.     At  the  time  we  are  considering,  it  was 

in  reality  only  a  large  inclosed  water-battery,  con 
structed  with  an  outer  and  inner  wall  of  brick, 
capped  with  stone,  and  filled  between  with  sand, 
and  presenting  a  solid  mass  about  sixteen  feet  in 
thickness.  It  was  built  with  salient  and  re-enter 
ing  angles  on  all  sides,  having  a  front  on  the  south 
east,  or  water  side,  of  about  three  hundred  feet, 
and  a  mean  depth  of  about  two  hundred  and  forty 
feet.  During  the  autumn,  about  one  hundred  and 
seventy  men  had  been  employed  by  the  post  com- 

i  Explanation  of  the  Diagram. — A,  pate  and  dra  \v-hrldire;  B,  B.  B,  B.  abutments  commanding  the  gate  and 
approaches;  C,  C.  old  sally-ports ;  D.  moat:  K.  E,  bastionettes  commanding  moat;  F,  furnace  for  heating  »hot; 
O,  powder-magazine;  II,  barracks;  I,  officers'  quarters;  J,  kitchen,  storehouses,  <fcc. 


PLAN    OF    FORT   MOn.TRIK   IN   DECEM 
BER,    1S60.1 


118 


FORT   SUMTER  AND   ITS   COMMANDERS. 


mander,  Colonel  John  L.  Gardner,  of  the  First  Regiment  of  Artillery,  in 
repairing,  making  additions,  and  generally  strengthening  the  fort.  It  was 
the  only  one  of  the  four  that  was  garrisoned. 


M 


a. 


PLAN    OF   FORT   STJMTEE   IN   I860.1 


SOUTH   VIEW    OF   FOET   MOULTRIE. 

Fort  Sumter,  then  the  largest  and  by  far  the  best  of  the  strongholds, 
stands  in  the  middle  of  the  entrance  to  Charleston  Harbor  proper,  on  the 
southwestern  edge  of  the  ship-channel,  and  nearly  three  and  a  half  miles  from 
the  city.  It  was  a  work  of  solid  brick  and  concrete  masonry,  a  truncated 
pentagonal  in  form,  and  built  upon  an  artificial  island  resting  on  a  mud-bank. 
The*  island  was  constructed  of  chips  from  New  England  granite-quarries, 
carried  there  during  a  period  of  ten  consecutive  years, 
at  the  cost  of  half  a  million  of  dollars.  The  fort  itself 
cost  another  half  million.  ^The  walls  were  sixty  feet 
in  hight,  and  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  in  thickness, 
the  weakest  part  being  on  the  south  or  Morris  Island 
side.  It  was  pierced  for  three  tiers  of  guns  on  the 
north,  east,  and  west  sides.  The  two  lower  tiers 
were  under  bomb-proof  casemates.  The  first  was 
designed  for  42-pounder  Paixhans,  and  the  second 
for  8  and  10-inch  Columbiads.  The  third  tier 
was  open,  so  that  the  ordnance,  to  consist  of 
mortars  and  24-pounder  guns,  would  be  en  barbette,  or  nearly  so,  there 
being  embrasures.  Its  complement  of  heavy  guns  was  one  hundred  and  forty, 
but  only  seventy-five  were  now  in  the  work.  For  some  time  a  large  number 
of  men  had  been  employed  in  mounting  ordnance  there,  and  otherwise  putting 
the  fort  in  order  for  defense,  yet  there  was  no  regular  garrison  to  man  it. 

Fort  Johnson,  on  James  Island,  directly  West  from  Fort  Sumter,  was  of 
but  little  account  then  as  a  fortification.  It  was  a  relic  of  the  old  war  for 
Independence. 

In  October,  1860,  Colonel  Gardner  was  removed  from  the  command  in 
Charleston  Harbor,  by  Floyd,  for  attempting  to  increase  his  supply  of  ammu 
nition,2  and  Major  Robert  Anderson,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  a  meritorious 
officer  in  the  war  with  Mexico,  was  appointed  to  succeed  him  in  November. 
He  arrived  there  on  the  20th,  and  assumed  the  command.  He  was  convinced, 
from  the  tone  of  conversation  and  feeling  in  Charleston,  and  the  military 
drills  continually  going  on  there,  with  other  preparations  of  like  nature, 
that  the  conspirators  had  resolved  to  inaugurate  a  revolution.  "That  there 
is  a  settled  determination,"  he  said,  in  a  letter  to  Adjutant-General  Cooper, 
on  the  23d  of  November,  u  to  leave  the  Union  and  to  obtain  possession  of  this 


1  Explanation  of  the  Diagram.— A,  wharf;  B,  B,  esplanade;   C  sally-port;  Z>,  right  gorge  anele;  E,  left 
gorge  angle;  F,  right  flank;  G,  left  flank;  //,  right  shoulder  angle;  7,  left  shoulder  angle;    £,  right  face;  Z, 
left  face  ;  M,  salient;  N,  parade. 

2  Hiatory  of  the  War  for  the.  Preservation  of  the  Union  :  by  Lorenzo  II.  Whiting,  i.  145. 


ANDERSON'S   APPEAL   FOR   STRENGTH.  119 

work  [Moultrie],  is  apparent  to  all."  In  that  letter,  which  subsequent  events 
converted  into  a  most  important  historical  document,  he  announced  to  the 
Government  the  weakness  of  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbor,  and  urged 
it  to  take  immediate  and  effective  measures  for  strengthening  them.  He  told 
the  Secretary  of  War  that  Fort  Moultrie  was  so  weak  as  to  invite  an  attack, 
then  openly  threatened,  for  the  garrison  was  only  between  fifty  and  sixty  in 
number,  and  had  a  line  of  ramparts  to  defend,  fifteen  hundred  feet  in 
length.  "  Fort  Sumter  and  Castle  Pinckney,"  he  said,  "  must  be  garrisoned 
immediately,  if  the  Government  determines  to  keep  command  of  this  har 
bor."  Sumter,  he  said,  was  supplied  with  forty  thousand  pounds  of  cannon- 
powder  and  ammunition  sufficient  for  one  tier  of  guns,  but  was  lying  at  the 
mercy  of  insurgents.  Should  they  take  pos 
session  of  it,  its  guns  would  command  Fort 
Moultrie,  and  soon  drive  out  its  occupants. 
Sumter  was  the  key  to  the  harbor  ;  and  Castle 
Pinckney  was  so  near  the  city,  and  utterly 
undefended,  that  the  Charlestonians  considered 
it  already  in  their  possession.  He  informed 
the  Government  that  two  heavy  mortars  had 
been  taken  to  the  Arsenal  in  Charleston, 
several  months  before,  with  the  professed 
design  of  having  them  repaired,  but  they 
had  never  been  returned  ;  and  that  Captain  f  J/ 

Foster  had   actually  been    requested,  by  the 
adjutant  of  a  South  Carolina  regiment,  to  show  K,,»KKT  ASDEMOX. 

him  the  roll  of  his  workmen  on  the  fort,  that 

they  might  be  enrolled  by  the  State  authorities  for  military  duty,  as  they 
were  organizing  an<f  drilling  men  in  Charleston  and  elsewhere. 

"The  clouds  are  threatening,'1  wrote  the  patriotic  Anderson,  "and  the 
storm  may  burst  upon  us  at  any  moment.  I  need  not  say  to  you  how 
anxious  I  am,  indeed  determined,  as  far  as  honor  will  permit,  to  avoid  col 
lision  with  the  citizens  of  South  Carolina.  Nothing  will,  however,  be  better 
calculated  to  prevent  bloodshed,  than  our  being  found  in  such  an  attitude 
that  it  would  be  madness  and  folly  to  attack  us.  I  do,  then,"  he  repeated, 
u  most  earnestly  entreat  that  a  re-enforcement  be  immediately  sent  to  this 
garrison,  and  that  at  least  two  companies  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter  and  Castle 
Pinckney;  half  a  company,  under  a  judicious  commander,  sufficing,  I  think, 
for  the  latter  work.  I  feel  the  full  responsibility  of  making  the  above 
suggestions,  because  I  firmly  believe  that,  as  soon  as  the  people  of  South 
Carolina  learn  that  I  have  demanded  re-enforcements,  and  that  they  have 
been  ordered,  they  will  occupy  Castle  Pinckney  and  attack  this  fort."  If  these 
precautionary  measures  should  be  taken,  he  said,  "  I  shall  feel  that,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  there  may  be  a  hope  that  no  blood  will  be  shed,  and  that 
South  Carolina  will  attempt  to  obtain  possession  of  the  forts  in  the  harbor  by 
diplomacy,  and  not  by  arms.  If  we  neglect,  however,  to  strengthen  our 
selves,  she  will,  unless  these  works  are  surrendered  on  her  first  demand,  most 
assuredly  attack  them  immediately.  I  will  thank  the  Department  to  give  me 
special  instructions,  as  my  position  here  is  rather  politico-military  than  a 
military  one.  .  .  .  Unless  otherwise  directed,  I  shall  make  future  communi- 


120  ALARM  AMONG  THE   CONSPIRATORS. 

cations  through  the  regular  channels  ;m  that  is,  through  Lieutenant-General 
Scott,  the  general-in-chief. 

Major  Anderson  did  not  suspect,  that  in  addressing  the  chief  of  the  War 
Department  of  his  Government  through  the  Adjutant-General,  he  was 
assailing  ears  deafened  to  such  patriotic  appeals  by  rank  treason,  and  that  he 
was  laying  before  confederates  of  South  Carolina  politicians  information  of  the 
weakness  of  national  forts,  that  would  give  them  pleasure  rather  than  pain. 
Yet  it  was  so.  Adjutant-General  Samuel  Cooper,  a  native  of  the  State  of 

New  York,  had  married  a  sister  of  Senator 
Mason,  one  of  the  arch-conspirators  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  was  doubtless  fully  informed  of 
the  plans  of  the  public  enemies ;  for  on  the 
3d  of  March,  1861,  a  little  more  than  three 
months  later,  he  left  his  office  at  Wash 
ington,  hastened  to  Montgomery,  Alabama, 
the  head-quarters  of  the  confederated  con 
spirators,  and  was  by  them  made  adjutant- 
general  of  the  insurgent  forces,  then  pre 
paring  for  the  revolt.  John  B.  Floyd,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  was,  at  the  very  time 
we  are  considering,  stripping  the  arsenals  of 

SAMUEL  COOPER.  tne   North    of  guns  and   ammunition,   and 

transferring  them  to  the  South,  for  the  use 

of  the  conspirators.     Let  us  look  at  the  testimony  of  official  records  on  this 
point. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  session,  there  was  evident  alarm  among  the 
conspirators  in  Congress  whenever  there  was  any  intimation  that  official 
inquiry  would  be  made  concerning  the  condition  of  forts  and  arsenals  in  the 
Slave-labor  States.  When,  on  the  20th  of  December,  Mr.  Clark,  of  New 
Hampshire,  called  up  a  resolution  he  had  offered  in  the  Senate,  asking  the 
President  for  information  concerning  the  condition  of  the  forts  and  arsenals 
at  Charleston,  and  their  relation  to  the  National  Government  and  citizens  of 
South  Carolina,  and  for  the  official  correspondence  on  the  subject,  Hunter  and 
Mason  of  Virginia,  Davis  of  Mississippi,  Saulsbury  of  Delaware,  and  others, 
vehemently  opposed  it,  on  the  pretext  that  such  action  would  tend  to  increase 
the  excitement  in  the  public  mind.  On  that  occasion,  Davis  made  a  peculiar 
exhibition  of  his  dishonesty  and  flimsy  sophistry.  He  said  such  an  inquiry 
would  inflame  the  public  mind,  and  result  in  an  "  irreparable  injury  to  the 
public  peace  and  future  .hopes  of  those  who  look  forward  to  an  amicable  solu 
tion  of  existing  difficulties."  He  (the  President)  had  no  power  to  increase 
the  garrison  at  Fort  Moultrie,  and,  if  he  had,  the  act  would  be  unwise.  He 
had  heard  that  the  troops  in  Fort  Moultrie  were  hostile  to  the  city  of  Charles 
ton.  If  so,  they  ought  to  be  removed.  He  hoped  there  would  be  no  collision. 
He  hoped  the  troops  would  simply  hold  the  fort  until  peaceably  transferred 
to  other  duty;  "but  if  there  is  danger,*"  he  said,  "permit  me  here  to  say  that 
it  is  because  there  are  troops  in  it,  not  because  the  garrison  is  too  weak. 
Who  hears  of  any  danger  of  the  seizure  of  forts  where  there  is  no  garrison  ? 

J  Major  Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book. 


TRANSFER   OF   ARMS   TO   THE   SOUTH.  121 

There  stand  Forts  Pulaski  and  Jackson,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River. 
Who  hears  of  any  apprehension  lest  Georgia  should  seize  them?  There  are 
Castle  Pinckney  and  Fort  Surnter  in  Charleston  harbor.  Who  hears  of  any 
danger  to  them?  The  whole  danger  then,  Mr.  President,  arises  from  the 
presence  of  United  States  troops."  Such  was  the  lullaby  with  which  this 
arch-conspirator  attempted  to  quiet  the  just  suspicions  of  the  people,  that  all 
the  public  property  in  the  Slave-labor  States  was  in  danger  of  seizure  by 
disloyal  men.  There  is  ample  proof  that  at  that  very  time  Davis  and  his 
confederates  had  planned  the  seizure  of  all  the  forts  and  arsenals  in  those 
States. 

On  the  31st  of  December,  Mr.  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts,  offered  a  resolu 
tion  in  the  Senate,  asking  the  Secretary  of  War  to  give  to  that  body 
information  concerning  the  disposition  of  arms  manufactured  in  the  national 
armories  or  purchased  for  the  use  of  the  Government  during  the  past  year. 
A  loyal  man  (Mr.  Holt)  was  now  at  the  head  of  the  War  Department,  and 
correct  information  was  looked  for. 

Finally,  a  report  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  revealed  some  startling  facts.  According  to  that  report, 
so  early  as  the  29th  of  December,  1859,  Secretary  Floyd  had  ordered  the 
transfer  of  sixty-five  thousand  percussion  muskets,  forty  thousand  muskets 
altered  to  percussion,  and  ten  thousand  percussion  rifles,  from  the  armory  at 
Springfield  in  Massachusetts,  and  the  arsenals  at  Watervliet  in  New  York, 
and  Watertown  in  Massachusetts,  to  the  arsenals  at  Fayetteville  in  Xorth 
Carolina,  Charleston  in  South  Carolina,  Augusta  in  Georgia,  Mount  Vernon 
in  Alabama,  and  Baton  Rouge  in  Louisiana;  and  these  were  distributed 
during  the  spring  of  I860.1 

Eleven   days  after  the  issuance  of  the  above  order  by  Floyd,  Jefferson 
Davis  introduced*  into  the  National  Senate  a  bill  u to  authorize 
the  sale  of  public  arms  to  the  several  States  and  Territories,  and 
to  regulate  the  appointment  of  Superintendents  of  the   National 
Armories."     This  proposition  appeared,  to  the  common  observer,  to  be  a  very 
harmless  affair.      Davis  reported  it  from  the  Military  Committee 
of  the  Senate  without  amendment,6  and  called  it  up  on  the  21st 
of  February,   saying,   in   the  blandest  manner,   "  I  should   like   the  Senate 
to  take  up  a  little  bill  which  /  hope  will  njrcite  no  discussion.     It   is  the 
bill   to  authorize  the  States   to  purchase   arms  from  the  national  armories. 
There  are  ct  number  of  volunteer  companies  wanting  to  purchase  (frnts^  but 
the  States  have   not  a  sufficient    supply."     There  were  vigilant    men   who 
thought   they    discovered   a  treacherous    cat   under   this   heap   of  innocent 
meal;    and,  on   the  23d  of  February,  when  the  bill  was  the  special   order 
for  the  day,   Senator    Fessenden,   of    Maine,  asked   for   an    explanation    of 


January  9, 
1S60. 


1  The  distribution  was  as  follows:  — 

PERCrSSIOX 

ALTERED 

MUSKETS. 

IfirSKKTS. 

To  Charleston  Arsenal  

9280 

5.720 

2,000 

To  Kavetteville  Arsenal 

154SO 

9,520 

2,000 

To  Augusta  Arsenal 

123SO 

7.620 

2000 

To  Mount  Vernon  Arsenal 

9280 

5,720 

2.000 

To  Baton  Rouce  Arsenal  

18,580 

11.420 

2,000 

TotaU... 

65.000 

40,000 

10.000 

122  TREACHERY   OF  THE  SECRETARY   OF    WAR. 

the  reasons  for  such  action.  Davis  said  that  the  Secretary  of  War  had 
recommended  an  increase  of  the  appropriation  for  arming  the  militia  of 
the  country,  and  he  thought  it  best  for  volunteers  to  have  arms  made 
by  the  Government,  so  that,  in  case  of  war,  the  weapons  would  all  be 
uniform.  Fessenden  offered  an  amendment,  that  would  deprive  the  bill 

of   its   power   to    do  mischief,   but    it   was  lost.     The   bill   was 
a  MiT^26>   ^na^J  adopted  by  the  Senate,0  by  a  strict  party  vote,  twenty-nine 

supporters  of  the  Administration  voting  in  the  affirmative,  and 
eighteen  of  the  opposition  voting  in  the  negative.  During  the  debate,  Davis 
took  the  high  State  Supremacy  ground,  that  the  militia  of  the  States  were  not 
a  part  of  the  militia  of  the  United  States.  The  bill  was  smothered  in  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

The  conspirators  were  not  to  be  foiled.  By  a  stretch  of  authority  given 
in  the  law  of  March  3,  1825,  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  War  to  sell  arms, 
ammunition,  and  other  military  stores,  which  should  be  found  unsuitable  for 
the  public  service,  Floyd  sold  to  States  and  individuals  over  thirty-one  thou 
sand  muskets,  altered  from  flint  to  percussion,  for  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents 

each.1     On  the  very  day  when  Major  Anderson  dispatched  his 

J4'  letter   above   cited   to    the   Adjutant-General,6    Floyd    sold   ten 

thousand  of  these  muskets  to  G.  B.  Lamar,  of  Georgia;    and  only   eight 

days  before/  he  sold  five  thousand  of  them  to  the  State  of  Vir- 
•  November  16.  _._._        Wh}i  ^  knowledgc  of  these  fact^  fae  Mobile  Advertiser, 


one  of  the  principal  organs  of  the  conspirators  in  Alabama,  said,  exultingly : — 
"  During  the  past  year,  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  four  hundred 
and  thirty  muskets  have  been  quietly  transferred  from  the  Northern  arsenal 
at  Springfield  alone  to  those  in  the  Southern  States.  We  are  much  obliged 
to  Secretary  Floyd  for  the  foresight  he  has  thus  displayed,  in  disarming  the 
North  and  equipping  the  South  for  this  emergency?  There  is  no  telling  the 
quantity  of  arms  and  munitions  which  were  sent  South  from  other  arsenals. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that  every  man  in  the  South  who  can  carry  a  gun  can 
now  be  supplied  from  private  or  public  sources.  The  Springfield  contribution 
alone  would  arm  all  the  militia-men  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi."  A  Virginia 
historian  of  the  war  makes  a  similar  boast,  and  says  : — "  Adding  to  these  the 
number  of  arms  distributed  by  the  Federal  Government  to  the  States  in  pre 
ceding  years  of  our  history,  and  those  purchased  by  the  States  and  citizens,  it 
was  safely  estimated  that  the  South  entered  upon  the  war  with  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  small  arms  of  the  most  approved  modern  pattern,  and  the 
best  in  the  world."3  General  Scott  afterward  asserted4  that  "Rhode  Island, 


1  The  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  their  report  on  this  subject,  on  the 
18th  of  February,  1861,  said  that,  in  their  judgment,  it  would  require  "a  very  liberal  construction  of  the  law 
to  bring  these  sales  within  its  provisions." 

2  Ex- President  Buchanan  generously  assumed,  in  a  degree,  the  responsibility  of  these  acts.     In  a  letter  to 
the  National  Intelligencer,  dated,  "  Wheatland,  near  Lancaster,  October  28, 1862,"  in  reply  to  some  statements 
of  General  Scott,  in  relation  to  the  refusal  to  re-enforce  the  forts  on  the  Southern  coast,  according  to  his  recom 
mendation,  in  the  autumn  of  I860,  Mr.  Buchanan  said  : — "This  refusal  is  attributed,  without  the  least  cause,  to 
the  influence  of  Governor  Floyd.     All  my  Cabinet  must  bear  me  witness  that  I  was  President  myself,  respon 
sible  for  all  the  acts  of  the  Administration  ;  and  certain  it  is,  that  during  the  last  six  months  previous  to  the  29th 
of  December,  1860.  the  day  on  which  he  resigned  his  office,  after  my  request,  he  exercised  less  influence  on  the 
Administration  than  any  other  member  of  the  Cabinet." 

3  The  First  Year  of  the  War  :  by  Edward  A.  Pollard,  page  67.   Pollard  was  in  public  employment  at  Wash 
ington  during  Buchanan's  Administration,  and  was  in  the  secret  councils  of  the  conspirators. 

4  Letter  on  the  early  history  of  the  rebellion,  December  2,  1S62. 


HEAVY  GUNS  ORDERED  TO  THE  SOUTH.         123 

Delaware,  and  Texas  had  not  drawn,  at  the  close  of  1 860,  their  annual  quotas 
of  arms,  and  Massachusetts,  Tennessee,  and  Kentucky  only  in  part ;  while 
Virginia,  South.  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Mississippi, 
and  Kansas  were,  l>y  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  supplied  irith  tin  ir 
quotas  for  1861  in  advance,  and  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  in  part."  This 
advance  of  arms  to  the  eight  Southern  States  was  in  addition  to  the  transfer, 
at  about  the  same  time,  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  muskets  to 
Southern  arsenals  by  the  same  Secretary  of  War. 

Xot  content  with  thus  sup 
plying  the  Slave-labor  States 
with  small  arms,  that  traitorous 
minister  attempted  to  give  them 
heavy  guns  only  a  few  days  be 
fore  he  left  his  oftice.  On  the 
20th  of  December,  he  ordered 
forty  columbiads1  and  four  32- 
pounders  to  be  sent  imme 
diately  from  the  arsenal  at  Pitts- 
burg,  Pennsylvania,  to  the  unfinished  fort  on  Ship  Island,  off  the  coast  of 
Mississippi ;  and  seventy-one  columbiads  and  seven  32-pounders  to  be  sent 
from  the  same  arsenal  to  the  embryo  fort  at  Galveston,  which  would  not 
be  ready  for  its  armament  in  less  than  five  years.  This  bold  attempt  of  the 
conspirator  to  furnish  the  enemies  of  the  Government  with  heavy  ordnance 
was  frustrated  by  the  vigilance  and  prompt  action  of  the  people  of  Pittsburg. 
When  the  fact  became  known  that  Quartermaster  Taliafcrro  (a  Virginian) 
was  about  to  send  these  guns  from  the  arsenal,  an  immense  meeting  of  the 
citizens,  called  by  the  Mayor,  was  held,  and  the  guns  were  retained.  The 
conspirators,  in  Congress  and  out  of  it,  denounced  this  exhibition  of  "  mob 
law ''  bitterly.  Floyd  soon  afterward  fled  to  Virginia,  and  his  successor, 
Joseph  Holt,  countermanded  the  order. 

It  was  to  that  faithless  minister  (Floyd)  and  his  plastic  implement  of 
treason,  Adjutant-General  Cooper,  that  Major  Anderson  addressed  his  earnest 
letter,  pleading  for  power  to  protect  the  property  of  the  Republic  in  Charles 
ton  harbor,  and  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  nation.  The  reply  was 
precisely  as  might  be  expected  from  such  men.  It  was  contained  in  less  than 
a  dozen  lines,  by  which  permission  was  given  him  to  send  a  few  workmen  to 
repair  Castle  Pinckney;  and  he  was  instructed  that  when,  thereafter,  he  had 
any  communication  to  make  for  the  information  of  the  Department,  it  must 
be  addresse.d  to  the  Adjutant-General's  oftice,  or  to  the  Secretary  of  War.? 
They  discovered  in  Anderson  too  true  a  patriot  for  their  use,  and  they  were 


1  A  coliiinl>ia<l  is  an  American  cannon,  of  very  large  caliber,  invented  by  Colonel  George  Bomford,  of  New 
York,  who  was  in  the  Ordnance  Department  in  the  War  of  1812.  These  guns  were  used  in  that  war.  chiefly  as 
bomb-cannon.  They  were  introduced  into  the  French  service,  with  slight  modifications,  by  General  Paixhan, 
and  are  known  as  Paixhan  guns.  Those  of  the  old  pattern  were  chambered,  but  they  are  now  east  without. 
and  are  otherwise  greatly  improved.  The  10-inch  columbiad  weiirhs  fifteen  thousand  four  hundred  pounds,  and 
is  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  inches  in  length.  The  immense  columbiad  of  15-inch  caliber,  represented 
in  the  engraving,  and  of  which  more  will  be  said  hereafter,  was  invented  by  Captain  T.  J.  Hodman,  of  the  Ord 
nance  Corps,  These,  unlike  most  other  cannon,  are  cast  hollow.  The  original  inventor  of  the  Columbiad 
(Bomford)  died  in  Boston,  in  the  spring  of  1848. 

*  Anderson's  MS.  Lc-ttcr-book,          * 


124 


SIGNS   OF   WAR   IN   CHARLESTON. 


WASHINGTON    LIGHT   INFANTRY. 


unwilling  to  have  his  earnest  pleading  go  to  the  ears  of  General  Scott,  to 
whom  it  was  the  duty  of  all  subordinate  officers  to  report. 

Notwithstanding  the  apathy,  as  it  seemed,  at  Washington,  and  the  assu 
rances  sent  from  there  that  there  was  no  danger,  so  long  as  he  ivcted  prudently, 
Major  Anderson  continued  to  urge  the  necessity  of  re-enforcements.  He  was 
convinced  that  every  able-bodied  man  in  South  Carolina  would  be  called  into 

the  military  service  of  the  State,  if 
necessary,  for  the  seizure  of  the  forts. 
He  knew  that  there  were  nightly 
military  drills  in  Charleston  ;  and  he 
was  positively  assured  that  the  South 
Carolinians  regarded  the  forts  as  their 
property.  He  saw  whole  columns  of 
the  Charleston  journals  made  pictorial 
by  the  insignias  of  various  military 
companies  attached  to  orders  for 

meetings,   day  after  day,  such  as   the  "  Washington  Light  Artillery,"   the 
"Palmetto  Guard,"  the  "  Carolina  Light  Infantry,"  the  "  Moultrie  Guards," 

the  "  Marion  Artillery,"  the  "  Charleston 
Riflemen,"  the  « Meagher  Guard"  of 
Irishmen,  and  the  "  German  Riflemen."1 
He  read  the  general  orders  of  R.  G.  M. 
Dunovant,  the  Adjutant  and  Inspector- 
General  of  the  State,  requiring  colonels 
commanding  regiments  to  "  report  forth 
with  the  number,  kind,  and  condition  of 
all  public  arms  in  possession  of  the  Vol 
unteer  Corps  composing  the  several 
commands,"  and  the  appointment  of  nine 
aides-de-camp  to  Governor  Pickens. 

These  were  signs  of  approaching 
hostilities  that  the  dullest  mind  might 
comprehend  ;  and,  in  addition,  Anderson 
had  the  frank  avowals  of  men  in  power. 
Floyd  had  summoned  Colonel  Huger,  of  Charleston,  to  Washington,  for  the 
real  purpose,  no  doubt,  of  arranging  more  perfect  plans  for  the  seizure  of  the 
forts,  for  that  officer  was  afterward  an  active  general  in  the  military  service 
of  the  conspirators.  Anderson  was  directed  by  the  Secretary  to  confer 
with  Huger  before  his  departure,  and  in  that  interview  the  Colonel,  the  Mayor 


PALMETTO    GUARD. 


1  More  than  a  column  of  the  Mercury  of  December  21,  now  before  the  writer,  was  filled  with  these  notices 
and  devices.  A  few  of  the  latter  are  given  on  this  and  the  next  page,  as  mementoes  of  the  time.  The 
"  Washington  Light  Infantry  "  was  an  old  company,  and  bore  the  Eutaw  flag  of  the  Revolution.  The  "  Charleston 
Piiflemen"  was  an  old  company,  organized  in  1806.  The  insignia  of  the  "Marion  Artillery"  was  a  copy  of 
White's  picture  of  Marion  dining  the  British  officer.  That  of  the  "Meagher  Guard  "  appears  to  have  been 
made  for  the  occasion— a  rude  wood-cut,  with  the  words  Independence  or  Death.  The  title  of  this  company 
was  given  in  honor  of  the  Irish  exile,  Thomas  F.  Meagher,  whose  honorable  course,  in  serving  his*adopted 
country  gallantly  as  a  brigadier-general  during  the  civil  war  that  followed,  was  a  fitting  rebuke  to  these 
unworthy  sons  of  Ireland,  who  had  fled  from  oppression,  and  were  now  ready  to  fight  for  an  ignoble  oligarchy, 
who  were  enemies  of  human  freedom  and  enlightenment.  So  were  the  Germans  of  South  Carolina  rebuked  by 
Sigel  and  thousands  of  their  countrymen,  who  fought  in  the  National  armies  for  those  democratic  principles 
which  for  years  had  burned  intensely  in  the  bosoms  of  their  countrymen  in  Father-land. 


SCOTT'S   APPEAL   TO   THE   GOVERNMENT. 


125 


(Macbeth),  and  other  leading  citizens  of  Charleston  assured  him  that  the  forts 
"  must  be  theirs,  after  secession.'11  All  this  he  reported  promptly  to  the 
Government,  and  was  mocked  by  renewed  assurances  of  the  safety  of  the 
forts  from  attack,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  of  not  adding  to  the  military 
force  in  Charleston  harbor,  for  fear  of  increasing  and  intensifying  the  excite 
ment  of  the  South  Carolinians.  He  was  even  instructed  to  deliver  over  to 
the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  "  any  of  Captain  Foster's  workmen,"  should 


rilAKI.KSToN     KIKI.KMKN. 


feeble  resources,  he  discov 
ered  that  many  men  under 
his  command  had  been  tam 
pered  with  by  the  conspira 
tors.  This  fact  he  promptly 
communicated  to  the  Gov 
ernment,  saying: — *4  Captain 
Foster  informed  me  yester 
day  that  he  found  that  fifty 
men  of  his  Fort  Sumter 
force,  whom  he  thought 


a  demand  be  made  for  them, 
"on  the  ground  of  their 
being  enrolled  into  the  ser 
vice  of  the  State."2  These 
men,  intimately  acquainted 
with  every  detail  of  knowl 
edge  concerning  the  forts, 
would  be  of  infinite  service 
to  the  conspirators. 

Whilst  Anderson  was 
thus  left  to  rely  on  his  own 
were  perfectly  reliable,  will  not  fight  if  an  armed  force  approaches  the  work; 
and  I  fear  that  the  saint  may  be  anticipated  of  the  Castle  Pinckney  force."3 
And  thus  he  continued  reporting  almost  daily  the  condition  of  the  fortifi 
cations  and  of  his  forces,  the  movements  of  the  South  Carolinians,  and  the 
almost  hourly  accumulation  of  evidence  that  the  seizure  of  Fort  Sumter 
would  be  soon  attempted.  That  stronghold  lost,  all  would  be  lost.  But  his 
appeals  for  men  and  arms  were  in  vain.  His  warnings  were  purposely 
unheeded.  The  burden  of  responses  to  his  letters  was  : — Be  prudent;  be 
kind :  do  nothing  to  excite  the  South  Carolinians.  It  will  not  do  to  send 
you  re-euforcements,  for  that  might  bring  on  hostilities.  At  the  same  time, 
he  was  instructed  "to  hold  possession  of  the  forts,  and,  if  attacked,  to  defend 
himself  to  the  last  extremity."4 

Time  after  time,  from  October 
20th  until  the  close  of  December, 
General  Scott  urged  the  Govern 
ment  to  re-enforce  the  forts  on  the 
coasts  of  the  Slave-labor  States. 
He  laid  before  the  President  facts 
showing  their  nakedness  (the  Sec 
retary  of  War  having  denuded  the 
whole  Atlantic  coast  of  troops,  and 
sent  them  to  Texas,  and  the  Terri 
tories  north  of  it),  and  that  they 

were  completely  at  the  mercy  of    insurgents.     On  the  31st  of  October  he 
asked  permission  to  admonish  the  commanders  of  Southern  forts  to  be  on  the 


MEAGIIKR   GTARD. 


i  Letter  to  Adjutant-General  Cooper,  December  6,  I860:  Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book. 

*  Adjutant-General  Cooper  to  Major  Anderson,  December  14,  I860:  Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book. 

3  Letter  dated  December  6.  1860:  MS.  Letter-book. 

4  Copy  of  n  memorandum  of  verbal  instructions  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  signed  "D.  C.  Hnell,  Assistant 
Adjutant-General."     This  officer  (afterward  a  major-eeneral  in  command  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee)  was  sent 
to   Major  Anderson  with  verbal  Instructions  from  his  Government,  and,  after  his  arrival  at  Fort  Moultrie,  he 


126  HESITATION    OF   THE    GOVERNMENT. 

alert  against  surprise  or  sudden  assault ;  but  even  this  was  not  given  by  the 
President  before  January  3, 1861,  when  it  was  too  late.1  He  went  to  Washing 
ton  City  on  the  12th  of  December,  and  on  the  following  day  begged  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  to  re-enforce  the  Southern  forts.  The  Secretary  did  not  coincide 
in  his  views.  He  then  asked  Floyd  to  procure  for  him  an  early  interview 
with  the  President.  That  interview  occurred  on  the  15th,  when  the  subject 
of  secession  and  the  strengthening  of  the  forts  was  freely  discussed.  In 
reply  to  Scott's  suggestion  to  send  re-enforcements  immediately  to  Charleston 
harbor,  the  President  said  the  time  for  such  measures  had  not  arrived.  He 
expected  the  Convention  of  South  Carolinians,  who  would  assemble  on  the 
17th,  would  send  commissioners  to  him,  to  negotiate  with  him  and  Congress 
respecting  the  secession  of  the  State,  and  the  property  of  the  United  States 
within  its  limits,  and  that,  if  Congress  should  decide  against  secession,  then 
he  would  send  a  re-enforcement,  and  order  Major  Anderson  to  hold  the  forts 
against  attack.2 

The  last  sentence  gave  Floyd  a  new  idea  of  a  method  to  aid  the  conspiracy. 
The  Virginia  traitors  (of  whom  he  was  the  chief,  in  efficient  action),  at 
that  time,  contemplated  the  seizure  of  the  immense  Fortress  Monroe  at 
Hampton  Roads,  which  guarded  the  great  Navy  Yard  at  Norfolk,  and  would 
be  of  vast  importance  to  the  conspirators  in  executing  the  scheme  entertained 
by  Wise  and  others,  of  seizing  the  National  Capital  before  Lincoln's  inaugu 
ration,  and  taking  possession  of  the  Government.  Floyd  would  gladly 
weaken  the  garrison  of  Fortress  Monroe  for  that  purpose,  at  the  expense  of 
the  Charleston  forts ;  and  he  now  said  quickly,  and  with  great  animation, 
"  We  have  a  vessel-of-war  (the  Brooklyn)  held  in  readiness  at  Norfolk,  and 
I  will  send  three  hundred  men  in  her,  from  Fort  Monroe  to  Charleston." 
Scott  replied  that  so  many  men  could  not  be  spared  from  Fortress  Monroe, 
but  might  be  taken  from  New  York.3  No  doubt  it  was  Floyd's  intention, 
had  the  President  ordered  re-enforcements  to  Charleston,  to  take  them  from 
the  already  small  garrison  in  Fortress  Monroe.4 


committed  them  to  writing.     They  were  afterwards  modified  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  so  as  to  more  closely 
restrict  Major  Anderson.     Buell  arrived  at  Fort  Moultrie  on  the  llth  of  December. 

The  wife  of  one  of  the  officers  of  the  garrison  wrote  as  follows,  at  this  time : — "  I  feel  very  indignant.  I  can 
hardly  stand  the  way  in  which  this  weak  little  garrison  is  treated  by  the  head  of  the  Government.  Troops  and 
proper  accommodations  are  positively  refused,  and  yet  the  commander  has  orders  to  hold  and  defend  the  fort. 
Was  ever  such  a  sacrifice— an  intentional  one— known  ?  The  Secretary  has  sent  several  officers,  at  different 
times,  to  inspect  here,  as  if  that  helped.  It  is  a  mere  sham,  to  make  believe  he  will  do  something.  In  the  mean 
time  a  crisis  is  very  near.  I. am  to  go  to  Charleston  the  first  of  the  week.  I  will  not  go  farther,  if  I  can  help  it. 
Within  a  few  days,  we  hear — and  from  so  many  sources,  that  we  cannot  doubt  it — that  the  Charlestonians  are 
erecting  two  batteries,  one  just  opposite  to  us,  at  a  little  village — Mount  Pleasant — and  another  on  this  end  of 
the  island ;  and  they  dare  the  commander  to  interfere,  while  they  are  getting  ready  to  fight  sixty  men.  In  this 
weak  little  fort,  I  suppose,  President  Buchanan  and  Secretary  Floyd  intend  the  Southern  Confederation  to  be 
cemented  with  the  blood  of  this  brave  little  garrison.  Their  names  shall  be  handed  down  to  the  end  of  time. 
When  the  last  man  is  shot  down,  I  presume  they  will  think  of  sending  troops.  The  soldiers  here  deserve  great 
credit.  Though  they  know  not  but  an  unequal  number  is  corning  to  massacre  them,  yet  they  are  in  good  spirits, 
and  will  fight  desperately.  Our  commander  says,  he  never  saw  such  a  brave  little  band.  I  feel  desperately 
myself.  Our  only  hope  is  in  God." 

1  See  Memoir  of  Lieutenant- General  Scott,  LL.  D.,  written  ly  Himself,  ii.  622. 

2  Memoir  of  Scott,  ii.  614.  3  The  same,  ii.  614. 

4  "The  plan  invented  by  General  Scott  to  stop  secession,"  said  <he  Richmond  Examiner,  in  a  eulogy  of 
Floyd,  "like  all  campaigns  devised  by  him,  was  very  able  in  its  details,  and  nearly  certain  of  general  success. 
The  Southern  States  are  full  of  arsenals  and  forts,  commanding  their  rivers  and  strategic  points.  General  Scott 
desired  to  transfer  the  Army  of  the  United  States  to  these  forts  as  speedily  and  quietly  as  possible.  The 
Southern  States  could  not  cut  off  communication  between  the  Government  and  the  fortresses  without  a  great 
fleet,  which  they  cannot  build  for  years,— or  take  them  by  land  without  one  hundred  thousand  men,  many 


RESIGNATION   OF   THE   SECRETARY   OF   STATE.  127 

The  appeals  of  Major  Anderson  and  the  urgent  recommendations  of  General 
Scott  produced  much  feeling  in  the  Cabinet  at  Washington.     General  Cass, 
the  Secretary  of  State,  warmly  urged  the  President  to  order  re-enforcements 
to  be  sent  at  once,  not  only  to  Charleston,  but  elsewhere.     Most  of  the  other 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  being  conspirators  yet  hidden  from  public  view, 
opposed  the  measure.     This  opposition,  and  the  threats  of  the  South  Carolina 
delegation  in  Congress,  as  we  have  observed,1  caused  the  President  to  refuse 
such  order.-     It  was  on  account  of  that  refusal  that  Cass  with 
drew,"  after  which  the  Cabinet  was  almost  a  unit  in  sentiment  for  '] 
about  a  fortnight,  when,  as  we  shall  observe  presently,  there  was 
a  grand  disruption  of  the  ministry.     For  this  patriotic  act,  the    Charleston 
Mercury,  ungrateful  for  the  steady  support  which  Mr.  Cass  had  given  to  the 
policy  of  the  Southern  leaders  during  Buchanan's  administration, 
denounced  him6  as  a  "hoary-headed  trickster  and  humbug,"  who  *  December  19. 
had   retired  from  the  Cabinet  "because  war  was  not  made  on 
South  Carolina."3 

Anderson  found  it  necessary  for  him  to  assume  grave  responsibilities,  for 
he  was  evidently  abandoned  to  his  fate  by  his  Government.  He  sent 
engineers  and  workmen  to  repair  Castle  Pinckney,  and,  as  vigorously  as 
possible,  he  pushed  on  the  labor  of  strengthening  Fort  Moultrie. 

When  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  w!is  passed,  still  more  menacing  became 
the   actions  of  the  South   Carolinians.     Anderson   knew  that  commissioners 
had  been  appointed  to  repair  to  Washington,  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the 
forts  in  Charleston  harbor;  and  he  was  conscious  that  preparations  for  seizing 
them,  the  very  moment  when  the  expected  refusal  to  surrender  should  be 
made   known,  were  in  active  progress.     lie   knew,   too,    that  if  he  should 
remain  in  Moultrie,  their  efforts  would  be  successful ;  and  two  days 
after  the  passage  of  that  ordinance,  he  wrote  to  the  Department,'  e  DecoinWr  22 
saying  : — "  I  have  heard  from  several  sources  that,  last  night  and 
the  night  before,  a  steamer  was  stationed  between   this   island   and  Fort 


hundred  millions  of  dollars,  several  campaigns,  and  many  a  bloody  siege.  Had  Scott  been  able  to  have  got 
these  forta  in  the  condition  he  desired  them  to  be,  the  Southern  Confederacy  would  not  now  exist" 

1  See  page  10'2. 

3  The  President  offered  as  a  reason  for  his  refusal  to  give  orders  for  the  re-enforcement  of  Major  Anderson 
the  fear  of  giving  offense  to  the  South  Carolinians,  and  bringing  on  a  collision.  Apparently  unsuspicious  that  the 
politicians  of  other  States  were  equally  determined  to  commence  a  reln-llion  at  a  favorable  moment,  he  professed 
to  believe  that  if  the  Government  did  not  begin  actual  hostilities.  South  Carolinians  would  keep  the  peace,  for  fear 
of  provoking  the  other  Cotton-producing  State*.  If.  on  the  contrary,  the  Government  should  provoke  the  South 
Carolinians  to  strike,  those  of  the  other  States  would  join  them.  Mr.  Huchanan  also  offered  as  a  reason,  that 
there  were  not  sufficient  troops  at  command,  at  any  time,  to  garrison  the  forts.  His  mi>take  is  apparent  when 
we  consider  the  ease  with  which  Forts  Sumtcr.  Pickcns,  Taylor,  and  Jefferson  held  out  with  very  small  garrisons 
against  all  the  forces  that  the  insurgents  could  bring.  Anderson  could  have  held  out  in  Sumter  for  a  long 
time  with  less  than  one  hundred  men,  if  he  had  possessed  food  and  water  for  them. 

3  A  public  banquet  was  given  to  Secretary  Floyd  at  Richmond,  on  the  llth  of  January,  1S61,  and,  in  an  after- 
dinner  speech,  he  stated  some  interesting  matters  concerning  the  proceedings  of  the  Cabinet  in  relation  to  the 
forts  in  Charleston  harbor.  He  said  the  President  was  at  first  anxious  to  send  re-enforcements.  "I  would 
rather  be  at  the  bottom  of  the  Potomac,"  he  said,  "than  that  these  forts  should  be  In  the  hands  of  those  who 
intend  to  take  them.  It  will  destroy  me— it  will  cover  your  [Floyd's]  name  with  infamy,  for  you  will  never  be 
able  to  show  that  you  had  not  some  complicity  in  it."  Floyd  called  in  to  his  aid  Jefferson  Davis,  James  M. 
Mason,  and  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  "with  other  patriots,  Northern  and  Southern."  •  The  President  yielded,  and  said, 
"  I  am  content  with  your  policy— wo  will  send  no  more  troops  to  the  harbor  of  Charleston."  But  General  Cass 
was  firm.  "  These  forts."  he  said,  "  must  be  strengthened.  I  demand  it."  The  President  replied,  "  I  am  sorry 
to  differ  with  the  Secretary  of  State,  but  the  interests  of  the  country  do  not  demand  a  re-enforcement  of  the 
forts  at  Charleston.  I  cannot  do  it,  I  take  the  responsibility."  This  was  on  the  13th  of  December— General 
Cass  resigned  the  »o>;t  -lay. — Report  of  Floyd's  Speech  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  January  12,  1S61. 


\ 


128 


ANDERSON"   CONTEMPLATES   REMOVAL. 


Sumter.  I  am  certain  that  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  are  determined 
to  prevent,  if  possible,  any  troops  from-  being  placed  in  that  fort ;  and  that 
they  will  seize  upon  that  most  important  work  as  soon  as  they  think  there  is 
any  reasonable  ground  for  a  doubt  whether  it  will  be  turned  over  to  the 
State.  I  think  that  I  could,  however,  were  I  to  receive  instructions  to  do 
so,  throw  my  garrison"  into  that  work ;  but  I  should  have  to  sacrifice  the 
greater  part  of  my  stores,  as  it  is  now  too  late  to  attempt  their  removal. 
Once  in  that  work  with  my  garrison,  I  could  keep  the  entrance  of  this  harbor 
open  until  they  constructed  works  outside  of  me,  which  might,  I  presume, 
prevent  vessels  from  coming  into  the  outer  harbor.  .  .  .  No  one  can  tell 
what  will  be  done.  They  may  defer  action  until  their  commissioners  return 
from  Washington ;  or,  if  assured  by  the  nature  of  the  debates  in  Congress 


FORT  SUMTER  IN  1SGO. 

that  their  demand  will  not  probably  be  acceded  to,  they  may  act  without 
waiting  for  them.  I  do  not  think  we  can  rely  upon  any  .assurances,  and  Avish 
to  God  I  only  had  men  enough  here  to  man  fully  our  guns.  Our  men  are 
perfectly  conscious  of  the  dangerous  position  they  are  placed  in,  but  are  in  as 
fine  spirits  as  if  they  were  certain  of  victory."1 

To  this  letter  no  response  came.  Hour  after  hour  the  danger  seemed  to 
Anderson  more  threatening.  Watch-boats  were  out  continually,  spying  his 
movements,  and  ready  to  report  the  approach  of  a  relief  vessel  of  any  kind. 
Four  days  had  passed,  and  no  word  came  from  his  Government.  He  had  re 
solved  to  save  the  forts  if  possible,  and  he  would  wait  no  longer  for  instruc 
tions.  He  was  commander  of  all  the  forts  in  the  harbor,  and  might  occupy 


Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book. 


OCCUPATION  OF  FORT  SUMTER.  129 

whichever  he  pleased.1      He  resolved  to  assume  the  responsibility,  for  the 
public  good,  of  abandoning  the  weaker  and  occupying  the  stronger. 

Great  caution  and  circumspection  were  essential  to  success.  There  were 
vigilant  eyes  upon  Anderson  on  every  side.  There  was  wide-spread  disaf 
fection  everywhere  among  Southern-born  men.  Whom  can  I  trust?  was  a 
question  wrung  almost  hourly  from  loyal  men  in  public  station.  Anderson 
had  lately  been  promoted  to  his  present  command,  and  had  been  so  little 
with  his  officers  and  men,  that  his  acquaintance  with  them  was  extremely 
limited.  He  revealed  his  secret  intentions  only  to  Captain  (afterward  Major- 
General)  John  G.  Foster,  his  second  in  command,  and  two  or  three  other 
officers. 

Anderson's  first  care  was  to  remove  the  women  and  children,  with  a  supply 
of  provisions,  to  Fort  Sumter.  To  do  so  directly  and  openly  would  invite 
an  immediate  attack.  He  resolved  on  strategy.  He  would  give  out  that 
they  were  going  to  Fort  Johnson,  on  James  Island.  Wherefore?  would  be 
asked  by  the  watchful  Charlestonians.  His  reply  might  properly  be  :  Because 
I  know  you  are  about  to  attack  me.  I  cannot  hold  out  long.  I  wish  to  have 
the  helpless  ones,  with  food,  in  safety. 

This  was  substantially  the  course  of  events.  On  Wednesday,  the  26th  of 
December,  the  women  and  children  in  Fort  Moultrie,  and  ample  provisions, 
were  placed  in  vessels  and  sent  to  Fort  Johnson.  The  commandant  there 
had  been  instructed  to  detain  them  on  board  until  evening,  under  a  pretext 
of  a  difficulty  in  finding  quarters  for  them.  The  firing  of  three  guns  at 
Moultrie  was  to  be  the  signal  for  them  all  to  be  conveyed  immediately  to 
Fort  Sumter,  and  landed.  The  expected  question  was  asked,  and  the  plausi 
ble  answer  was  given.  The  people  of  Charleston,  as  Anderson  desired,  talked 
about  his  movement  as  a  natural  and  prudent  measure.  They  now  felt  sure 
of  their  speedy  possession  of  the  forts.  All  suspicion  was  allayed.  The 
stratagem  was  successful. 

Just  at  the  close  of  the  evening  twilight,  when  the  almost  full-orbed  moon 
was  shining  brightly  in  the  Southern  sky,  the  greater  portion  of  the  little 
garrison  at  Fort  Moultrie  embarked  for  Fort  Sumter.  The  three  signal-guns 
were  fired  soon  afterward,  and  the  women  and  children  were  taken  from  be 
fore  Fort  Johnson  to  the  same  fortress.  Captain  Foster,  Surgeon  Crawford, 
and  two  or  three  other  officers  were  left  at  Fort  Moultrie,  with  a  few  men, 
with  orders  to  spike  the  great  guns,  destroy  their  carriages,  and  cut  down 
the  flag-staff,  that  no  "  banner  with  a  strange  device"  should  be  flung  out 
from  the  peak  from  which  the  Stars  and  Stripes  had  so  long  fluttered.  That 
accomplished,  they  were  to  follow  the  garrison  to  Sumter. 

The  movement  was  successful.  The  garrison  departed.  The  voyage  was 
short,  but  a  momentous  one.  A  guard-boat  had  been  sent  out  from  Charles 
ton  just  as  the  last  vessel  left  Sullivan's  Island.  At  the  same  time  a  steam- 
tug  was  seen  towmg  a  vessel  in  from  sea.  She  might  have  revealed  the 
secret.  Providentially,  the  moon  shone  full  in  the  faces  of  her  people  when 
looking  in  the  direction  of  the  flotilla,  and  they  could  not  see  them.  Sumter 

1  In  the  instructions  communicated  to  Anderson  by  Buell,  on  the  llth  of  December,  he  was  authorized,  as 
the  smallness  of  his  force  would  not  permit  him  to  occupy  more  than  one  of  the  three  forts,  to  put  his  command 
in  either  of  them;  in  case  he  should  be  attacked,  or  if  there  should  be  attempts  made  to  take  possession  of  either 
one  of  them. 

VOL.  L— 9 


130 


RAISING   THE  FLAG   OVER   SUMTER. 


*  December  27. 


was  gained.     The  soldiers  and  their  families,  and  many  weeks'  provisions, 
were  safe  within  its  walls,  and  at  eight  o'clock  the  same  evening, a 
"  Decis6oer  26'  ^aj°r  Anderson  wrote  to  the  Adjutant-General  from  his  snug  quar 
ters,  nearly  over  the  sally-port : — "  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that 
I  have  just  completed,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  the  removal  to  this  fort,  of  all 
my  garrison  except  the  surgeon,  four  North  Carolina  officers,  and  seven  men." 
Electricity,  speedier  than  steam,  conveyed  intelligence  of  the  movement  to 
the  War  Department  from  the  Charleston  conspirators,  long  before  Ander 
son's  message  reached  the  National  Capital.     It  fell  among  the  disunionists 
in  that  capital  like  an  unlooked-for  thunderbolt,  and  the  wires 
flashed  back    from    the   dismayed  Floyd  these  angry  words:— 
" Intelligence  has  reached  here  this  morning*  that  you  have  abandoned  Fort 
Moultrie,  spiked  your  guns,  burnt  the  carriages,  and  gone  to  Fort  Sumter. 
It  is  not  believed,  because  there  is  no  order  for  any  such  movement.     Ex 
plain  the  meaning  of  this  report."1 

Anderson  calmly  replied  by  telegraph: — "The  telegram  is  correct.  I 
abandoned  Fort  Moultrie  because  I  was  certain  that  if  attacked  my  men 
must  have  been  sacrificed,  and  the  command  of  the  harbor  lost.  I  spiked  the 
guns  and  destroyed  the  carriages  to  keep  the  guns  from  being  turned  against 
us.  If  attacked,  the  garrison  would  never  have  surrendered  without  a  fight."2 
When  this  last  dispatch  was  written,  the  flag  of  the  Union  had  been 
floating  over  Sumter  for  four  hours.  It  had  been  flung  to  the  breeze  at 
meridian,  after  impressive  religious  services.  The  commander,  a  devout  man, 
took  that  opportunity  to  impress  upon  the  garrison,  then  entering  upon  a 

season  of  great  trial,  the 
important  truth,  that  to 
God  alone  they  must 
look  for  strength  to  bear 
it.  His  companions  were 
anxious  to  hoist  the  Na 
tional  ensign  before  the 
dawn  of  the  27th,  but  the 
Major  would  not  consent 
to  the  act  before  the  re 
turn  of  the  chaplain.  He 


came  at  noon ;  and  around 


the  flag-staff,  not  far 
from  the  great  columbiad, 
mounted  on  the  parade  of 
the  fort,  all  the  inmates  of 
Sumter  were  congregated. 
The  Commander,  with  the 
halliards  in  hand,  knelt 
at  the  foot  of  it.  The 
chaplain  prayed  earnestly  for  encouragement,  support,  and  mercy ;  and  when 
his  supplications  ceased,  an  impressive  "  Amen !  "  fell  from  the  lips  of  many 


COLUMBIAD  ON  THE  PARADE  IN  FOKT  SUMTER.  3 


1  Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book.  2  The  same. 

3  This  10-inch  columbiad  was  designed  to  throw  shells  into  Charleston,  if  necessary.     See  Chapter  XII. 


PERPLEXITY   OF   THE   CONSPIRATORS.  131 

and  stirred  the  hearts  of  all.  Anderson  then  hoisted  the  flag  to  the  head  of 
the  staff.  It  was  greyed  with  cheer  after  cheer,  while  the  band  saluted  it 
with  the  air  of  "  HailT'olumbia." 

While  this  impressive  scene  was  occurring  in  the  fort,  a  boat  was 
approaching  from  Charleston.  It  contained  a  messenger  from  the  Governor 
of  South  Carolina,  conveying  a  demand,  in  courteous  but  peremptory  phrase, 
for  Major  Anderson's  immediate  withdrawal  from  Sumter,  and  return  to 
Moultrie.  The  Governor  said  that  when  he  came  into  office,  he  found  that 
"  there  was  an  understanding  between  his  predecessor  and  the  President,  that 
no  re-enforcements  were  to  be  sent  to  any  of  the  forts,"  and  especially  to 
Sumter  ;  and  that  Anderson  had  violated  that  agreement  by  thus  re-enforcing 
it.  The  demand  was  refused  ;  and  the  Major  was  denounced  in  the  Secession 
Convention,  in  the  South  Carolina  Legislature,  in  public  and  private 
assemblies,  and  in  the  streets  of  Charleston,  as  a  u  traitor  to  the  South  "  (he 
having  been  born  in  a  Slave-labor  State),  and  an  enemy  of  its  people.  The 
South  Carolinians  felt  the  affront  most  keenly,  for  on  the  very  day  when  he 
went  from  Moultrie  to  Sumter,  a  resolution,  offered  by  Mr.  Spain,  was  con 
sidered  in  secret  session  in  the  disunion  Convention,  which  requested  the 
Governor  to  communicate  to  that  body  any  information  he  might  possess 
concerning  the  condition  of  the  forts  in  the  harbor— what  work  was  going 
on  within  them,  how  many  men  were  employed,  the  number  and  weight  of 
guns,  number  of  soldiers,  and  whether  assurances  had  been  given  that  they 
would  not  be  re-enforced;  also,  what  steps  had  been  taken  for  the  defense  of 
Charleston  and  the  State.  It  was  afterward  known  that  these  conspirators 
intended  to  seize  Castle  Pinckney  and  Fort  Sumter  within  twenty-four  hours 
from  that  time,  but  their  plans  were  frustrated  by  the  timely  movement  of 
Anderson. 

The  conspirators  in   Charleston  and  Washington  were  filled  with  rage. 
At  the  very  hour  when  the  old  flag  was   flung  out  defiantly  to  the  breeze 
over  Sumter,  in  the  face  of  South  Carolina  traitors,  Floyd,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  was  declaring  vehemently  in  the  Cabinet  that  "  the  solemn  pledges  of 
the  Government  had  been  violated  "  by  Major  Anderson,  and  demanding  of 
the  President  permission  to  withdraw  the  garrison  from  Charleston  harbor. 
The  President  refused.     A  disruption  of  the  Cabinet  ensued  ;  and  the  next 
communication  that  Major  Anderson  received  from  the  War  Department, 
after    the    angry    electrograph    of  Floyd,    was   from  Joseph   Holt,    a   loyal 
Kentuckian  like  himself,    whom  the  President  had  called  to  the 
head  of  that  bureau."     lie  assured  Major  Anderson  of  the  approval  "  DefgJjJ)er81' 
of  his   Government,  and   that  his  movement  in  transferring  the 
garrison  from  Moultrie  to  Sumter  "  was   in  every  way  admirable,  alike  for 
its  humanity  and  patriotism  as  for  its  soldiership."1 

Earlier  than  this,  words  of  approval  had  reached  Anderson  from  the  loyal 
Xorth ;  and  five  days  after  the  old  flag  was  raised  over  Sumter,  the  Legis 
lature  of  Nebraska,  two  thousand  miles  away  toward  the  setting  sun,  greeted 
him,  by  telegraph,  with  "  A  Happy  Xew  Year !"  Other  greetings  from  the 
outside  world  came  speedily,  for  every  patriotic  heart  in  the  land  made  lips 
evoke  benedictions  on  the  head  of  the  brave  and  loyal  soldier.  In  many 


Secretary  Holt  to  Major  Anderson,  January  10,  1S61.     Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book. 


132  ANDERSON'S    CONDUCT   APPROVED. 

places  guns  were  fired  in  honor  of  the  event;  and  never  did  a  public  servant 
receive  such  spontaneous  praise  from  a  grateful  people*  for  his  deed  seemed 
like  a  promise  of  safety  to  the  Republic.  Pen  ancr  pencil  celebrated  his 
praises ;  and  a  poet,  in  a  parody  of  a  couple  of  stanzas  of  a  dear  old  Scotch 
song,  made  "  Miss  Columbia,"  addressing  Anderson,  thus  express  the  senti 
ments  of  the  people  :— 

"  BOB  ANDERSON,  my  beau,  Bob,  when  we  were  first  acquent, 
You  were  in  Mqx-i-co,  Bob,  because  by  order  sent ; 
But  now  you  are  in  Sumter,  Bob,  because  you  chose  to  go, 
And  blessings  on  you  anyhow,  BOB  ANDERSON,  my  beau. 

"BOB  ANDERSON,  my  beau,  Bob,  I  really  don't  know  whether 
I  ought  to  like  you  so,  Bob,  considering  that  feather. 
I  don't  like  standing  armies,  Bob,  as  very  well  you  know, 
But  I  love  a  MAN  THAT  DARES  TO  ACT,  BOB  ANDERSON,  my  beau."1 

From  the  hour  when  Anderson  and  his  little  band2  entered  Sumter,  their 
position  was  an  extremely  perilous  one.  His  friends  knew  this,  and  were 
very  uneasy.  His  devoted  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  gallant  soldier,  General 
Clinch,  of  Georgia,  with  her  children  and  nurse,  were  in  New  York  City. 
She  knew,  better  than  all  others,  the  perils  to  which  her  husband  might  be 
exposed  from  ferocious  foes  without,  and  possible  traitors  within.  With  an 
intensity  of  anxiety  not  easily  imagined,  she  resolved  in  her  mind  a  hundred 
projects  for  his  relief.  All  were  futile.  At  length,  while  passing  a  sleepless 
night,  she  thought  of  a  faithful  sergeant  who-  had  been  with  her  husband  in 
Mexico,  and  who  had  married  their  equally  faithful  cook.  If  lie  could  be 
placed  by  the  side  of  Major  Anderson  in  Sumter,  that  officer  would  have  a 
tried  and  trusty  friend,  on  whom  he  could  rely  in  any  emergency.  Where 
was  he  ?  For  seven  long  years  they  had  not  seen  his  face.  Seven  years 
before,  they  heard  that  he  was  in  New  York.  She  resolved  to  seek  him.  At 
dawn  she  sent  for  a  city  directory.  The  Sergeant's  name  was  Peter  Hart. 
She  made  a  memorandum  of  the  residence  of  every  Hart  in  the  city ;  and,  in 
a  carriage,  she  sought,  for  a  day  and  a  half,  for  the  man  she  desired  to  find. 
Then  she  obtained  a  clew.  He  might  be  in  the  Police  establishment — there 
was  a  man  of  that  name  who  had  been  a  soldier.  She  called  on  the  Super 
intendent  of  the  Police,  and  was  satisfied.  She  left  a  request  for  Peter  Hart 
to  call  on  her. 

Mrs.  Anderson  had  resolved  to  go  with  Peter  to  Fort  Sumter,  if  he  would 
accompany  her.  She  was  an  invalid.  Her  physician  and  friend,  to  whom 
alone  she  had  intrusted  the  secret  of  her  resolve,  protested  vehemently 
against  the  project.  He  believed  its  execution  would  imperil  her  life.  She 
had  resolved  to  go,  and  would  listen  to  no  protests  or  entreaties.  Seeing 
her  determination,  he  gave  her  every  assistance  in  his  power. 

Peter  Hart  came,  bringing  with  him  his  wife,  th^  faithful  Margaret. 
They  were  delighted  to  see  their  former  mistress  and  friend.  Hart  stood 
erect  before  her,  with  his  heels  together,  soldier-like,  as  if  to  receive  orders. 


1  Harper's  Weekly,  January  26,  1861. 

9  The  garrison  was  composed  of  ten  officers,  fifteen  musicians,  and  fifty-five  artillerists — eighty  in  all 


& 

'  Indade,  Ma'am,  and  it's  Mar- 

PKTKII    II.VKT. 


A   FAITHFUL  WIFE   AND   TRUSTED   FRIEND.  133 

"I  have  sent  for  you,  Hart,"  Mrs.  Anderson  said,  "to  ask  you  to  do  me  a 
favor."  "Any  thing  Mrs.  Anderson  wishes,  I  will  do,"  was  his  prompt  reply. 
u  But,"  she  snid,  "  it>may  be  more  than  you  imagine."  "Anything  Mrs. 
Anderson  wishes,"  he  again  replied.  "  I 
want  you  to  go  with  me  to  Fort  Sumter," 
she  said.  Hart  looked  toward  Margaret 
for  a  moment,  and  then  promptly  respond 
ed,  "I  will  go,  Madam."  "But,  Hart," 
continued  the  earnest  woman,  "  I  want  you 
to  stay  with  the  Major.  You  will  leave 
your  family  and  give  up  a  good  situation." 
Hart  again  glanced  inquiringly  at  Margaret 
and  then  quickly  replied,  "I  will  go,  Mad 
am."  "But,  Margaret,"  .Airs.  Anderson 
said,  turning  to  Hart's  wife,  "What  do 
you  say  ?"  "  Indade,  Ma'am,  and  it's  Mar 
garet's  sorry  she  can't  do' as  much  for  y«ut 
as  Pater  can,"  was  the  warm-hearted  woman's  reply.  kk  When  will  you  go, 
Hart?"  asked  Mrs.  Anderson.  "To-night,  Madam,  if  you  wish,"  replied 
her  true  and  abiding  friend.  "  Be  here  to-morrow  night  at  six  o'clock,''  said 
Mrs.  Anderson,  4k  and  I  will  be  ready.  Good-by,  Margaret." 

All  tilings  were  speedily  arranged.  The  two  travelers  were  to  take  only 
a  satchel  each  for  the  journey.  Hart  was  to  play  the  part  of  a  servant  to 
Mrs.  Anderson,  and  to  be  ready,  at  all  times,  to  second  her  every  word  and 
act.  What  difficulties  and  trials  awaited  them,  no  one  knew.  The  brave, 
patriotic,  loving  woman  did  not  care.  It  was  enough  for  her  to  know  that 
her  husband  and  country  were  in  peril,  and  she  was  seeking  to  serve  them. 

The  travelers  left  New  York  on  Thursday  evening,  the  3d  of 
January."  \o:ie  but  her  good  physician — not  even  the  nurse  of  her 
children — knew  their  destination.  She  was  completely  absorbed  with  the 
subject  of  her  errand.  They  traveled  without  intermission  until  their  arrival 
in  Charleston,  late  on  Saturday  night.  She  neither  ate,  drank,  nor  slept 
during  that  time.  From  the  Cape  Fear  to  Charleston,  she  was  the  only 
woman  in  the  railway  train,  which  was  filled  with  rough  men  hurrying  to 
Charleston  to  join  in  an  attack  on  Fort  Sumter.  They  were  mostly  shaggy- 
haired,  brutal,  and  profane,  who  became  drunken  and  noisy,,  and  filled 
the  cars  with  tobacco-smoke.  "Can't  you  prevent  their  smoking  here?"  she 
gently  asked  the  conductor.  His  only  reply  was,  "Wai,  I  reckon  they'll 
have  to  smoke."  Her  appeal  to  two  rough  men  in  front  of  her  was  more 
successful.  With  sweet  voice,  that  touched  the  chords  of  their  better  nature, 
she  said,  "  Will  you  please  to  throw  away  your  cigars  ?  they  make  me  so  sick." 
One  of  them  glanced  at  the  speaker,  and  said  to  his  companion,  "  Let's  do 
it ;  she's  a  lady."  During  the  remainder  of  the  journey  these  rude  men  were 
very  respectful.  In  that  train  of  cars,  Mrs.  Anderson  was  compelled  to  hear 
her  husband  cursed  with  the  most  horrid  oaths,  and  threatened  with  savage 
violence  should  he  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  exasperated'  mob.  But  she 
endured  all  heroically. 

It  was  late  in  th<^  evening  when  they  reached  Charleston.  When*  the 
drunken  soldiers  were  carried  out,  she  asked  an  agent  at  the  station  for  a 


134 


AN    HEROIC   AND   PATRIOTIC   WOMAN. 


carriage.  "Where  are  you  from?"  he  asked.  "New  York,"  she  replied. 
"Where  are  you  going?"  "To  Charleston."  "Where  else?"  "Don't 
know;  get  me  a  carriage  to  go  to  the  Mills  House."  "There  are  none." 
"  I  know  better."  "  I  can't  get  one."  "  Then  give  me  a  piece  of  paper  that 
I  may  write  a  note  to  Governor  Pickens ;  he  will  send  me  one."  The  man 
yielded  at  the  mention  of  the  Governor's  name.  He  supposed  she  must  be 
some  one  of  importance ;  and  a  few  minutes  afterward,  she  and  Hart  were  in 
a  carriage,  on  their  way  to  the  Mills  House.  There  the  parlor  into  which  she 
was  ushered  was  filled  with  excited  people  of  both  sexes,  who  were  exasper 
ated  because  of, her  husband's  movements.  His  destruction  of  the  old  flag 
staff  at  Moultrie  was  considered  an  insult  to  the  South  Carolinians  that 
might  not  be  forgiven.  Their  language  was  extremely  violent. 

Mrs.  Anderson  met  her  brother  at  the  Mills  House.  On  the  following 
morning  he  procured  from  Governor  Pickens  a  permit  for  her  to  go  to  Fort 
Sumter.  She  sought  one  for  Hart.  The  Governor  could  not  allow  a  man  to 
be  added  to  the  Sumter  garrison,  he  said ;  he  would  be  held  responsible  to 
the  Commonwealth  of  South  Carolina  for  any  mischief  that  might  ensue  in 
consequence !  Mrs.  Anderson  did  not  conceal  the  scorn  which  the  suggestion 
and  excuse  elicited.  The  State  of  South  Carolina — now  claiming  to  be  a 
sovereign  power  among  the  nations  of  the  earth — endangered  by  the  addition 
of  one  man  to  a  garrison  of  seventy  or  eighty,  while  thousands  of  armed 
hands  were  ready  and  willing  to  strike  them !  Pickens  was  her  father's  old 
friend.  "Tell  him,"  she  said,  "that  I  shall  take  Hart  to  the  fort,  with  or 
without  a  pass."  Her  words  of  scorn  and  her  demand  were  repeated  to  the 
Governor.  He  saw  the  absurdity  of  his  conduct,  and  gave  a  pass  for  Hart, 
but  coupled  the  permission  with  a  requirement  that  her  messenger  should 
obtain  from  Major  Anderson  a  pledge  that  he  should  not  be  enrolled  as  a 
soldier !  The  pledge  was  exacted,  given,  and  faithfully  kept.  Peter  Hart 
served  his  country  there  better  than  if  he  had  been  a  mere  combatant. 

At  ten  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  the  6th  of  January,  Mrs.  Anderson, 

with  Hart  and  a  few  personal  friends  then  in 
Charleston,  started  in  a  small  boat  for  Sumter, 
carrying  with  her  a  mail-bag  for  the  garrison, 
which  had  lately  been  often  kept  back.  It  was. 
a  most  charming  morning.  The  air  was  balmy 
and  the  bosom  of  the  bay  was  unrippled. 
Nature  invited  to  delicious  enjoyment ;  but 
the  brave  woman,  absorbed  in  the  work  of 
her  holy  mission  of  love  and  patriotism,  heeded 
not  the  invitation.  '  Everywhere  were  seen 
strange  banners.  Among  them  all  was  not  a 
solitary  Union  flag.  She  felt  like  an  exile 
from  her  native  land.  Presently,  as  the  boat 
shot  around  a  point  of  land,  some  one  ex 
claimed,  "There's  Sumter!"  She  turned,  and 
saw  the  national  ensign  floating  gently  over  it.  It  seemed,  as  it  waved  lan 
guidly  in  the  almost  still  air,  like  a  signal  of  distress  over  a  vessel  in  the  midst 
of  terrible  breakers.  "  The  dear  old  ring !"  she  exclaimed,  and  burst  into  tears. 
For  the  first  time  since  she  left  New  York,  Emotion  had  conquered  the  Will. 


MRS.    ANDERSON. 


MRS.  ANDERSON  IN  FORT  SUMTER. 


135 


Sentinel-boats  were  now  passed,  and  proper  passwords  were  given.  They 
approached  Sumter,  when  a  watchman  on  its  walls  trumpeted  the  inquiry, 
"  Who  comes  there?"  A  gentleman  in  the  boat  replied  through  a  trumpet, 
*'  Mrs.  Major  Anderson."  She  was  formally  ordered  to  advance.  As  her 
friends  conveyed  her  up  the  rocks  to  the  wharf,  her  husband  came  running 
out  of  the  sally-port.  He  caught  her  in  his  arms,  and  exclaimed  in  a  vehe 
ment  whisper,  for  her  ear  only,  "  My  glorious  wife!"  and  carried  her  into 
the  fort.  "I  have  brought  you  Peter  Hart,"  she  said.  "The  children  are 
well.  I  return  to-night."'  Then,  turning  to  the  accompanying  friends,  she 
said,  "  Tell  me  when  the  tide  serves  ; 
I  shall  go  back  with  the  boat."  She 
then  retired  with  her  husband  to  his 
quarters  nearly  over  the  sally-port, 
and  took  some  refreshments;  the  first 
since  leaving  New  York. 

The  tide  served  in  the  course  of 
two  hours.  When  Mrs.  Anderson  was 
placed  in  the  boat  by  her  husband,  she 
experienced  almost  an  irresistible  de 
sire  to  draw  him  after  her — to  take  him 
away  from  the  great  peril.  With  the 
plashing  of  the  oars,  when  the -boat 
was  shoved  off,  came  a  terrible  impres 
sion  as  if  she  had  buried  her  husband 
and  was  returning  from  his  funeral. 
But  she  leaned  lovingly,  by  faith,  on 
the  strong  arm  of  the  All-Father,  and  received  strength.  Invalid  and  a 
woman  as  she  was,  she  had  performed  a  great  service  to  her  husband  and 
country.  She  had  given  them  a  faithful  and  useful  friend  in  Peter  Hart — how 
faithful  and  useful,  the  subsequent  history  of  Fort  Sumter  until  it  passed  into 
the  hands  of  armed  insurgents,  three  months  later,  only  feebly  reveals. 

Unheeding  the  entreaties  of  friends,  who  tried  to  persuade  her  to  remain, 
and  offered  to  bring  her  family  to  her  ;  and  the  assurance  of  a  deputation  of 
Charlestonians,  who   waited   upon    her,  that   she  might   reside  in   their  city, 
dwell  in  Sumter,  or  wherever  she  pleased,  Mrs.  Anderson  started 
for  the   National  Capital   that   evening,"  accompanied  by  Major   '  'l!{"J'jir-v  6l 
Anderson's  brother.     Charleston  was  no  place  for  her  while  her 
husband  was   under  the   old  flag ;  and  she  would  not  add  to  his  cares  by 
remaining  with  him  in  the  fort.     A  bed  was  placed  in  the  cars,  and  on  that 
she  journeyed   comfortably  to   Washington.     She   was  insensible  when  she 
arrived  at  Willard\s  Hotel,  into  which   she    was  conveyed   bv   a  dear  friend 
from  New  York,  a  powerful  man,  whose  face  was  the  first  that  she  recognized, 
on  the  return  of  her  consciousness.      After  suffering  for  forty-eight  hours 
from  utter  exhaustion,  she  proceeded    to  New  York,   and   was  for  a   long 
time  threatened  with  brain  fever. 

Thus  ended  the  mission  of  this  brave  woman.  She  alone  had  done  what 
the  Government  would  not,  or  dared  not  do.  She  had  not  sent,  but  taken,  a 
valuable  re-enforcement  to  Fort  Sumter.  When  we  look  back  to  the  begin 
ning  of  the  great  civil  war,  the  eye  of  just  appreciation  perceives  no  heroism 


ANDKKSON  S   yrAUTKKt.    IS    KnltT    SI   MT 


136 


EXCITEMENT   IN   CHARLESTON. 


more  genuine  and  useful  than  that  displayed  by  this  noble  woman ;    and 
history  and  romance  will  ever  delight  to  celebrate  her  deed. 

We  have  observed  that  the  occupation  of  Suniter  created  great  exaspera 
tion  among  the  conspirators.  They  had  been  outgeneraled,  and  were  morti 
fied  beyond  measure.  They  did  not  expect  so  daring  an  assumption  of 
responsibility  by  the  gentle,  placid  Major,  who,  only  the  day  before,  had 
accepted  their  proffered  hospitality,  and  eaten  a  Christmas  dinner  in  Charles 
ton  with  some  of  the  magnates  of  the  city  and  State.  Little  did  they 
suspect,  when  seeing  him  quietly  participating  in  the  festivities  of  the  occa 
sion,  that,  within  thirty  hours,  he  would  extinguish,  for  a  season,  the  most 
sanguine  hopes  of  the  South  Carolina  conspirators.  It  was  even  so ;  and 
they  had  no  alternative  but  to  consider  his  movement  as  an  "  act  of  war." 
They  did  so,  and  proceeded  upon  that  assumption.  The  Charleston  Courier 
declared  that  "  Major  Robert  Anderson,  of  the  United  States  Army,  has 
achieved  the  unenviable  distinction  of  opening  civil  war  between  American 
citizens,  by  an  act  of  gross  breach  of  faith.  He  has,  under  counsels  of  panic, 


THE    CITADEL    (MILITARY)    ACADEMY   AT    CHARLESTON. 

deserted  his  post  at  Fort  Moultrie,  and,  under  false  pretexts,  has  transferred 
his  garrison,  and  military  stores  and  supplies,  to  Fort  Sumter." 

Such   was    the    sentiment    of    the    deceived,    offended,    astonished,    and 

bewildered  Charlestonians,  who,  at  dawn,  on  the  morning  of  the 
4  Di86o ^    27th'a    had    seen  clouds  of  heavy  smoke  rolling  up   from    Fort 

Moultrie.  They  had  crowded  the  Battery,  the  wharves,  and 
the  roofs  of  their  houses,  and  gazed  seaward  for  two  hours  before  they  com 
prehended  the  meaning  of  the  startling  apparition.  The  conflagration  was  a 
mystery,  and  wild  conjecture  alarmed  the  timid,  and  filled  every  mind  with 
anxiety.  There  was  in  it  an  aspect  of  war,  and  many  breakfasts  in  Charles 
ton  were  left  untasted  on  that  eventful  morning.  At  length,  some 
workmen  came  from  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Moultrie,  and  revealed  the  truth. 
Exasperation  succeeded  wonder.  The  more  excitable  portion  of  the  popula 
tion  asked  to  be  led  immediately  in  an  attack  upon  Fort  Sumter.  They 
declared  that  they  could  pull  it  down  with  their  unarmed  hands,  they  felt  so 
invincible.  Martial  music  and  the  tramp  of  military  columns  were  soon 
heard  in  the  streets.  The  Secession  Convention  at  once  requested  Gov- 


SEIZURE   OP  GOVERNMENT   PROPERTY.  137 

ernor  Pickens  to  take  military  possession  of  Forts  Moultrie  and  Johnson,  and 
Castle  Pinckncy.  The  order  for  such  occupation  was  speedily  given.  The 
hall  of  the  Citadel  Academy,  the  great  military  school  of  the  State,  that 
opens  on  the  largest  of  the  public  squares  of  the  city,  was  made  the  place 
of  rendezvous  for  the  military  officers,  and  the  grounds  near  it  were  covered 
by  an  excited  populace.  The  Government  Arsenal,  into  which  Secretary 
Floyd  had  crowded  a  vast  amount  of  arms  and  ammunition,  taken  from  those 
of  Massachusetts  and  New  York,1  was  seized  in  the  name  of  the  State.  It 
had,  for  some  time,  been  held  by  only  a  sufficient  number  of  men  to  insure 
its  safety  in  a  time  of  profound  peace.  For  a  while  a  guard  of  State  militia 
had  been  there,  under  the  pretext  of  defending  it  from  injury  by  an  excited 
population  ;  and  these,  by  order  of  the  State  authorities,  took  full  possession 
of  it  on  Sunday,  the  30th  of  December.  Seventy  thousand  stand  of  arms, 
and  a  vast  amount  of  military  stores,  valued  at  half  a  million  of  dollars,  were 
thus  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  conspirators.  These  were  used  at  once.  Men 
in  Charleston  were  armed  and  equipped  from  this  National  treasure-house ; 
and  within  three  hours  after  the  ensign  of  the  Republic  had  been 
raised  over  Sumter,"  two  armed  steamers  (General  Clinch  and  ' De^ber 27« 
Nimi))  which  had  been  watching  Anderson's  movements,  left  the 
city,  with  about  four  hundred  armed  men,  under  General  R.  G.  M.  Dunovant 
(who  had  been  a  captain  in  a  South  Carolina  regiment  in  the  war  with 
Mexico,  and  was  now  Adjutant-General  of  the  State),  for  the  purpose  of 
seizing  Castle  Pinckney  and  Fort  Moultrie.  One-half  of  these  troops,  led 
by  Colonel  J.  J.  Pettigrew,  landed  at  Pinckney.  The  commandant  of  the 
garrison,  Lieutenant  R.  K.  Mead  (a  Virginian,  who  soon  afterward  deserted 
his  flag  and  hastened  to  Richmond),  made  no  resistance,  but  fled  to  Sumter. 
Ilis  men  so  strongly  barricaded  the  door  of  the  Castle  that  the  assailants 
were  compelled  to  enter  it  by  escalade.  They  found  the  cannon  spiked,  the 
carriages  ruined,  the  ammunition  removed,  and  the  flag-staff  prostrated. 
Borrowing  a  Palmetto  flag  from  the  captain  of  one  of  the  steamers,  Petti- 
grew  unfurled  it  over  the  Castle.  It  was  greeted  by  the  cheers  of  thotisnnds 
on  the  shore.  It  was  the  first  flag  raised  by  the  insurgents  over  a  National 
fortification. 

The  remainder  of  the  troops,  consisting  of  the  Washington  Artillery,  the 
German  Artillery,  the  Lafayette  Artillery,  and  the  Marion  Artillery,  in  num 
ber  about  two  hundred  and  twenty-five,  under  Colonel  Wilinot  G.  De  Saus- 
sure,  proceeded  in  the  steamers  to  Fort  Moultrie.  The  people  in  Charleston 
looked  on  with  the  greatest  anxiety,  for  they  thought  the  guns  of  Sumter 
might  open  fire  upon  their  friends  when  they  should  land  on  the  beach  of 
Sullivan's  Island.  They  did  not  know  how  tightly  Major  Anderson's  hands 
were  tied  by  instructions  from  his  Government.  While  the  insurgents  left 
Fort  Sumter  unassailed,  he  was  compelled  to  keep  its  ports  closed. 

The  insurgent,  troops  were  landed  without  opposition,  and  Fort  Moultrie 
was  surrendered  by  the  sentinel,  in  accordance  with  orders,  to  Colonel  Al 
ston,  one  of  Governor  Pickens's  aids,  and  Captain  Humphreys  of  the  arsenal. 
They  found  the  fort  much  more  extensive  than  it  was  a  few  months  before, 


1  See  papc  121,  and  note  1,  page  121. 


138 


INSURGENTS  *IN  FORT   MOULTRIE. 


for  Anderson's  men  had  worked  faithfully,  under  skillful  direction,  in  preparing 
it  to  resist  an  attack.  Old  works  had  been  repaired,  and  new  ones  constructed. 
But  the  affair  was  comparatively  a  shell  now,  for  its  interior  was  a  scene  of 
utter  desolation.  The  guns  were  spiked ;  the  carriages  were  destroyed  ; 
nearly  all  the  ammunition  and  every  piece  of  small-arms  had  been  carried 
away ;  the  flag-staff  lay  prone  across  the  parade,  and  partly  burned ;  and  no 
munitions  of  war  or  military  stores,  of  much  account,  were  left,  excepting 
some  heavy  cannon-balls  and  about  six  weeks'  provisions  for  Anderson's 
garrison.  The  guns  of  Sumter  looked  directly  into  the  dismantled  fort,  and  a 
few  shots  from  them  would  have  driven  De  Saussure  and  his  men  out  among 
the  sand-hills.  But  Anderson  was  compelled  to  keep  them  silent ;  and  the 

South  Carolinians  quietly  took  possession  of  the  abandoned 
"  Dec1es^0ber  27'  fortress,  and  flung  out  over  its  desolated  area  the  Palmetto  flag." 

It  was  then  too  dark  for  the  citizens  of  Charleston  to  see  it,  but 
their  hearts  were  soon  cheered  by  the  ascent  of  three  rockets  from  Fort 
Moultrie,  which  gave  them  assurance  that  the  insurgents  were  safely  within 
its  walls,  while  the  garrison  at  Sumter  seemed  asleep  or  paralyzed. 


8AND-BAO   BATTERY    AT    FOKT  MOULTRIE. 


Under  the  Direction  of  Major  Bipley,  late  of  the  National  Army,  Fort 
Moultrie  was  enlarged  and  strengthened.  The  ramparts  were  covered  with 
huge  heaps  of  sand-bags,  and  new  breastworks,  composed  of  these  and 
palmetto  logs,  were  erected,  and  heavy  guns  were  mounted  on  them. 

On  the  same  day  when  Fort  Moultrie  was  seized,  the  revenue  cutter 
William  Aiki-n,  lying  in  Charleston  harbor,  under  the  command  of  Captain 
N.  L.  Coste,  of  the  revenue  service,  was  surrendered  by  that  faithless  officer 
into  the  custody  of  the  insurgents.  With  his  own  hands  he  hauled  down  the 
National  flag  which  he  had  sworn  to  defend,  ran  up  the  Palmetto  banner — 
the  emblem  of  revolt — and  gave  himself  and  his  vessel  to  the  service  of  the 
conspirators.  His  subordinate  officers,  honorable  and  loyal,  at  once  reported 
themselves  for  duty  at  Washington.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  defec 
tion  of  naval  officers  who  were  born  in  Slave-labor  States.  The  first  army 
officer  who  resigned  his  commission  to  take  up  arms  against  his  Government 
was  Captain  R.  G.  M.  Dunovant,  mentioned  on  the  preceding  page. 


THE   SITUATION   IN   CHARLESTON   HARBOR. 


139 


Official  notes  now  began  to  pass  between  Sumter  and  surrounding  points. 
On  the  afternoon  of  the  27th,  as  we  have  observed,  Governor  Pickens  sent  a 
message  to  Anderson,  requiring  him  to  leave  Sumter  and  return  to  Moultrie. 
That  commander  refused.  On  the  following  morning,  Anderson  sent  his 
post-adjutant  to  Fort  Moultrie,  to  inquire  of  the  commander  there  by  what 
authority  he  and  armed  men  were  in  that  fortification  of  the  United  States. 
He  replied,  "  By  the  authority  of  the  Sovereign  State  of  South  Carolina,  and 
by  command  of  her  government." 

Anderson's  refusal  caused  Pickens  to  treat  him  as  a  public  enemy  within 
the  domain  of  South  Carolina;  and  the  Charleston  Mercury,  with  the  peculiar 
logic  characteristic  of  the  class  it  represented,  declared  that  the  "  holding  of 
Fort  Sumter  by  United  States  troops  was  an  invasion  of  South  Carolina."  In 
a  letter  written  to  Adjutant-General  Cooper,  on  the  28th,  Anderson  said  : — "  I 
shall  regret  very  deeply  the  persistence  of  the  Governor  in  the  course  he 
has  taken.  He  knows  how  entirely  the  city  of  Charleston  is  in  my  power. 
I  can  cut  his  communication  off  from  the  sea,  and  thereby  prevent  the 
reception  of  supplies,  and  close  the  harbor,  even  at  night,  by  destroying  the 
light-houses.  These  things,  of  course,  I  would  never  do,  unless  compelled  to 
do  so  in  self-defense."  On  the  same 
day,  the  authorities  of  South  Caro 
lina  seized  and  appropriated  to  the 
uses  of  the  State  the  Custom 
House,  and  the  Post-office  kept 
within  its  walls.  That  building, 
fronting  on  Broad  Street,  was 
venerated  as  the  theater  of  many 
events  connected  with  the  old  war 
for  Independence.1 

From  that  time  until  the  close 
of  President  Buchanan's  adminis 
tration,  and  even  longer,  Major 
Anderson  was  compelled,  by  Gov 
ernment  policy,  to  see  the  insur 
gents  gather  by  thousands  in  and 
around  Charleston,  erect  fortifica 
tions  within  reach  of  his  guns,  and 
make  every  needful  preparation 

for  the  destruction  of  Fort  Sumter  and  its  little  garrison,  without  being 
allowed  to  fire  a  shot.  Looking  back  from  our  present  stand-point,  we 
perceive  in  this  forbearance  either  the  consummate  wisdom  of  man  or  the 
direct  interposition  of  God. 


OLD   Ct'STOM    HOfSK   IN    CHARLESTON*. 


1  In  th«-  basement  of  the  Custom  House,  Colonel  Moultrie  and  other  patriots  concealed  from  the  eyes  of 
British  officials,  in  177f>,  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  of"  provincial  powder."  Its  vaults  were  military 
prisons,  and  there  hundreds  of  patriots  suffered  Ion?  and  hopelessly,  and  scores  perished  of  wounds  and  priva 
tions,  while  the  British  held  possession  of  the  city,  from  May.  17>o.  until  the  close  of  the  war.  From  that 
building  Isaac  Hayne,  the  martyr,  was  taken  out  to  execution,  having  been  brought  up  from  a  damp  vault  for 
the  purpose.  This  building  originally  fronted  the  sea;  fct,  in  the  course  of  time,  stately  warehouses  arose 
between  it  and  the  water. 


140  A  STARTLING   ANNOUNCEMENT   IN   CONGRESS. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

AFFAIRS  AT  THE  NATIONAL  CAPITAL.— WAR  COMMENCED  IN  CHARLESTON  HARBOR. 

HEN  intelligence  of  Anderson's  occupation  of  Fort  Sumter 
went  abroad,  it  created  intense  excitement.  In  the  Free- 
labor  States,  as  we  have  observed,  it  produced  joyful 
emotions.  In  the  Slave-labor  States  it  kindled  anger,  and 
intensified  the  hurricane  of  passion  then  sweeping  over 
them.  From  these,  proffers  of  sympathy  and  military  aid 
were  sent  to  the  South  Carolinians,  and  they  were 
amazingly  strengthened  by  the  evidences  of  hearty 
co-operation  in  their  revolutionary  designs,  which  came  not  only  from  the 
Cotton-producing  States,  but  from  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri, 
and  even  from  Maryland. 

The  National  Capital,  in  the  mean  time,  became  the  theater  of  important 
and  startling  events,  calculated  to  add  to  the  feverish  excitement  throughout 
the  country.  Congress  had  not  adjourned  during  the  holidays,  as  usual. 
On  the  day  when  the  South  Carolina  Ordinance  of  Secession  was 
!CeTsS»r  2°'  Passe(V  the  House  of  Representatives  was  discussing  the  Pacific 
Railway  Bill.  Half  an  hour  after  that  ordinance  was  adopted, 
the  telegraph  told  the  news  to  the  representatives  of  that  State  in  Congress, 
and  all  but  two  of  them  immediately  left  the  hall.  A  little  later  it  was 
publicly  announced  by  Representative  M.  R.  H.  Garnett,  of  Virginia,  who, 
contending  in  the  discussion  that  his  State  would  not  be  responsible  for  any 
bonds  which  the  Government  might  issue  for  the  construction  of  the  Pacific 
Road,  said : — "  Why,  Sir,  even  while  your  bill  is  under  debate,  one  of  the 
Sovereign  States  of  this  Confederacy  has,  by  the  glorious  act  of  her  people, 
withdrawn,  in  vindication  of  her  rights,  from  the  Union,  ns  the  telegraph 
announced  to  us  at  half-past  one  o'clock.  .  .  .  It  is  my  solemn  belief  that  the 
people  of  Virginia,  when  my  State  takes  that  course  which  thronging  events 
will  lead  her  to  take,  will  not  hold  themselves  responsible  for  the  first  cent 
of  these  bonds  and  appropriations." l  These  words  were  followed  by  applause 
from  some  of  the  Southern  members ;  and  Messrs.  Boyce  and  Ashmore,  the 
two  remaining  representatives  of  South  Carolina,  arose  from  their  seats, 
shook  hands  with  some  of  their  friends,  and  left  the  hall.  Four  days  after 
ward,  a  letter  signed  by  the  entire  South  Carolina  delegation,  then  in 
Washington,  was  sent  in  to  the  Speaker,  announcing,  in  the  peculiar  phrase 
ology  of  the  devotees  of  State  Supremacy,  that  the  nction  of  their  State  had 
dissolved  their  connection  with  those  whom  they  had  "  been  associated  with 

1   Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  Congress,  in  the  WaaJiington  Globe,  December  20,  1860. 


PATRIOTIC   MOVEMENT   IX   WASHINGTON".  141 

in  a  common  agency"  (meaning  the  National  Congress),  and  that  they 
should  vacate  their  seats.1  After  drawing  their  pay  from  the  public  treasury 
up  to  the  hour  of  their  desertion,  they  departed  for  their  homes.  The  South 
Carolina  Senators,  as  we  have  observed,  had  already  resigned.2 

The  announcement  of  the  treasonable  movements  at  Charleston  was  heard 
with  a  calm  dignity  quite  remarkable  by  the  representatives  of  the  Free- 
labor  States,  who  had  begun  to  look  with  contempt  on  the  dramatic 
performances  of  some  of  the  Hotspurs  of  the  cotton-growing  region,  and 
thought  it  time  to  rebuke  them.  On  the  same  evening  the  New  York 
delegation,  excepting  those  from  the  city  of  New  York,  held  a  consultation, 
and  passed  a  resolution,  by  unanimous  vote,  saying  for  the  people  of  their 
State,  that  they  believed  that  the  appropriate  remedy  for  every  existing 
grievance  might  be  applied  under  the  Constitution,  and  that  they  should 
insist  upon  "a  prompt  and  energetic  enforcement  of  all  the  laws  of  the 
General  Government/'  This  resolution,  which  was  applauded  by  representa 
tives  from  other  States,  was  sent  to  the  Governor  of  New  York  (Morgan), 
with  a  suggestion,  that  in  his  forthcoming  message  he  should  give  such 
expression  that  the  enemies  of  the  Government  should  know  that  "  New 
York,  at  least,  will  never  submit  to  the  doctrine  of  secession;"  also,  suggest 
ing  the  propriety  of  recommending  the  Legislature  to  adopt  measures  for 
forming  "  volunteer  companies,  to  sustain,  if  need  be,  the  Union — to  protect 
the  Federal  property,  and  aid  in  enforcing  the  Federal  laws.''3  It  was  felt 
that  the  time  for  public  meetings,  for  political  speeches,  and  for  moral  suasion, 
had  passed,  and  that  the  people  should  rise  in  their  majesty,  and  say,  with 
the  vehemence  of  conscious  power,  to  the  traitors  everywhere — Touch  the 
Ark  of  our  Covenant  with  parricidal  hands  at  your  peril ! 

While  there  was  calmness  in  Congress  on  the  annunciation  of  the  action 
of  South  Carolinians,  there  was  great  excitement  throughout  the  Capital. 
The  writer  was  in  Washington  at  the  time,  and  was  in  conversation 
with  General  Cass,  at  his  house,  on  the  great  topic  of  the  hour,  when;  a 
relative  brought  to  him  a  bulletin  concerning  the  act  of  secession.  The 
venerable  statesman  read  the  few  words  that  announced  the  startling  fact, 
and  then  throwing  up  his  hands,  while  tears  started  from  his  eyes,  he 
exclaimed,  with  uncommon  emotion  : — "  Can  it  be  !  Can  it  be  !  Oh,"  he 
said,  a  I  had  hoped  to  retire  from  the  public  service,  and  go  home  to  die 
with  the  happy  thought,  that  I  should  leave  to  my  children,  as  an  inheritance 
from  patriotic  men,  a  united  and  prosperous  republic.  But  it  is  all  over ! 
This  is  but  the  beginning  of  the  end.  The  people  in  the  South  are  mad  ;  the 
people  in  the  North  are  asleep.  The  President  is  pale  with  fear,  for  his 
official  household  is  full  of  traitors,  and  conspirators  control  the  Govern 
ment.  God  only  knows  what  is  to  be  the  fate  of  my  poor  country  !  .  To  Him 
alone  must  we  look  in  this  hour  of  thick  darkness." 

The  writer  left  the  venerable  ex-Minister  of  State,  and  went  over  to  the 
War  and  Navy  Departments.  The  offices  were  closed  for  the  day,  but  the 


1  This  letter  was  signed  by  John  McQueen,  Milledge  L.  Bonham,  W.  W.  Boyce,  and  J.  D.  Ashtnore.     Law 
rence  M.  Keitt  and  William  Porcher  Miles  were  then  in  the  Secession  Convention  at  Charleston. 

2  See  page  51. 

'  Letter  of  John  B.  Haskin,  member  of  Congress,  to  Governor  Morgan,  December  20,  I860. 


142  DISLOYALTY   IN  THE  NATIONAL   CAPITAL. 

halls  and  lobbies  were  rjesonant  with  the  voices  of  excited  men.  There 
were  treasonable  utterances  there,  shocking  to  the  ears  of  loyal  citizens.  I  went 
to  the  hotels  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue — "  Willard's,"  the  "  Kirkwood," 
"Brown's,"  and  "  The  National,"  and  found  them  swarming  with  guests,  for 
it  was  then  the  late  dinner-hour.  There  was  wild  excitement  among  them  ; 
secession  cockades  were  plentiful,  and  treason  and  sedition  walked  as  boldly 
and  defiantly  in  these  hotels,  and  in  the  streets  of  the  National  Capital,  as  in 
the  "  Mills  House,"  and  the  streets  of  Charleston.  I  took  up  the  newspapers, 
and  found  no  word  of  comfort  therein  for  the  lovers  of  the  country.  "  The 
long-threatened  result  of  Black  Republican  ?  outrage  and  autocracy,"  said  one, 
"has  taken  place  in  South  Carolina;  secession  is  a  fixed  fact."2  Another, 
the  Government  gazette,  praised  the  dignity  of  the  South  Carolina  Convention. 
"  If  the  telegraphic  abstract  may  be  relied  upon,"  it  said,  "  it  is  not  easy  to 
conceive  of  any  thing  more  calm,  more  thoughtful,  more  dignified,  than  the 
utterances  which  followed  the  taking  of  the  decisive  step.  .  .  .  Almost  Spartan 
simplicity  animates  the  oratory.  ...  A  few  days  will  bring  the  issue  to  the 
chambers  of  the  Capitol.  South  Carolina,  through  her  representatives,  will 
reappear  in  Washington,  in  a  character  that  will  test  the  virtue  of  the  Federal 
system,  and  the  good  sense  of  Congress.  Let  us  hope  that  the  solemnity  of 
Charleston  will  not  be  left  to  stand  in  contrast  to  frivolity  or  passion  in  this 
the  metropolis  of  the  Union.1'3  I  went  home  with  a  friend  living  near 
Bladensburg.  His  family  physician — a  small,  fiery  man,  named  Garnett,  and 
son-in-law  of  ex-Governor  Wise,  of  Virginia — came  to  see  a  sick  child. 
He  was  full  of  passion.  "Noble  South  Carolina,"  he  said,  "has  done  her 
duty  bravely.  Now  Virginia  and  Maryland  must  immediately  raise  an  armed 
force  sufficient  to  control  the  district,  and  never  allow  Abe  Lincoln  to  set  his 
foot  on  its  soil."  The  little  enthusiast  was  only  the  echo  of  the  Virginia 
conspirators.  A  few  days  before,  the  ^Richmond  Enquirer,  edited  by  Wise's 
son,  who  perished  while  in  arms  against  his  country,  thus  insolently  concluded 
an  article  on  the  subject  of  sending  commissioners  from  that  State  to  others: 
— "  Let  the  first  convention,  then,  be  held  between  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and, 
these  two  States  agreeing,  let  them  provide  sufficient  force  to  seize  the  city 
of  Washington,  and  if  coercion  is  to  be  attempted,  let  it  begin  with  subju 
gating  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  Thus  practical  and  efficient 
fighting  in  the  Union  will  prevent  the  powers  of  the  Union  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  our  enemies.  We  hope  Virginia  will  depute  her  commissioners 
to  Maryland  first,  and,  providing  for  the  seizure  of  Washington  and  Old 
Point,  Harper's  Ferry  and  Gosport  Navy  Yard,  present  these  two  States  in 
the  attitude  of  rebels  inviting  coercion.  This  was  the  way  Patrick  Henry 
brought  about  the  Revolution,  and  this  is  the  best  use  that  Virginia  can 
make  of  commissioners  of  any  kind." 

Governor  Wise  had  already  publicly  announced  that,  in  the  event  of  an 
attempt  at  "  coercion"  on  the  part  of  the  National  Government,  Fortress 
Monroe,  the  Navy  Yard  at  Gosport,  and  the  armory  and  arsenal  at  Harper's 


1  The  prefix  "  Black11  was  given  to  theKepublican  party  because,  being  favorable  to  the  abolition  of  Slavery, 
its  members  were  ranked  as  friends  of  the  negro.  This  name  was  applied  by  the  Oligarchy  in  the  South,  and 
was  freely  used  by  their  partisans  in  the  North. 

2  Washington  States. 

*  Washington  .Constitution,  the  organ  of  the  Administration. 


INTENTIONS  OF   THE    CONSPIRATORS.  143 

Ferry  would  be  seized,  and  held  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  the  Government. 
Already  Judge  A.  II.  Handy,  a  commissioner  from  Mississippi,  had  visited 
Maryland  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  that  State  in  the  Virginia  scheme  of 
seizing  the  National  Capital,  and  preventing  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 
The  conspirators  were  so  confident  of  the  success  of  their  schemes,  that  one 
of  the  leading  Southern  Senators,  then  in  Congress,  said: — "Mr.  Lincoln  will 
not  dare  to  come  to  Washington  after  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  Mr. 
Buchanan.  This  city  will  be  seized  and  occupied  as  the  capital  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  will  be  compelled  to  take  his  oath  of 
office  in  Philadelphia  or  in  Xe\v  York."1  And  the  veteran  editor,  Duff  Green, 
the  friend  and  confidential  co-worker  with  Calhoun  when  the  latter  quarreled 
with  President  Jackson,  and  who  naturally  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
secessionists,  told  Joseph  C.  Lewis,  of  Washington,  while  under  the  half- 
finished  dome  of  the  Capitol,  early  in  1861 : — '  We  intend  to  take  possession 
of  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  of  the  archives  of  the  Government ;  not  allow  the 
electoral  votes  to  be  counted  ;  proclaim  Buchanan  provisional  President,  if  he 
will  do  as  we  wish,  and  if  not,  choose  another;  seize  the  Harper's  Ferry 
Arsenal  and  the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard  simultaneously,  and  sending  armed  men 
dowrn  from  the  former,  and  armed  vessels  up  from  the  latter,  take  possession 
of  Washington,  and  establish  a  new  government." 

There  is  ample  evidence  that  the  seizure  of  Washington  City,  the  Govern 
ment  buildings,  and  the  archives  of  the  nation,  was  an  original  and  capital 
feature  in  the  plan  of  the  conspirators;  and  their  assertions,  after  they  were 
foiled  in  this,  that  they  sought  only  for  "  independence,"  and  that  all  they 
asked  was  "to  be  let  alone,"  was  the  most  transparent  hypocrisy.  They 
aimed  at  revolution  at  first,  and  disunion-  afterwards.  They  had  assurances, 
they  believed,  that  the  President  would  not  interfere  with  their  measures. 
Should  Congress  pass  a  Force  Bill,  he  was  pledged  by  the  declarations  of  his 
annual  Message  to  withhold  his  signature  from  it ;  and  most  of  them  were 
satisfied  that  they  might,  during  the  next  seventy  days,  establish  their 
"Southern  Confederacy,"  and  secure  to  it  the  possession  of  the  Capital, 
without  governmental  interposition.  Yet  all  were  not  satisfied.  Some 
vigilant  South  Carolina  spies  in  Washington  would  not  trust  the  President. 
One  of  them,  signing  only  the  name  of  "Charles,"  in  a  letter  to  Rhett,  .the 
editor  of  the  Charleston  Mercury,  said  :  "  I  know  all  that  has  been  done  here, 
but  depend  upon,  nothing  that  J\Ir.  Buchanan  promises.  lie  will  cheat  us 


1  Correspondence  (Occasional)  of  the  Philadelphia  Pre#s,  December  21,  I860.  In  the  same  letter,  which  was 
a  trumpet-call  to  the  country  to  arouse  it  to  a  sense  of  its  danger  and  to  act,  the  writer  (J.  W.  Forney)  said: — 
'•The  Administration  of  the  Government  is  in  the  hands  of  the  enemies  of  the  country.  The  President  of  the 
1'nited  States  has  ceased  to  be  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  a  free  people,  and  may  be  culled  the  chief  of  those  who 
are  seeking  to  enslave  a  free  people.  He  is  quoted  by  the  secessionists,  if  not  as  their  active,  at  ft-ast  as  their 
quiescent  all}-!  He  refuses  to  exercise  his  functions,  and  to  enforce  the  laws!  He  refuses  to  protect  the  public 
property,  and  to  re-enforce  the  gallant  Anderson  at  Fort  Moultrie  !  He  sends  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to 
North  Carolina,  with  the  intention  of  forcing  that  loyal  and  conservative  State  into  the  ranks  of  the 
disuninnists!  While  sending  General  Harney  to  Kansas  with  a  large  military  force  to  suppress  a  petty  border 
insurgent,  he  folds  his  arms  when  General  Scott  and  his  brave  subordinates  in  the  South  appeal  to  him  fur 
succor.  His  Attorney-General  argues  with  all  his  ingenuity  against  the  potter  of  the  Federal  Government  to 
enforce  the  laws  of  the  country.  His  confidants  are  disunionists.  His  leaders  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House 
are  disunionists!  and  while  he  drives  into  exile  the  oldest  Statesman  in  America,  simply  and  only  because  he 
dares  to  raise  his  voice  in  favor  of  the  country,  ho  consults  daily  with  men  who  publicly  avow,  in  their  seats  in 
Congress,  that  the  Union  is  dissolved,  and  that  the  laws  are  standing  still!  Is  it  not  time,  then,  for  the 
American  people  to  take  the  country  into  their  own  hands,  and  to  administer  the  Government  in  their  own  way  ?" 


144  ROBBERY   OF  INDIAN   TRUST-FUNDS. 


unless  we  are  too  quick  for  him."1  He  then  urged  the  seizure  of  the  forts, 
Sumter  particularly,  without  a  moment's  delay.  Neither  would  the  con 
spirators  fully  trust  each  other.  William  H.  Trescot,  already  mentioned,  a 
South  Carolinian,  and  then  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  and  who  for  years 
had  been  conspiring  against  the  Government,  was  thought  to  be  tricky.  The 
writer  just  quoted  said: — "Further,  let  me  warn  you  of  the  danger  of 
Governor  Pickens  making  Trescot  his  channel  of  communication  with  the 
President,  for  the  latter  will  be  informed  of  every  thing  that  transpires,  and 
that  to  our  injury.  Tell  Governor  Pickens  this  at  once,  before  matters  go 
further."2  And  the  elder  Rhett  commenced  a  letter  to  his  son,  of  the  Charles 
ton  Mercury,  by  saying : — "  Jefferson  Davis  is  not  only  a  dishonest  man,  but  a 
liar  !"3  These  politicians  seem  to  have  had  a  correct  appreciation  of  each 
other's  true  character. 

While  the  excitement  in  Washington  because  of  the  doings  at  Charleston 
was  at  its  hight,  it  was  intensified  by  a  new  development  of  infamy,  in  the 
discovery  of  the  theft  of  an  enormous  amount  of  the  Indian  Trust-Fund, 
which  was  in  the  custody  of  the  conspirator,  Jacob  Thompson,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior.  The  principal  criminal  in  the  affair  was  undoubtedly  Floyd, 
the  Secretary  of  War.  He  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  getting  up  a 
military  expedition  into  the  Utah  Territory,  in  which  about  six  millions  of 
dollars  of  the  public  treasure  were  squandered,  to  the  hurt  of  the  national 
credit,  at  a  critical  time.  The  troops  were  stationed  there  at  a  point  called 
Camp  Floyd  ;  *and  the  Secretary  had  contracted  with  the  firm  of  Russell, 
Mnjor,  &  Waddell  for  the  transportation  of  supplies  thither  from  Fort  Lea- 
venworth,  and  other  points  'on  the  Missouri  River.  For  this  service  they 
were  to  receive  about  one  million  of  dollars  a  year.  Floyd  accepted  from 
them  drafts  on  his  Department,  in  anticipation  of  service  to  be  performed, 
to  the  amount  of  over  two  millions  of  dollars.4  These  acceptances  were  so 
manifestly  illegal,  that  they  could  with  difficulty  be  negotiated.  The  con 
tractors  became  embarrassed  by  the  difficulty,  and  hit  upon  a  scheme  for 
raising  money  more  rapidly. 

Russell  had  become  acquainted  with  Goddard  Bailey,  a  South  Carolinian 
and  kinsman  of  Floyd,  who   was  the  clerk  in  the  Interior  Department  in 
whose  special  custody  were  the  State  bonds  composing  the  Indian 
July,  i860.    ^rust-Fund.     jje  induced  Bailey  to  exchange  these  bonds a  for 
Floyd's  illegal  acceptances.      These  were  hypothecated  in  New  York,  and 
money   raised  on  them.     When,  as  we  have  observed,  the  financial  affairs 
of  the    country   became  clouded,  late   in   I860,5   these   bonds    depreciated, 
and  the  holders  called  on  Russell  for  additional  security.     Bailey 
13' supplied  him  with   more   bonds,6    until  the    whole  amount   was 
the    sum   of    eisrht    hundred    and    seventy   thousand    dollars.      When    the 
time  approached  for  him  to  be  called  upon  by  the  Indian  Bureau  for  the 
coupons  payable   on  the   1st  of   January,   on  the  abstracted  bonds,  Bailey 
found    himself   in    such    a   position    that    he    was    driven    to    a   confession. 
Thompson,    his    employer,    was    then    in    North    Carolina,    on    the    busi 
ness    of  conspiracy,  as    Commissioner   of  the   "  Sovereign  State    of  Missis- 

1  Autograph  letter,  dated  Washington,  December  22,  1860.  a  The  same.  3  Autograph  letter. 

4  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Investigation  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  February  12,  1861. 
•  See  page  115. 


FLOYD   IMPLICATED   IX   CRIME.  145 

sippi."  Bailey  wrote  a  letter  to  him,  antedated  the  1st  of  December, 
disclosing  the  material  facts  of  the  case,  and  pleading,  for  himself,  that  his 
motive  had  been  only  to  save  the  honor  of  Floyd,  which  was  compromised 
by  illegal  advances. 

Thompson  returned  to  Washington  on  the  22d,  when  the  letter  was 
placed  in  his  hands.  After  consultation,  it  is  said,  with  Floyd,  he  revealed 
the  matter  to  the  President,  who  was  astounded.  The  farce  of  discovering 
the  thief  was  then  performed,  Thompson  being  chief  manager.  The  Attorney- 
General,  and  Robert  Ould  the  District  Attorney  (who  afterward  became  one 
of  the  most  active  servants  of  the  confederated  conspirators  at  Richmond), 
were  called  to  take  a  part.  Neither  the  robber,  nor  the  key  of  the  safe  in 
which  the  bonds  were  kept,  could  be  found.  Mayor  Berret  was  required  to 
detail  a  special  police  force  to  guard  every  avenue  leading  to  the  Interior 
Department,  so  that  no  clerks  might  leave.  These  clerks  were  all  examined 
touching  their  knowledge  of  the  matter.  Nothing  was  elicited.  Then  the 
safe  was  broken  open,  and  the  exact  amount  of  the  theft  was  speedily  made 
known.  At  length  Bailey  was  discovered,  and  made  a  full  confession. 

The  wildest  stories  as  to  the  amount 
of  funds  stolen  immediately  wei?* 
abroad.  It  was  magnified  to  millions.' 
It  was  already  known  that  Oobb  had 
impoverished  the  Treasury  ;  it  was  now 
believed  that  plunder  was  the  business 
of  the  Cabinet,  for  the  public  held 
•  Floyd  and  Thompson  responsible  for 
the  crime  which  Bailey  had  confessed. 
The  blow  given  to  the  public  credit 
was  a  staggering  one.  The  Grand 
Jury  of  Washington  soon  acted  on  the 
matter,  and  Floyd  was  indicted  on 
three  counts,  namely,  malversation  in 
office,  complicity  in  the  abstraction  of 
the  Indian  Trust  Fund,  and  conspiracy 

against  the  Government.     The  House  of  Representatives  appointed  a  Com 
mittee  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  affair,  and  they 
concluded  their  report  "  with  the  expression  of  an  opinion,  mildly    aFe^»aryi2, 
drawn,  that  Floyd's  conduct  in  the  matter  "could  not  be  recon 
ciled  with  purity  of  private  motives  and  faithfulness  to  public  trusts."2     When 
the  indictment  of  the  Grand  Jury  and  the  report  of  the  Committee  were 
made,  Floyd   was  far  beyond    the   reach    of  marshals  and  courts.     He  had 
fled  in  disgrace  from  the  National  Capital,  and  was  an  honoml  guest  of  the 
public  authorities  at  Richmond,3  who  boldly  defied  the  national  power. 

The  excitement  on  account  of  the  robbery  in  the  Interior  Department  was 
followed  by  intelligence  of  the  proceedings  at  Pittsburg,  already 
mentioned,4  where  an  immense  meeting  of  the  citizens  was  held  in   tDe1°^ber' 
the  street,  in  front  of  the  Court  House,  in  the  evening  of  the  27th,6 
and  they   resolved   that   it    Avas    the  duty  of  the  President  "to  purge  his 

1  The  Government  lost  over  six  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

3  Hi-port  of  the  Investigating  Committee,  February  12,  1S61.        3  See  note  3,  page  127.        *  See  page  123. 
VOL.  L— 10 


JOHN    15.    KLOYIX 


146  RESIGNATION   OF  SECKETABY  FLOYD. 

Cabinet  of  every  man  known  to  give  aid  and  comfort  to,  or  in  any  way 
countenancing,  the  revolt  of  any  State  against  the  authority  of  the  Consti 
tution  and  the  laws  of  the  Union."  On  the  morning  of  the  same  day,a  the 
news  of  the  occupation  of  Fort  Sumter  by  the  garrison  of  Fort 
M°ulme  reached  Washington,  and  produced  the  greatest  con 
sternation  among  the  conspirators.  The  Cabinet  assembled  at 
midday.  They  had  a  stormy  session.  Floyd  urgently  demanded  an  order 
for  Anderson's  return  to  Fort  Moultrie,  alleging  that  the  President,  by  with 
holding  it,  was  violating  the  "  solemn  pledges  of  the  Government."  The 
latter,  remembering  his  implied,  if  not  actual  pledges,  was  inclined  to  give 
the  order  ;a  but  the  warning  voices  of  law,  duty,  and  public  opinion  made 
him  hesitate.  They  spoke  to  his  conscience  and  his  prudence  about  faith 
fulness,  impeachment,  and  a  trial  for  treason  ;  and  to  his  patriotism  concerning 
the  goodness  and  the  greatness  of  his  native  land,  and  its  claims  upon  hi& 
gratitude.  He  paused,  and  the  Cabinet  adjourned  without  definite  action. 

The  position  of  the  aged  President,  during  the  eventful  week  we  are  here 
considering,  was  a  most  painful  one.  He  was  evidently  involved  in  perilous 
toils  into  which  he  had  fallen  in  less  troublous  times,  when  he  believed  that 
he  had  called  into  his  counsels  true  men,  as  the  world  of  politicians  goes. 
He  found  himself,  if  not  deceived,  unexpectedly  subjected  to  the  control  of 
bad  men;  and  for  two  or  three  days  after  this  Cabinet  meeting,  as  the  writer 
was  informed  by  an  intimate  acquaintance  of  the  President,  he  was  in  con 
tinual  fear  of  assassination. 

On  the  morning  after  the  stormy  cabinet  meeting  just  mentioned,  news 

came  that  Fort  Moultrie  and  Castle  Pinckney  had  been  seized  by  South  Caro 

lina  troops.    The  President  breathed  more  freely.    He  felt  himself  relieved  from 

much  embarrassment,  for  the  insurgents  had  committed  the  first  act  of  war. 

He  now  peremptorily  refused  to  order  the  withdrawal  of  the  garrison  from 

Sumter,  and  on  the  following  day*  the  disappointed  Floyd    re 

signed  the  seals  of  his  office,  fled  to  Richmond,  and  afterward 


took  up  arms  against  his  country.  In  his  letter  of  resignation,  this 
covered,  as  with  a  garment,  with  some  of  the  darkest  crimes  known  in 
history,  spoke  of  "patriotism"  and  "honor."  He  said:«  —  "I  deeply  regret 
that  I  feel  myself  under  the  necessity  of  tendering  to  you  my  resignation  as 
Secretary  of  War,  because  I  can  no  longer  hold  it  under  my  convictions  of 
patriotism,  nor  with  honor,  subjected  as  I  am  to  a  violation  of  solemn  pledges 
and  plighted  faith."2  His  resignation  was  immediately  accepted,  a^nd  his  place 
filled  by  the  patriotic  Kentuckian,  Joseph  Holt.  Then  a  load  of  anxiety  was 
lifted  from  the  burdened  hearts  of  the  loyal  people  of  the  Republic.  The 
purification  of  Buchanan's  Cabinet  went  on,  and  there  was  a  general  change 
in  the  ministry  by  the  middle  of  January.  When  Attorney-General  Black 
succeeded  General  Cass  as  Secretary  of  State,  his  office  was  filled  by  Edwin 
M.  Stanton,  afterward  Secretary  of  War  under  President  Lincoln;  Philip 
F.  Thomas,  of  Maryland,  had  succeeded  Cobb  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

1  See  Letter  of  President  Buchanan  to  the  "Commissioners  of  South  Carolina,"1  December  30,  I860. 

2  In  reply  to  a  statement  made  by  General  Scott,  concerning  the  apparent,  remissness  of  duty  on  the  part 
of  the  Administration  at  that  crisis,  published  in  the  National  Intelligencer  on  the  21st  of  October,  18G2,  Mr. 
Buchanan  says  that  it  was  at  his  request  that  Floyd  resigned.      This  allegation  of  the  President,  which  is- 
undoubtedly  true,  makes  Floyd's  high-sounding  words  about  wounded  patriotism  and  honor,  in  connection 
•with  his  infamous  official  career,  appear  extremely  ridiculous. 


SOUTH   CAROLINA   COMMISSIONERS. 


147 


JOSKIMI    HOLT. 


Unwilling  to  assist  the  Government  in  enforcing  the  laws,  Thomas  resigned,1 
and  was  succeeded  by  John  A.  Dix,  a  stanch  patriot  of  New  York. 
Thompson  left   the  Interior  Department  on   the   8th,"  and,  like     'Ji"6"ary 
Floyd,  hastened  to  his  own  State  to  assist  irt  the  work  of  rebellion. 

There  was  still  another  cause  for  excitement  in  Washington  and  through 
out  the  country,  during  the  eventful 
week  we  are  considering.  It  was  the 
arrival  and  action  of  Messrs.  Barn  well, 
Adams,  and  Orr,  the  "Commissioners" 
for  South  Carolina.  They  evidently  ex 
pected  to  stay  a  long  time,  as  embas- 
sadors  of  their  "  Sovereign  State  "  near 
the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
Their  fellow-conspirator,  W.  II.  Trescot, 
who  had  just  left  the  State  Department, 
in  which  he  could  be  no  longer  useful 
to  the  enemies  of  his  country,  had  hired 
the  fine  dwelling-house  of  the  widow  of 
Captain  Joseph  Smoot,  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  No.  352  (Franklin  Row) 
K  Street,  as  their  ministerial  residence. 

There  they  took  up  their  abode  on  their  arrival,  on  the  26th,  with 
servants  and  other  necessaries  for  carrying  on  a  domestic  establishment, 
and  Trescot  was  duly  installed  their  Secretary.  They  were  greeted  with 
distinguished  consideration  by  their  fellow-conspirators,  and  the  multitude 
of  sympathizers  in  the  National  Capital ;  and  they  doubtless  had  roseate 
dreams  of  official  and  social  fellowship  with  Lord  Lyons,  M.  Mercier,  Baron 

Von  Gerolt,  and  other  foreign  ministers 
then  -in  Washington.  That  dream, 
however,  assumed  the  character  of  a 
nightmare,  when,  on  the  following  day, 
they  heard  of  Anderson  and  his  gallant 
little  band  being  in  Fort  Sumter. 

On  the  28th,'1  the  "Commissioners" 
addressed    a   formal    diplo 
matic   letter    to    the    Presi-     DCis6obcr' 
dent,  drawn    up,  it  is  said, 
by  Orr,  who  was  once  Speaker  of  the 
National  House  of  Representatives,  and 
who  had    been    denounced  in    his  own 
State  as  "the  prince  of  demagogues."3      That  letter  informed  the  President 

1  Sec  his  Letter  of  Resignation,  January  11,  1S61. 

2  The  house  next  to  the  open  space  in  the  picture. 

3  Orr's  views  seem  to  have  undergone  a  change.     In  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Charleston  Mtrcury, 
dated  January  24,  1S5S,  Andrew  Oalhoun  said: — "I  found,  on  my  return  to  this  State,  that  Orr,  that  prince  of 
demagogues,  had,  by  all  kinds  of  appliances,  so  nationalized  public  opinion  about  here,   that  sentiments  are 
habitually  uttered  suited   to  the  meridian  of  Connecticut,  but  destructive  to  the  soil  and  ancient  faith  of  the 
State."    This  Calhoun  and  other  conspirators  found  it  necessary  to  work  upon  the  people  continually,  to  keep 
them  prepared  for  treasonable  work  at  the  proper  moment.     Whenever  they  found  a  man  of  influence  true  to 
the  Union,  they  denounced  and  persecuted  him,  and  men  in  more  humble  spheres  -were  cowed  into  meek  sub 
mission  by  the  truculent  Oligarchy. 


UKSIDKNCK   OF   THE 


148  THE   COMMISSIONERS'   PUBLIC   LETTER. 

that  they  were  authorized  and  empowered  to  treat  with  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  for  the  delivery  of  the  forts,  magazines,  light-houses,  and 
other  real  estate,  with  their  appurtenances,  in  the  limits  of  South  Carolina  ,- 
and  also  for  an  apportionment  of  the  public  debt,  and  for  a  division  of  all 
other  property  held  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  as  agent  of 
the  Confederated  States,  of  which  South  Carolina  was  recently  a  member  ; 
and  generaHy  to  negotiate  as  to  all  other  measures  and  arrangements  proper 
to  be  made  and  adopted  in  the  existing  relation  of  the  parties,  and  for  the 
continuance  of  peace  and  amity  between  the  Commonwealth  and  the 
Government  at  Washington.  They  also  furnished  him  with  a  copy  of  the 

Ordinance  of  Secession.  They  said  it 
would  have  been  their  duty,  under  their 
instructions,  to  have  informed  him  that 
they  were  ready  to  negotiate,  "  but  (re 
ferring  to  Anderson's  movements)  the 
events  of  the  last  twenty- four  hours  " 
had  altered  the  condition  of  affairs 
under  which  they  came.  They  reminded 
him  that  the  authorities  of  South 
Carolina  could,  at  any  time  within  the 
past  sixty  days,  have  taken  posses 
sion  of  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbor, 
but  they  were  restrained  by  pledges 
given  in  a  manner  that  they  could  not 
JAMES  L.  ORR.  doubt.1  They  assured  him  that  until 

the  circumstances  of  Anderson's  move 
ments  were  explained  in  a  manner  to  relieve  them  of  all  doubt  as  to  the 
spirit  in  which  the  negotiations  should  be  conducted,  they  would  be  com 
pelled  to  suspend  all  discussion.  ,In  conclusion,  they  urged  the  President  to 
immediately  withdraw  all  the  National  troops  from  Charleston  harbor, 
because,  under  the  circumstance*,  they  were  a  "standing  menace,"  which 
rendered  negotiations  impossible,  and  threatened  to  "bring  to  a  bloody  issue 
questions  wdiich  ought  to  be  settled  with  temperance  and  judgment."'2 

The  arrogance  and  insolence  visible  in  this  letter,  considering  the  criminal 
position  of  the  men  who  signed  it,  and  the  circumstances  to  which  it  related, 
offended  the  President,  who  would  have  been  applauded  by  every  loyal  man 
in  the  country   if  he    had  arrested  them  on    a    charge  of  treason.3      Yet 
he  treated  the  "  Commissioners  "   and  their  letter  with  marked 
DeiS60b0r'     courtesy  in  a  reply  written  on  the  30th. a     He  referred  them  to 
his  Annual  Message  for  a  definition  of  his  intended  course  con 
cerning  the  property  of  the  United  States  and  the  collection  of  the  revenue. 
He  could  only  meet  them  as  private  gentlemen  of  the  highest  character,  and 


1  See  page  102. 

2  Letter  of  the  "  Commissioners"  to  the  President,  dated  Washington,  December  28,  1861. 

3  Three  weeks  later,  Francis  C.   Treadwell,  of  New  Yo'-k,  a  counselor  of  the  Supreme  Court,  offered  to 
Chief-Justice  Taney  an  affirmation,  in  due  form,  that  certain  persons  (naming  most  of  the  public  men  known  to 
have  been  engaged  in'the  great  conspiracy)  were  guilty  of  conspiring  against  the  Constitution  and  Government 
of  the  United  States,  and  had  committed  the  crime  of  treason,  or  misprision  of  treason,  and  praying  for  their 
arrest.     This  paper  was  returned  to  Mr.  Treadwell  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Benjamin  C.  Howard, 
with  the  remark,  that  the  Chief  Justice  deemod  it  "an  improper  paper  to  be  offered  to  the  Court." 


THE   PRESIDENT'S   LETTER   TO   THE  COMMISSIONERS.  149 

was  willing  to  lay  before  Congress  any  proposition  they  might  make.  To 
recognize  their  State  as  a  foreign  power  would  be  usurpation  on  his  part ;  he 
should  refer  the  whole  matter  of  negotiation  to  Congress.  He  denied 
ever  having  made  any  agreement  with  the  Congressional  delegates  froni 
South  Carolina  concerning  the  withholding  of  re-enforcements  from  the 
Charleston  forts,  or  any  pledge  to  do  so  j1  but  declared  that  it  had  been  his 
intention,  all  along,  not  to  re-enforce  them,  and  thus  bring  on  a  collision, 
until  they  should  be  attacked,  or  until  there  was  evidence  that  they  were 
about  to  be  attacked.  "This,"  he -said,  "is  the  whole  foundation  of  the 
alleged  pledge."  He  then  referred  them  to  the  instructions  to  Major 
Anderson,  already  noticed/  in  which  that  officer  was  authorized  to  occupy 
any  one  of  the  forts  with  his  small  force  in  case  of  an  attack,  and  to  take 
similar  steps  when  he  should  "  have  tangible  evidence  of  a  design  to  proceed 
to  a  hostile  act."  He  also  referred  to  the  fact  that  the  South  Carolinians 
had  already  committed  an  act  of  war  by  seizing  two  forts  belonging  to  the 
National  Government  in  Charleston  harbor,  and  had  flung  out  the  Palmetto 
flag  over  them,  in  place  of  the  old  standard  of  the  Union.  "  It  is  under  all 
these  circumstances,"  he  said,  with  evident  indignation,  "  that  I  am  urged 
immediately  to  withdraw  the  troops  from  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  and 'am 
informed  that  without  this  negotiation  is  impossible.  This  I  cannot  do ; 
this  I  will  not  do.  Such  an  idea  was  never  thought  of  by  me  in  any  possible 
contingency."  He  informed  them  that  he  had  just  heard  of  the  capture 
of  the  Arsenal  at  Charleston  and  half  a  million  of  dollars'  worth  of  property 
by  the  insurgents,  and  said, — "Comment  is  needless;"  and  then  gave 
them  to  understand  that  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  defend  Fort  Sumter, 
as  a-  portion  of  the  public  property  of  the  United  States.  He  concluded  with 
expressing  "great  personal  regard"  for  the  "Commissioners." 

Two  days  later,"  the  "  Commissioners"  replied  to  this  note  in     *  J:i," g"ry  lf 
a  long    and  extremely  insolent  and  insulting  letter.     As  repre 
sentatives  of  a    "  sovereign   power,"  they   said,  they    "  had    felt  no    special 
solicitude"  as  to  the  character  in  which  the  President  might  receive  them, 
and   they  had   no   reason   to    thank  him  for  permitting  them  to  have    their 
propositions  laid  before   Congress.     They  then  referred  to  the  declarations 
in  his  Message,  that  he  had  no  right,  and  would  not   attempt,  "to  coerce  a 
seceding  State,"  and  pointed  to  his  subsequent  acts,  as  virtual  pledges  that 
such  were  his  honest  convictions  of  duty.     u  Some  weeks  ago,"  they  said, 
"  the  State  of  South  Carolina  declared  her  intention,  in  the  existing  condition 


1  See  page  102.  When  Jacob  Thompson,  the  Secretary  of  tho  Interior,  reached  Oxford,  Mississippi,  after 
leaving  office,  he  was  honored  by  a  public  reception.  In  the  course  of  a  speech  on  that  occasion,  he  said, 
speaking  of  affairs  in  Charleston  harbor  :—>•  Tfie  President  agreed  with  certain  gentlemen,  undertaking  to 
represent  South  Carolina,  that  no  change  should  be  made  in  the  military  status  of  the  forts;  and  when  Major 
Anderson,  adopting  an  extreme  measure  of  war,  only  justified  in  the  presence  of  an  overpowering  enemy, 
spiked  his  guns  and  burned  his  gun-carriages,  and  moved,  with  his  garrison,  from  Fort  Moultrie  to  Fort  Sumter, 
and  thus  committed  an  act  of  hostility,  the  President  heard  of  the  movement  with  chagrin  and  mortification." 

It  is  the  deliberate  conviction  of  Joseph  Holt,  the  loyal  Secretary  of  War  during  the  last  seventy  days  of 
Mr.  Buchanan's  administration,  that  no  such  pledge  was  ever  given.  See  his  reply  to  allegations  in  a  speech  of 
ex-Postmaster-General  Blair,  at  Clarkesville.  Maryland,  in  August.  1S65.  It  is  fair  to  conclude  that  men  like  the 
"Commissioners"  from  South  Carolina,  and  Jacob  Thompson,  all  engaged  in  the  commission  of  the  highest 
crime  known,  namely,  treason  to  their  Government,  would  not  be  slow  in  the  use  of  the  more  venal  and 
common  sin  of  making  false  accusations,  especially  when  such  accusations  might  furnish  s^me  excuse  for  their 
iniquity.  No  proof  has  ever  been  given  that  the  President  violated  his  oath  by  making  such  pledg 

*  See  page  125,  and  note  1,  page  129 


150  INSULTING  LETTER   TO   THE   PRESIDENT. 

of  public  affairs,  to  secede  from  the  United  States.  She  called  a  convention 
of  her  people  to  put  her  declaration  in  force.  The  Convention  met,  and 
passed  the  Ordinance  of  Secession.  All  this  you  anticipated."  They  then 
taunted  him  with  dereliction  of  duty.  "  You  did  not  re-enforce  the  garrison 
in  the  harbor  of  Charleston.  You  removed  a  distinguished  and  veteran 
officer  from  the  command  of  Fort  Moultrie  because  he  attempted  to  increase 
his  supply  of  ammunition.1  You  refused  to  send  additional  troops  to  the 
same  garrison  when  applied  for  by  the  officer  appointed  to  succeed  him. 
You  accepted  the  resignation  of  the  oddest  and  most  eminent  member  of 
your  Cabinet,  rather  than  allow  the  garrison  to  be  strengthened.  You  com 
pelled  an  officer,  stationed  at  Fort  Sumter,  to  return  immediately  to  the 
Arsenal  forty  muskets  which  he  had  taken  to  arm  his  men.  You  expressed, 
not  to  one,  but  to  many,  of  the  most  distinguished  of  our  public  characters, 
your  anxiety  for  a  peaceful  termination  of  this  controversy,  and  your  will 
ingness  not  to  disturb  the  military  status  of  the  forts,  if  Commissioners  should 
be  sent  to  the  Government,  whose  communications  you  promised  to  submit 
to  Congress.  You  received,  and  acted  on,  assurances  from  the  highest  official 
authorities  of  South  Carolina,  that  no  attempt  would  be  made  to  disturb  your 


SIGNATURES    OF    THE    SOUTH    CAROLINA    "COMMISSIONERS." 

possession  of  the  forts  and  property  of  the  United  States,  if  you  would  not 
disturb  their  existing  condition  until  the  Commissioners  had  been  sent,  and 
the  attempt  to  negotiate  had  failed.  You  took  from  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  a  written  memorandum  that  no  such  attempt  should 
be  made,  '  provided  that  no  re-enforcements  should  be  sent  into  those  forts, 
and  their  relative  military  status  shall  remain  as  at  present.'-  .  .  .  You  sent 
orders  to  your  officers,  commanding  them  strictly  to  follow  a  line  of  conduct 
in  conformity  with  such  an  understanding."  They  then  mentioned  the 
circumstances  of  their  arrival  and  personal  interview  : — "  On  Friday,"  they 
said,  "  we  saw  you,  and  we  called  upon  ycJu  then  to  redeem  your  pledge. 
You  could  not  deny  it."  Because  of  the  resignation  of  Floyd,  expressly  in 
consequence  of  the  alleged  violation  of  the  pledged  faith  of  the  Government, 
they  said,  "  denial  was  impossible.  You  did  not  deny  it.  You  do  not  deny 
it  now,  but  seek  to  escape  from  its  obligations  on  the  ground  that  we  termi 
nated  all  negotiations  by  demanding,  as  a  preliminary  measure,  the  withdrawal 
of  the  United  States  troops  from  Charleston,  and  the  hostile  action  of  the 

1  See  page  118.  2  See  page  102. 


NEW    YEAR'S   DAY  AT   THE   WHITE    HOUSE. 


151 


authorities  of  South  Carolina."1  They  told  him  that  they  had  felt  kindly, 
and,  by  forbearance,  had  acted  kindly  toward  him,  because  of  the 
delicacy  of  his  position,  but  he  had  deceived  them.  "  You  have  decided," 
they  said.  "  You  have  resolved  to  hold  by  force  what  you  have  obtained 
by  misplaced  confidence ;  and  by  refusing  to  disavow  the  act  of  Major 
Anderson,  have  converted  his  violation  of  orders  into  a  legitimate  act  of 
your  executive  authority.  Be  the  issue  what  it  may,  of  this  we  are  assured, 
that  if  Fort  Moultrie  has  been  recorded  in  history  as  a  memorial  of  Carolina 
gallantry,  Fort  Sumter  will  live  upon  the  succeeding  page  as  an  imperishable 
testimony  of  Carolina  faith.  By  your  course  you  have  probably  rendered 
civil  war  inevitable.  Be  it  so.  If  you  choose  to  force  this  issue  upon  us, 
the  State  of  South  Carolina  will  accept  it,  and,  relying  upon  Him  who  is 
the  God  of  Justice,  as  well  as  God  of  Hosts,  will  endeavor  to  perform  the 
great  duty  which  lies  before  her,  bravely  and  thoroughly." 

The  President  made  no  reply  to  this  letter,  but  returned  it  to  the  "  Com 
missioners,"  indorsed  with  these  words: — uThis  paper,  just  presented  to  the 
President,  is  of  such 


a  character  that  he 
declines  to  receive 
it."  This  occurred 
on  Xew  Year's  Day. 
The  usual  calls 
on  the  President 
were  very  few  ami 
formal.  The  ''East 
Ifooni,"  which  is  the 
great  hall  of  "  The 
White  House,"  as 
the  official  residence 
of  the  President  is 
called,  and  which  is 
usually  very  much 


NUKTII    KKONT   OF   THE   WHITE    HOUSE,    FROM    PENNSYLVANIA  'AVENTE. 


crowded     on     such 

occasions,  was  almost  deserted.     Only  a  few  Army  and  Xavy  officers  made 

their  appearance.     Many  Unionists  and  secessionists,  it  is  said,  declined  to 


1  Much  has  been  said  concerning  the  visit  to  Charleston,  at  about  this  time,  of  Caleb  Gushing,  the  distin 
guished  citizen  of  Massachusetts  who  presided  over  the  Democratic  Convention  in  that  city,  seven  months 
before.  One  of  the  most  careful  chroniclers  of  the  events  immediately  preceding,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
civil  war,  says,  that  he  was  sent  there  by  President  Buchanan  as  his  confidential  agent,  to  assure  the  insurgents 
that  he  would  not  "re-enforco  Major  Anderson,  nor  initiate  any  hostilities  against  the  Secessionists,  provided 
they  would  evince  a  like  pacific  spirit,  by  respecting  the  Federal  authority  down  to  the  close  of  his  Adminis 
tration."  He  says  the  time  of  this  mission  was  at  "  the  middle  of  December,"  and  that  General  Gushing,  having 
been  informed  that  his  being  a  ''representative  of  the  Federal  authority  had  cast  a  sudden  mildew  on  his  popu 
larity  in  that  t-tronghold  of  secession,"  remained  there  but  five  hours,  when  he  returned  to  Washington,  and  his 
report  was  "  the  theme  of  a  stormy  and  protracted  Cabinet  meeting."  See  The  American  Conflict:  by  Horace 
Greeley,  i.,409.  I  have  the  authority  of  a  letter  from  General  Gushing  himself,  duted  26th  March,  1S65,  for 
Baying,  that  the  single  and  sole  object  of  his  visit  (which  was  on  the  20th  of  December)  was  to  endeavor  to 
"  counteract  the  mad  scheme  of  secession."  The  visit  was  suggested  or  promoted  by  gentlemen  at  Washington 
of  the  very  highest  authority,  North  and  South,  including  the  President.  At  the  very  moment  when  General 
Gushing  entered  Charleston,  the  bells  were  beginning  to  ring,  and  salutes  to  be  fired,  in  honor  of  the  passage  of 
the  Ordinance  of  Secession.  Of  course  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  at  Charleston,  and  he  left  for  Washing 
ton  the  next  morning.  His  agency  went  no  further.  He  had  no  authority  to  say  any  thing  on  the  subject  of  tha 
lorte  or  of  hostilities,  and,  of  course,  ho  did  not. 


152  THE   ADMINISTRATION   STRENGTHENED. 

shake  hands  with  the  President.  He  appeared,  according  to  the  newspaper 
correspondents,  "  pale,  haggard,  care-worn,  and  weary."  The  city,  at  the 
same  time,  was  heaving  with  excitement.  Union  and  secession  cockades 
were  worn  by  men  and  women  in  the  streets.  Full  fifty  Union  flags  were 
displayed ;  and  that  night  a  police  force  was  detailed  to  guard  the  house 
where  the  "  Commissioners"  dwelt. 

Thus  terminated  the  diplomatic  correspondence  between  the  President 
of  the  Republic  and  the  Embassadors  of  a  treasonable  Oligarchy  in  one  of 
the  weaker  States  of  the  Union.    Having  occupied  the  ministerial 
residence  on  K  Street  ten  days,  they  left  it,a  and  returned  home, 
to    engage   in   the   work    of  conspiracy    with   all   their   might. 
Trescot  had  started  for  Charleston  on  New  Year's  Day. 

With  the  opening  of  the  new  year,  the  faith  of  the  people  in  the 
Administration  was  somewhat  revived  by  evidences  of  its  determination  to 
enforce  the  laws.  The  President,  under  better  counselors,  seemed  disposed 
to  do  his  duty  boldly.  It  was  evident  that  plans  for  the  seizure  of  Wash 
ington  City  and  the  Government  were  fast  ripening.  Lieutenant-General 
Scott  was  called  into  cabinet  meetings  for  consultation ;  and  measures  were 
taken  for  the  military  defense  of  the  Capital,  by  the  organization  of  the 
militia  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  concentration  at  Washington  of 
a  few  companies  of  artillery,  under  the  charge  of  Captain  Charles  P.  Stone,  of 
the  Ordnance  Department.  It  was  also  resolved  to  strengthen  the  garrisons 
of  the  forts  on  the  coasts  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  particularly  in  Charleston 
harbor.  For  the  latter  purpose,  the  naval  force  at  hand  was  totally  inade. 
quate.  The  steam-frigate  Brooklyn,  which  had  lately  arrived  at  Norfolk, 
after  a  three  years'  cruise,  was  the  only  armed  vessel  of  any  importance 
on  the  Atlantic  coast,  the  conspirators  having  managed  to  procure  the 
dispersion  of  the  Navy  in  distant  seas. 

In  view  of  the  threatening  aspect  of  affairs,  the  crew  of  the  Brooklyn 
was  not  discharged  on  her  arrival,  but  was  kept  in  readiness  for  duty. 
At  the  Cabinet  meeting  whose  proceedings  compelled  Secretary 
^ass  to  resign,6  it  was  proposed  to  send  her  with  troops  to 
Charleston.  The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  (Toucey),  it  is  alleged, 
refused  to  give  the  order  for  the  purpose,1  and  the  President  yielded ;  now, 
under  the  advice  of  General  Scott  and  Secretary  Holt,  orders  were  given  for 
her  to  be  made  ready  to  start  at  a  moment's  notice.  This  order  was  revealed 
to  the  conspirators.  Virginians  were  ready  to  seize  any  vessels  that  might 
attempt  to  leave  Norfolk  with  troops ;  and  the  light's  of  the  shore-beacons 
in  Charleston  harbor  were  extinguished,  and  the  buoys  that  marked  the 
channels  were  removed.  Informed  of  this  betrayal  of  his  secret,  the  Presi 
dent  countermanded  the  order;  and  when  Thompson,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  who  was  doubtless  the  criminal  in  the  matter,  threatened  the 
President  with  his  resignation  because  of  such  order,  the  latter  promised 
that  none  like  it  should  be  issued,  "  without  the  question  being  first  con 
sidered  and  decided  in  the  Cabinet."2 


1  "I  should  have  told  you  that  Toucey  has  refused  to  have  the  Brooklyn  sent  from  Monroe.'' — Autograph 
Letter  of  "  Charles'"  to  the  Editor  of  the  Charleston  Mercury,  December  22,  I860,  already  cited  on  page  143. 

2  Speech  of  ex-Secretary  Thompson  at  Oxford,  Mississippi. 


EXPEDITION   OF  THE   STAR   OF  TEE   WEST. 


153 


Pledges  to  men  had  to  yield  to  the  public  interest.  It  was  evident  that 
there  were  those  in  the  Cabinet  who  could  not  be  trusted.  Dangers  were 
thickening.  Fortunately,  the  President  listened  to  his  new  counselors, 
Secretary  Holt  and  General  Scott;  and  it  was  resolved  to  send  troops  and 
supplies  to  Fort  Sumtcr  by  a  more  secret  method  than  had  yet  been 
devised.  Instead  of  employing  a  vessel-of-war  for  the  purpose,  the  stanch 
merchant-steamer  Star  of  the  W<:st,  built  to  run  between  Xew  York  and 
Aspinwall,  on  the  California  route,  was  chartered  by  the  Government  and 
quickly  laden  with  supplies.  She  was  cleared  for  Xew  Orleans  and  Savannah, 
in  order  to  mislead  spies.  She  left  her  wharf  at  Xew  York  at  sunset  on  the 
5th  of  January,  and  far  down  the  bay  she  received,  under  the  cover  of  thick 
darkness,  four  officers  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  artillerists  and  marines, 
with  their  arms  and  ammunition.  She  crossed  the  bar  at  Sandy  Hook  at 
nine  o'clock  the  same  evening,  and  proceeded  to  sea  under  her  commander, 
Captain  John  McGowan. 

In  consequence  of  the  reception  of  a  letter  from  Major  Anderson,  stating 
that  he  regarded  himself  secure  in  his  position,  and  intelligence  that  the 


THE    BTAK    OK    THE    WEST. 


insurgents  had  erected  strong  batteries  at  the  mouth  of  Charleston  harbor 
that  could  destroy  an  unarmed  vessel,  the  Government,  with  the  concurrence 
of  General  Scott,  countermanded  the  order  for  the  sailing  of  the  Star  of  the 
"JF^tf.1  The  countermand  was  sent  by  the  General-in-chief  to  Colonel  H.  L. 
Scott,  of  his  staff,  then  in  Xew  York,  by  telegraph,  but  it  reached  that  city 
after  the  vessel  had  left.  It  is  a  pity  that  it  was  too  late.  The  American 
people  will  ever  recur  to  the  page  of  their  history  on  which  the  record  of 
that  expedition  is  written  with  regret  and  humiliation,  because  it  tells  the 
fact  that  their  powerful  Government  was  so  weakly  administered,  that  it 
seemed  necessary  to  resort  to  clandestine  acts  in  the  maintenance  of  its 
rightful  authority. 

The  South  Carolinians,  meanwhile,  were  making  preparations  to  attack 
Fort  Sumter  and  strengthen  their  position.  They  affected  to  regard  the 
refusal  of  the  President  to  hold  further  intercourse  with  their  arrogant 
representatives  as  .an  insult  to  their  "  Sovereign  State."  Every  man  in 


Letter  of  Secretary  Holt  to  ex-Secretary  Thompson,  March  5,  1861. 


154  VIGILANCE   IN  CHARLESTON. 

Charleston  and  vicinity,  liable  to  do  military  duty,  was  immediately  called 
to  arms.  Measures  were  taken  to  increase  the  strength  and  armament  of 
Fort  Moultrie.  A  garrison  composed  of  the  Charleston  Rifles,  under  Cap 
tain  J.  Johnson,  was  sent  to  occupy  Fort  Johnson.  The  erection  of  batteries 
that  would  command  the  ship-channel  of  the  harbor,  and  bear  heavily  upon 
Fort  Sumter,  wras  commenced  on  Morris  and  Sullivan's  Islands,  and  a  thou 
sand  negro  slaves  were  employed  in  the  work.  The  commander  of  Castle 
Pinckney  ordered  that  no  boat  should  approach  its  wharf-head  except  by 
permission.  The  city  of  Charleston  was  placed  under  the  protection  of  a 
military  patrol.  Look-out  boats  scouted  the  outer  harbor  at  night.  The 
telegraph  was  placed  under  the  most  rigid  censorship,  and  Major  Ander 
son  was  denied  all  communication  with  his  Government.  The  United 
States  Sub-treasurer  at  Charleston  (Pressley)  wras  forbidden  by  the  author 
ities  to  cash  any  more  drafts  from  Washington.1  The  National  Collector 
of  the  Port  (Colcock),  participating  in  the  treasonable  work,  announced 
that  all  vessels  from  and  for  ports  outside  of  South  Carolina  must  enter 
and  clear  at  Charleston.  The  Convention,  assuming  supreme  authority, 
passed  an  ordinance  on  the  1st  of  January,  defining  treason  against 
the  State ;  and  with  a  barbarous  intent  unknown  in  a*  long  obsolete 
British  law,  and  with  a  singular  misunderstanding  of  its  terms,  they 
declared  the  punishment  to  be  "  death,  without  benefit  of  the 
1'  clergy."2  On  that  morning"  they  had  received  intelligence 
from  the  "Commissioners"  at  Washington  that  their  mission 
would  be  fruitless ;  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Du  Pro,  in  the  prayer  at  the  opening 
of  the  Convention,  evidently  believing  that  war  was  inevitable,  supplicated 
the  Almighty,  saying : — "  Wilt  thou  bring  confusion  and  discomfiture  upon 
our  enemies,  and  wilt  thou  strengthen  the  hearts,  nerves,  and  arms  of  our 
sons  to  meet  this  great  fire."  Then  a  bust  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  cut  from 
pure  white  marble,  was  placed  on  the  table  before  the  President,  bearing  a 
curious  inscription  on  a  piece  of  paper.3 

Frantic  appeals  were  now  made  to  the  politicians  of  other  Southern  coast 
States  to  seize  the  forts  and  arsenals  of  the  Republic  within  their  borders. 
The  organs  of  the  South  Carolina  conspirators  begged  that  Fort  Pickens, 
and  the  Navy  Yard  and  fortifications  on  the  shores  of  Pensacola  Bay,  and 
Forts  Jefferson  and  Taylor,  at  the  extremity  of  the  Florida  Peninsula,  might 
be  seized  at  once — also  Fort  Morgan,  near  Mobile ;  for  a  grand  scheme  of 
piracy,  which  was  inaugurated  a  hundred  days  later,  was  then  in  embryo. 

1  This  dishonest  order  plagued  Governor  Pickens  in  a  way  that  provoked  much  merriment.    With  amazing 
assurance,  that  officer,  then  in  open  insurrection  against  his  Government,  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
for  three  thousand  dollars,  due  him  on  his  salary  as  Minister  to  Eussia.     The  Secretary  sent  him  a  draft  on  the 
Sub-treasurer  at  Charleston,  who,  pursuant  to  his  instructions,  refused  to  honor  it.     See  Harper's  History  oj 
the  Great  Rebellion,  page  36. 

2  The  term  in  the  old  criminal  law  was,  "  without  benefit  of  clergy,"  not  of  the  clergy ;  for  it  had  no  reference 
to  the  attendance  of  a  clergyman  upon  a  criminal,  of  which  favor  the  South  Carolinians  intended  to  deprive 
him.     It  was  a  law  in  Koman  Catholic  countries,  or  where  that  form  of  Christianity,  as  a  system,  prevailed. 
That  church  claimed  the  right  to  try  its  own  clergy  at  its  own  tribunals.     When  a  man  was  condemned,  and 
was  about  to  be  sentenced,  he  might,  if  he  had  the  right,  claim  that  he  was  a  clergyman,  and  he  was  relieved 
from  the  power  of  the  civil  law  and  remanded  to  the  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  under  the  privilege  called  "benefit 
of  clergy."     In  certain  cases  of  heinous  offenses,  this  "benefit  of  clergy  "  was  denied. 

3  Associated  Press  Dispatch  from  Charleston.  January  1,  1S61.      The  following  is  the  inscription: — "Truth. 
Justice,  and  Fraternity,  you  have  written  your  name  in  the  Book  of  Life,  fill  up  the  page  with  deliberation— 
that  which  is  written,  execute  quickly— the  day  is  far  spent,  the  night  is  at  hand.     Our  names  and  honor  summon 
.all  citizens  to  appear  on  the  parade-ground  for  inspection." 


THE   STAR    OF   THE    WEST  AT   CHARLESTON.  155 

Speaking  for  those  who,  true  to  the  instructions  of  their  ancestral  traditions, 
were  anxious  to  revive  that  species  of  maritime  enterprise  which  made 
Charleston  so  famous  and  so  rich  in  far  back  colonial  times,  the  Mercury 
shouted,  Seize  those  forts,  and  then  "the  commerce  of  the  North  in  the 
Gulf  will  fall  an  easy  prey  to  our  bold  privateers ;  and  California  gold  will 
pay  all  such  little  expenses  on  our  part."  There  was  a  wild  cry  for  some 
body ,  in  the  interest  of  the  conspirators,  to  capture  the  California  treasure- 
ships  ;  and  the  Louisianians  were  invoked  to  seize  the  mint  at  Xew  Orleans, 
and  to  put  into  the  coffers  of  their  State  its  precious  metals.  This  piracy — 
this  plunder — this  violation  of  every  principle  of  honor — were  counseled  by 
the  South  Carolina  conspirators  before  the  politicians  in  any  other  State  had 
€ven  held  a  convention  to  determine  on  secession !  It  was  the  spirit  of  an 
outlaw,  whose  life  is  forfeit  to  offended  justice,  armed  to  the  teeth,  and 
with  the  frenzy  of  desperation,  defying  all  power,  denying  all  right,  and, 
desiring  to  drag  every  one  down  to  his  own  base  level. 

Cut  off  by  the  insurgents  from  communication  with  his  Government, 
Major  Anderson  could  not  know  whether  his  appeals  for  re-enforcements 
and  supplies  had  been  heard  or  heeded.  Anxiously  all  eyes  in  Sumter  were 
hourly  turned  ocean-ward,  with  a  desire  to  see  some  vessel  bearing  the 
National  flag  that  might  promise  relief.  With  that  apparition 
they  were  greeted  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  January,"  when 
the  Star  of  the  West  was  seen  coming  over  the  bar,  and  making  her  way 
toward  the  fort.  She  had  arrived  at  the  bar  at  half-past  one  o'clock,  and 
finding  all  the  lights  put  out,  extinguished  her  own,  and  lay  there  until 
morning.  At  dawn  she  was  discovered  by  the  scouting  steamer,  General 
Clinch,  which  at  once  burned  colored  lights  as  signals,  passed  the  bar  into 
the  ship-channel,  and  ran  for  the  inner  harbor.  The  Star  of  the  Went  fol 
lowed  her,  after  putting  all  the  soldiers  below,  and  giving  her  the  appear 
ance  of  a  mere  merchant  vessel,  with  only  crew  enough  to  manage  her. 
The  deception  was  fruitless.  Her  name,  her  character,  and  the  object  of 
her  voyage,  had  already  been  made  known  to  the  authorities  of  South 
Carolina,  by  a  telegraphic  dispatch  to  the  Charleston  Mercury*  and  by 
Thompson,  one  of  the  conspirators  in  Buchanan's  Cabinet,  who*  was  after 
ward  an  accomplice  in  deeds  exceeding  in  depravity  of  conception  the 
darkest  in  the  annals  of  crime.  Some  spy  had  revealed  the  secret  to  this 
man,  and  he,  while  yet  in  the  pay  of  the  Government,  betrayed  it  to  its 
enemies.  "As  twas  writing  my  resignation,"  he  said,  "I  sent  a  dispatch 
to  Judge  Longstreet  that  the  Star  of  the  West  was  coining  with  re-enforce 
ments."*  He  also  gave  a  messenger  another  dispatch  to  be  sent,  in  which 
he  said,  as  if  by  authority,  "  Blow  the  Star  of  the  West  out  of  the  water." 
The  messenger  patriotically  withheld  the  dispatch. 

1  On  the  24th  of  January,  1SC1,  the  following  card  appeared  in  the  Xew  York  Tribune : — 

'•  I  have  to  state  that  I  am  no  spy,  as  charged  in  your  paper  of  this  morning.  I  utterly  detest  the  name,  and 
am  incapable  of  acting  the  part  of  one. 

"  I  have  been  for  some  time  employed  as  a  special  telegraph  news  reporter  for  a  few  Southern  newspapers, 
including  one  in  Charleston.  My  business  has  been  to  send  them,  when  occasion  required  it,  important  commer 
cial  intelligence  and  general  news  items  of  interest.  Hence,  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty  as  a  telegraph  reporter, 
I  did  send  an  account  of  the  sailing  of  the  Star  of  the  ll'<;,^.  If  that  was  treason,  all  I  have  to  say  in  conclusion 
is,  make  the  most  of  it.  "ALEXANDER  JONES. 

'•HERALD  OFFICE,  NEW  YORK,  January  23,  1S61." 

'  Spesch  at  Oxford,  Mississippi. 


156          ATTACK  ON  THE  STAR  OF  THE  WEST. 

The  insurgents  at  Charleston  were  thus  enabled  to  prepare  for  her  recep 
tion.  They  did  so ;  and  when  she  had  arrived  within  two  miles  of  Forts 
Moultrie  and  Sumter,  unsuspicious  of  danger,  a  shot  came  ricocheting 
across  her  bow  from  a  masked  battery  on  Morris  Island,  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  distant,  the  only  indication  of  its  presence  being  a  red  Palmetto  flag. 
The  battery  was  under  the  command  of  Major  Stevens,  Principal  of  the 
State  Military  School,  kept  in  the  Citadel  Academy,  and  his  gunners, 
called  the  Citadel  Cadets,  were  his  pupils.  He  was  supported  by  about 
two  hundred  .and  sixty-five  soldiers  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  J.  L.  Branch. 
The  National  flag  was  flying  over  the  Star  of  the  West  at  the  time,  and, 
as  soon  as  possible,  Captain  JklcGowan  displayed  a  large  American  ensign 
at  the  fore.  Of  course  the  assailants  had  no  respect  for  these  emblems  of 
the  Union,  and  for  ten  minutes,  while  the  vessel  went  forward,  a  continuous 
fire  was  kept  up  from  the  battery,  and  one  or  two  shots  were  hurled  at  her 
from  Fort  Moultrie,  without  producing  serious  damage.  The  heavy  balls 
flew  over  her  deck  and  through  her  rigging,  "  and  one,"  said  the  Captain, 
"  came  within  an  ace  of  carrying  away  our  rudder."  Fort  Moultrie,  well 
armed  and  garrisoned,  was  then  just  ahead,  and  from  it  two  steam-tugs 
were  seen  to  put  out,  with  an  armed  schooner,  to  intercept  the  Star  of 
the  West.  Hemmed  in,  and  exposed  to  a  cannonade  without  power  to  offer 
resistance  (for  his  vessel  was  unarmed),  Captain  McGowan  perceived  that 
his  ship  and  all  on  board  of  her  were  in  imminent  peril  of  capture  or 
destruction ;  so  he  turned  her  bow  ocean-ward,  after  seventeen  shots  had 
been  fired  at  her,  put  to  sea,  and  returned  to  New  York  on  the  12th.1  Major 
Stevens,  a  tall,  black-eyed,  black-bearded  young  man  of  thirty-five  years, 
was  exceedingly  boastful  of  his  feat  of  humbling  the  flag  of  his  country. 
The  friends  of  Colonel  Branch  claimed  the  infamy  for  him. 

The  garrison  in  Sumter  had  been  in  a  state  of  intense  excite'ment  during 

the  brief  time  when  the  Star  of  the  West  was  exposed  to  danger.     Major 

Anderson  was  ignorant  of  her  character  and  object,  and  of  the  salutary 

official  changes  at  Washington,  or  he  would  have  instantly  resented  the 

insult  to  the  old  flag.      Had  he  known  that  the  Executive  and  the  new 

members  of  his   Cabinet  approved  his  course,  and  were  trying 

"  Jj"g|ary  7'   to   aid   him — had   he    known    that,    only   two    days   before,*   a 

resolution  of  such  approval  had  passed  the  National  House  of 

Representatives  by  a  large  majority2 — the  Star  of  the  West  and  her  precious 

freight  of  men  and  stores  would  not  have  been  driven  to  sea  by  a  band  of 

less  than   three  hundred  insurgents.     He  was   ignorant  of  all    this.      She 

appeared  as  only  a  merchant  vessel  on  a  commercial  errand  to  Charleston. 

When  the  first  shot  was  fired  upon  her,  he  suspected  her  of  being  a  relief-ship. 

When  she  ran  up  the  old  ensign  at  the  fore,  he  could  no  longer  doubt.     His 

guns  bearing  on  Moultrie,  Morris  Island,  and  the  channel,  were  shotted  and 


1  Report  of  Captain  McGowan,  January  12,  1861. 

*  The  resolution,  offered  by  Mr.  Ad  rain  of  New  Jersey,  was  as  follows:— '•'•Resolved,  That  we  fully  approve  of 
the  bold  and  patriotic  act  of  Major  Anderson  in  withdrawing  from  Fort  Moultrie  to  Fort  Sumter,  and  of  the 
determination  of  the  President  to  maintain  that  fearless  officer  in  his  present  position;  and  that  we  will  sup 
port  the  President  in  all  constitutional  measures  to  enforce  the  laws  and  preserve  the  Union."  This  resolution 
was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  against  fifty-six.  For  the  yeas  and  nays,  see  Congres 
sional  Globe's  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Congress,  page  281. 


MAP   OF   CHARLESTON   HARBOR. 


157 


run  out,  and  his  officers  earnestly  desired  leave  to  fire.  His  peremptory 
instructions  restrained  him.  He  had  not  been  "attacked."  Yet  he  was  on 
the  point  of  assuming  the  responsibility  of  giving  the  word  to  fire,  because 


AND 

VICINITY 


/^KSHUTETS  TOLLY  ID. 


0-T.suMTER 


I      S     L     A     N     D 


(CHARLESTON 


MVP    OF    CHAUI.ESTOX    IIARROB    IN    JANUARY,    1S61. 

the  sovereignty  of  the  nation  was  insulted  by  this  dishonoring  of  its  flag, 
when  the  vessel  that  bore  it  turned  about  and  went  to  sea.   • 

This  assault  upon  the  Star  of  the  West  was  an  open  act  of  war.  The 
conspirators  of  South  Carolina  had  struck  the  first  blow  that  was  to  inaugu 
rate  a  destructive  civil  war — how  specially  destructive  to  themselves,  and 
to  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  innocent  people  in  the  Slave-labor  States 


158          EXULTATION  OF  THE  CONSPIRATORS. 

whom  they  deceived,  betrayed,  and  ruined,  let  the  history  of  that  war 
declare.  They  gloried  in  the  infamy.  The  Legislature  resolved  unanimously, 
"  That  this  General  Assembly  learns  with  pride  and  pleasure  of  the  successful 
resistance  this  day  by  the  troops  of  this  State,  acting  under  orders  of  the 
Governor,  to  an  attempt  to  re-enforce  Fort  Sumter."  The  organ  of  the  con 
spirators,  speaking  in  their  name,  said,  exultingly : — "  Yesterday,  the  9th  of 
January,  will  be  remembered  in  history.  Powder  has  been  burnt  over  the 
decree  of  our  State,  timber  has  been  crashed,  perhaps  blood  spilled.  The 
expulsion  of  the  Star  of  the  West  from  Charleston  harbor  yesterday 
morning,  was  the  opening  of  the  ball  of  revolution.  We  are  proud  that  our 
harbor  has  been  so  honored.  We  are  more  proud  that  the  State  of  South 
Carolina,  so  long,  so  bitterly,  so  contemptuously  reviled  and  scoffed  at,  above 
all  others,  should  thus  proudly  have  thrown  back  the  scoff  of  her  enemies. 
Intrenched  upon  her  soil,  she  has  spoken  from  the  mouth  of  her  cannon,  and 
not  from  the  mouths  of  scurrilous  demagogues,  fanatics,  and  scribblers. 
Contemned,  the  sanctity  of  her  waters  violated  with  hostile  purpose  of  re-en 
forcing  enemies  in  our  harbor,  she  has  not  hesitated  to  strike  the  first  blow, 
full  in  the  face  of  her  insulter.  Let  the  United  States  Government  bear,  or 
return  at  its  good-will,  the  blow  still  tingling  about  its  ears — the  fruit  of 
its  own  bandit  temerity.  We  would  not  exchange  or  recall  that  blow 
for  millions!  It  has  wiped  out  half  a  century  of  scorn  and  outrage.  Again 
South  Carolina  may  be  proud  of  her  historic  fame  and  ancestry,  without  a 
blush  upon  her  cheek  for  her  own  present  honor.  The  haughty  echo  of  her 
cannon  has  ere  this  reverberated  from  Maine  to  Texas,  through  every  hamlet 
of  the  North,  and  down  along  the  great  waters  of  the  Southwest.  The 
decree  has  gone  forth.  Upon  each  acre  of  the  peaceful  soil  of  the  South, 
armed  men  will  spring  up  as  the  sound  breaks  upon  their  ears ;  and  it  will 
be  found  that  every  word  of  our  insolent  foe  has  been,  indeed,  a  dragon's 
tooth  sown  for  their  destruction.  And  though  grisly  and  traitorous  ruffians 
may  cry  on  the  dogs  of  war,  and  treacherous  politicians  may  lend  their 
aid  in  deceptions,  South  Carolina  will  stand  under  her  own  Palmetto-tree, 
u,nterrified  by  the  snarling  growls  or  assaults  of  the  one,  undeceived  or 
deterred  by  the  wily  machinations  of  the  other.  And  if  that  red  seal  of 
blood  be  still  lacking  to  the  parchment  of  our  liberties,  and  blood  they  want 
—blood  they  shall  have — and  blood  enough  to  stamp  it  all  in  red.  For,  by 
the  God  of  our  fathers,  the  soil  of  South  Carolina  shall  be  free!™ 

Four  years  after  the  war  was  so  bbastfully  begun  by  these  South  Caro 
lina  conspirators,  it  had  made  Charleston  a  ghastly  ruin,  in  which  not  one  of 
these  men  remained ;  laid  Columbia,  the  capital  of  the  State,  in  ashes ; 
liberated  every  slave  within  the  borders  of  the  Commonwealth ;  wholly 
disorganized  society  ;  filled  the  land  with  the  mourning  of  the  deceived  and 
bereaved  people,  and  caused  a  large  number  of  those  who  signed  the 
Ordinance  of  Secession,  and  brought  the  curse  of  War's  desolation  upon  the 
innocent  inhabitants  of  most  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  to  become  fugitives 
from  their  homes,  utterly  ruined.2  The  retribution  was  terrible ! 


1  Cliarleston  Mercury,  January  10,  1861. 

2  A  letter  written  in  Charleston  just  after  the  National  troops  took  possession  of  it,  in  February,  1865,  con 
tained  the  following  paragraph: — 

"  The  wharves  looked  as  if  they  had  been  deserted  for  half  a  century— broken  down,  dilapidated,  grass  and 


HOSTILE  ATTITUDE   OF   SOUTH   CAROLINA.  159 

Major  Anderson  accepted  the  insult  to  his  country's  flag  as  an  act  of 
war,  and  promptly  sent  a  letter  to  Governor  Pickens  under  a  flay  of  truce , 
borne  by  Lieutenant  Hall,  as  he  would  to  a  belligerent  enemy,  stating  the 
fact  of  the  firing  upon  an  unarmed  vessel  bearing  the  flag  of  the  Republic, 
and  asking  him  whether  the  outrage  had  been  committed  in  obedience  to 
his  orders.  It  was  a  humiliating  but  unavoidable  confession  of  the  weak 
ness  of  the  Government,  when  a  commander  of  one  of  its  powerful  forts 
was  compelled,  with  a  supplicating  flag  of  truce,  to  seek  communication 
with  the  Governor  of  one  of  the  most  unimportant  members  of  the  Repub 
lic — the  proconsul  of  a  province.  Anderson  felt  the  humiliation  keenly ; 
but  acted  prudently.  His  demand  for  an  explanation  was  made  with  cour 
tesy,  but  with  firmness.  He  notified  the  Governor,  that  if  the  outrage  was 
not  disavowed  by  him  he  should  regard  it  as  an  act  of  war,  and  should  not, 
after  a  reasonable  time  allowed  for  the  return  of  his  messenger,  permit  any 
vessel  to  pa£s  within  range  of  his  guns.  "  In  order  to  save,  as  far  as  it  is  in 
my  power,"  he  said,  "the  shedding  of  blood,  I  beg  you  will  take  due  notifi 
cation  of  my  decision,  for  the  good  of  all  concerned/' 

Governor  Pickens  replied  promptly.  He  assumed  the  act  as  that  of  the 
State  of  South  Carolina ;  and  assured  Anderson  that  any  attempt  to  re-en 
force  Sumter  would  be  resisted.  He  left  him  to  decide  for  himself,  whether 
he  would  carry  out  his  threat  concerning 
the  interception  of  vessels  passing  the 
channel,  which  the  Governor  would  re 
gard  as  an  attempt  to  "impose  on  the 
State  the  conditions  of  a  conquered  pro 
vince."  The  affair  assumed  an  aspect  of 
too 'much  gravity  for  Anderson  to  act 
further  upon  his  sole  responsibility,  and 
he  resolved  to  refer  the  whole  subject  to 
his  Government.  He  wrote  to  Pic-kens 
to  that  effect,  expressing  a  hope  that  he 
would  not  prevent  the  bearer  of  lii> 
letter,  Lieutenant  Talbot,  proceeding  at  ^ 
once  to  Washington.  Xo  objections 
were  interposed,  and  Talbot  carried  to  FRANCIS  w.  PIOKKNS. 

the    North   the   first    full   tidings,   from 

Sumter,  of  the  outrage  upon  the  old  flag,  and  the  failure  of  the  expedition 
of  the  Star  of  the  We$t.  It  created  an  intense  excitement  in  the  Free-labor 

moss  peeping  up  between  the  pavements,  where  once  the  busy  feet  of  commerce  trode  incessantly.  The  ware 
houses  near  the  river;  the  streets  as  we  enter  them  ;  the  houses  and  the  stores  and  the  public  buildings — we 
look  at  them  and  hold  our  breaths  in  litter  amazement.  Every  step  we  take  increases  our  astonishment.  No 
pen,  no  pencil,  no  tongue  can  do  justice  to  the  scene.  No  imagination  can  conceive  of  the  utter  wreck,  the 
universal  ruin,  the  stupendous  desolation.  Ruin — ruin — ruin — above  and  below;  on  tlje  right  hand  and  the 
loft;  ruin,  ruin,  ruin,  everywhere  and  always — staring  at  us  from  every  paneless  window;  looking  out  at  us 
from  every  shell-torn  wall ;  glaring  at  us  from  every  battered  door  and  pillar  and  veranda  ;  crouching  beneath 
our  feet  mi  every  sidewalk.  Not  Pompeii,  nor  Herculaneum,  nor  Thebes,  nor  the  Nile,  have  ruins  so  complete, 
so  saddening,  so  plaintively  eloquent,  for  they  speak  to  us  of  an  a:re  not  ours,  and  long  ago  dead,  with  whose 
people  and  life  and  ide^is  we  have  no  sympathy  whatever.  But  here,  on  these  shattered  wrecks  of  houses — built 
in  our  own  style,  many  of  them  doing  credit  to  the  architecture  of  our  epoch — we  read  names  familiar  to  us  all ; 
telling  us  of  trades  and  professions  and  commercial  institutions  which  every  modern  city  reckons  up  by  the 
hundred  :  yet  dead,  dead,  dead  ;  as  silent  as  the  grave  of  the  Pharaohs,  as  deserted  as  the  bazars  of  the  merchant 
princes  of  Old  Tyre." 


160 


PREPARATIONS  TO  ATTACK  SUMTER, 


States,  composed  of  disgust  and  indignation — disgust,  because  the  Govern 
ment  had  attempted  to  do  secretly  and  deceptively  what  it  should  have  done 
openly  and  honorably,  with  a  strong  arm  ;  and  indignation,  because  traitors 
in  arms  had  dishonored  the  old  flag,  and  boasted  of  their  crime.  How  that 
indignation,  as  a  sentiment,  speedily  ripened  into  positive  action,  we  shall 
observe  hereafter. 

Two  days  after  the  attack  on  the  Star  of  the  West,  Governor  Pickens 
sent  his  Secretary  of  State,  Magrath,  and  Secretary  of  War,  Jamison,  as 
commissioners,  to  make  a  formal  demand  on  Major  Anderson  for  the 
immediate  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter  to  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina. 
They  tried  every  art  to  persuade  and  alarm  him,  but  in  vain.  He  assured 
them  that,  sooner  than  suffer  such  humiliation,  he  would  fire  the  magazine, 
and  blow  fort  and  garrison  in  the  air.  They  returned  fully  impressed  with 
the  conviction  that  only  by  starvation  or  assault  could  the  fortress  be  secured 
for  South  Carolina  ;  and,  to  prevent  re-enforcements  or  supplies  coming  into 
the  liarbor,  four  old  hulks  filled  with  stones  were  towed  into  the  ship- 
channel  that  afternoon  and  sunk.  From  that  time,  the  insurgents  worked 
diligently  in  preparations  to  attack  the  fort,  and  the  garrison  worked  as 
diligently  in  preparations  for  its  defense. 

Here,  besieged  in  Fort  Sumter,  we  will  leave  Major  Anderson  and  his 
little  band,  while  we  observe  the  progress  of  revolutionary  movements  in 
the  six  Gulf  States. 


SPREADING   OF  THE  SECESSION   MANIA. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

SECESSION  CONVENTIONS  IN  SIX  STATES. 

TIRING  the  first  thirty  days  of  the  year  1861,  the  disloyal 
politicians  in  six  States  of  the  UnioD,  following  the 
example  of  those  of  South  Carolina,  passed  ordinances  of 
secession  and  appointed  delegates  to  a  General  Convention 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  Southern  Confederacy.  These 
ordinances  were  passed  in  the  following  chronological  order : — In  Missis 
sippi,  on  the  9th  of  January;  in  Florida,  on  the  10th;  in  Alabama,  on  the 
llth;  in  Georgia,  on  the  19th;  in  Louisiana,  on  the  26th;  and  in  Texas,  on 
the  1st  of  February.  At  the  same  time,  large  numbers  of  "  Minute-men"  in 
Virginia,  under  the  control  of  ex-Governor  Henry  A.  Wise,  and  others  in 
Maryland,  under  leaders  unknown  to  the  public,  were  organized  and  drilled 
for  the  special  purpose  of  seizing  the  City  of  Washington,  and  the  Govern 
ment  buildings  and  archives  there. 

At  the  same  time  the  conspirators,  in  several  places,  acting  upon  the 
counsel  of  those  of  South  Carolina,  began  to  plunder  the  National  Govern 
ment,  by  seizing  its  property  in  the  name  of  certain  States  in  which  such 
property  happened  to  be.  Even  in  the  loyal  State  of  North  Carolina,  where 
there  was  no  pretense  of  secession  until  four  months  later,"  the  -May,  ISGL 
Governor,  John  W.  Ellis,  seized  the  forts  within  its  borders,''  and 
the  Arsenal  at  Fayettevilie  (into  which  Floyd  had  lately  thrown 
seventeen  thousand  small  arms,  with  accouterments  and  ammunition), 
under  the  pretext  of  securing  them  from  occupation  by  mobs.  He  then 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  President,  telling  him  that  if  he  (the  Governor)  could 
receive  assurances  that  no  troops  would  be  sent  to  that  State  prior  to  the 
4th  of  March  (the  day  fixed  upon  by  many  as  the  one  on  which  the  first 
blowr  at  the  life  of  the  Rf  public  should  be  struck),  then  all  would  be  "peace 
and  quiet"  there.  "If,  however,"  he  said,  "I  am  unable  to  get  such 
assurances,  I  will  not  undertake  to  answer  for  the  Consequences.  The  forts 
in  this  State  have  long  been  unoccupied,  and  these  being  garrisoned  at  this 
time  will  unquestionably  be  looked  upon  as  a  hostile  demonstration,  and 
will,  in  my  opinion,  certainly  be  resisted."1  The  State  troops  were  soon 
afterward  withdrawn  from  the  forts  and  the  Arsenal. 

The  politicians  of  Mississippi  were  the  first  to  follow  the  example  of 
those  of  South  Carolina.  We  have  already  observed  initial  movements 
there,  by  the  Legislature  authorizing  a  State  Convention,  and  the  appoint 
ment  of  Commissioners  to  visit  other  Slave-labor  States.2  Immediately 


"January  S. 


1  Letter  of  Governor  Ellis  to  th«  President,  January  12,  1S61. 

VOL.  I.— 11. 


a  See  page  59. 


162  MISSISSIPPI   ORATORS.— A  SPEECH. 

afterward  the  whole  State  was  excited  by  preparations  for  the  election  of 

delegates  to  the   Convention,  ninety-nine  in  number.      The   20th   day  of 

December  was  the  time  appointed  for  the  election,  and  the  7th 

of  January"  was  the  day  selected  for  the  Convention  to  assemble. 

Public  meetings  were  held  in  all  parts  of  the    State,  at  which  the  most 

distinguished  men  in  the  Commonwealth  were  speakers.1 

There  was  a  diversity  of  sentiment  among  the  politicians  in  Mississippi, 
mainly  on  the  question  whether  there  should  be  immediate,  separate,  and 
independent  State  action,  or  whether  they  should  wait  for  the  co-operation 
of  other  States.  Two  parties  were  formed,  one  called  the  "  Secessionists  " 
proper,  the  other  "  Co-operationists."  Each  was  zealous  in  a  bad  cause,  for 
all  had  determined  on  secession  in  some  form.  "  These  are  but  household 
quarrels,"  said  one  of  the  "Co-operationists;"  "as  against  Northern  combina 
tion  and  aggression,  we  are  united.  We  are  all  for  resistance.  We  differ  as 
to  the  mode ;  but  the  fell  spirit  of  Abolitionism  has  no  deadlier,  and,  we 
believe,  no  more  practical  foes  than  the  'Co-operationists'  of  the  South. 
We  are  willing  to  give  the  North  a  chance  to  say  whether  it  will  accept  or 


I  There  were  also  speakers  who  were  not  distinguished    beyond  their  own  immediate  neighborhoods. 
These  were  more  numerous  and  influential  than  the  others.     Their  persons,  manner,  and  language  commended 
them  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people  who  attended  these  gatherings.     Their  harangues  were  forcible  and 
inflammatory.    One  of  these  is  here  given  as  a  specimen  of  a  fair  average  of  the  speeches  made  to  the  people 
all  over  the  Slave-labor  States  at  this  time,  at  their  primary  gatherings.     It  is  quoted  from  The  Iron  Furnace; 
or,  Slavery  and  Secession :  by  the  Eev.  John  H.  Aughey,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  of  Mississippi  :— 

II  LADIES"  AND  GENTLEMEN:— I  am  a  secessionist  out  and  out;  voted  for  Jeff.  Davis  for  Governor  in  1850, 
icJien  iJie  same  issue  was  before  the  people."    After  announcing,  in  vile  language,  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
he  said: — "Shall  he  be  permitted  to  take  his  seat  on  Southern  soil?    No,  never!    I  will  volunteer  as  one  of 
thirty  thousand  to  butcher  the  villain  if  he  ever  sets  foot  on  slave  territory.     Secession  or  submission!     What 
patriot  would  hesitate  for  a  moment  which  to  choose?     No  true  son  of  Mississippi  would  brook  the  idea  of  sub 
mission  to  the  rule  of  the  baboon,  Abe  Lincoln — a  fifth-rate  lawyer,  a  broken  down  hack  of  a  politician,  a 
fanatic,  an  abolitionist.     I,  for  one,  would  prefer  an  hour  of  virtuous  liberty  to  a  whole  eternity  of  bondage 
under  Northern,  Yankee,  wooden  nutmeg  rule.    The  halter  is  the  only  argument  that  should  be  used  against  the 
Eubmissionists  [that  is  to  say,  loyal  men  in  the  State],  and  I  predict  that  it  will  soon,  very  soon,  be  in  force. 

"We  have  glorious  news  from  Tallahatchie.  Seven  Tory  submissionists  [Union  men]  were  hanged  there 
in  one  day,  and  the  so-called  Union  candidates,  having  the  wholesome  dread  of  hemp  before  their  eyes,  are  not 
canvassing  the  county ;  therefore  the  heretical  dogma  of  submission,  under  any  circumstances,  disgraces  not 
their  county.  Compromise!  Let  us  have  no  such  word  in  our  vocabulary.  .  .  .  No  concession  of  the  scared 
Yankees  will  now  prevent  secession. 

"  We  are  now  threatened  with  internecine  war.  The  Yankees  are  an  inferior  race ;  they  are  cowardly  in 
the  extreme.  They  are  descended  from  the  Puritan  stock,  who  never  bore  rule  in  any  nation.  We,  the 
descendants  of  the  Cavaliers,  are  the  Patricians;  they  the  Plebeians.  The  Cavaliers  have  always  been  the  rulers, 
the  Puritans  the  ruled.1'  Then  mounting  the  Delphic  stool  on  which  the  elder  lihett  (see  pasre  96)  had  prophe 
sied,  this  disciple  attempted  to  imitate  his  master.  "The  dastardly  Yankees,"  he  said,  "will  never  fight  us; 
but  if  they,  in  their  presumption  and  audacity,  venture  to  attack  us,  let  the  war  come — I  repeat  it,  let  it  come  I 
The  conflagration  of  their  burning  cities,  the  desolation  of  their  country,  and  the  slaughter  of  their  inhabitants, 
will  strike  the  nations  of  the  earth  dumb  with  astonishment,  and  serve  as  a  warning  to  future  ages,  that  the 
Blaveholding  Cavaliers  of  the  sunny  South  are  terrible  in  their  vengeance.  .  .  .  We  will  drive  back  to  their 
inhospitable  clime  every  Yankee  who  dares  to  pollute  our  shores  with  his  cloven  foot.  Go  he  must,  and,  if 
necessary,  with  the  blood-hounds  on  his  track.  The  scum  of  Europe  and  the  mudsills  of  Yankeedom  shall 
never  be  permitted  to  advance  a  step  south  of  36°  30',  the  old  Missouri  Compromise  line.  South  of  that  lati 
tude  is  ours — westward  to  the  Pacific.  With  my  heart  of  hearts  I  hate  a  Yankee;  and  I  will  make  my  children 
ewear  eternal  hatred  to  the  whole  Yankee  race. 

"  In  battle,  one  Southron  is  equivalent  to  ten  Northern  hirelings  ;  but  I  regard  it  a  waste  of  time  to  speak 
of  Yankees — they  deserve  not  our  attention.  .  .  .  We  have  a  genial  clime,  and  a  soil  of  uncommon  fertility. 
We  have  free  institutions — freedom  for  the  white  man,  bondage  for  the  black  man,  as  Nature  and  Nature's  God 
designed.  We  have  fair  women  and  brave  men.  The  lines  have  truly  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places.  We 
have  indeed  a  goodly  heritage.  The  only  evil  we  complain  of  is  our  bondage  to  the  Yankees,  through  th* 
Federal  Union.  Let  us  burst  these  shackles  from  our  limbs,  and  we  will  be  free  indeed." 

Four  years  later,  the  State  of  Mississippi  was  marked  in  every  direction  by  the  dark  lines  of  War's  deso 
lating  paths,  and  in  almost  every  district  wore  heard  the  anathemas  of  a  deceived,  betrayed,  and  suffering 
people,  against  those  Oligarchs  whose  folly  and  wickedness  had  laid  the  Commonwealth  and  its  thousands  of 
happy  homes  in  ruius. 


MISSISSIPPI  SECESSION   OPwDINANCE  163 

reject  the  terms  that  a  united  South  will  agree  upon.  If  accepted,  well  and 
good ;  if  rejected,  a  united  South  can  win  all  its  rights,  in  or  out  of  the 
Union."  The  Co-operationists,  swayed  by  reason  rather  than  by  passion, 
counseled  waiting  for  an  overt  act  of  wrong  on  the  part  of  the  incoming 
Administration,  before  raising  the  resisting  arm.  This  counsel  the  Hotspurs 
denounced  as  cowardly  in  thought  and  disastrous  in  practice ;  and  one  of 
their  poets,  with  bitter  irony,  put  submissive  words  into  their  mouths,  calcu 
lated  to  stir  up  the  passions  of  the  people.  He  said : — 

"  We  arc  waiting  till  Abe  Lincoln  grasps  the  purse  and  grasps  the  sicord, 
And  is  sending  down  upon  us  all  his  Abolition  horde; 
Waiting  till  our  friends  are  murdered,  and  our  towns  and  cities  sacked 
And  '  poor  Sambo '  gets  his  freedom — waiting  for  the  '  overt  act.' 
Waiting  till  our  fields  of  cotton,  cane,  and  rice,  and  waving  grain, 
All  are  desolate  and  lonely,  'neath  King  Cuffee'n  stupid  reign; 
Till  our  sisters,  wives,  and  daughters  are  compelled  to  his  embrace; 
Yes,  we're  waiting,  only  waiting,  for  this  horrible  disgrace." 

The  Convention  met  on  the  7th  of  January,  at  Jackson,  the  State 
capital,  a  town  of  about  two  thousand  five  hundred  inhabitants.  It  was 
found  that  only  about  one-third  of  the  members  were  "  Co-operationists." 
This  gave  the  "  Secessionists  "  entire  confidence,  and  made  them  exceedingly 
arrogant  in  speech  and  manner.  Efforts  were  made  by  the  "  Co-opera 
tionists"  to  postpone  action,  but  these  were  put  down  by  decided  majority 
votes.  This  unanimity  made  the  progress  of  business  easy. 

Delegates  from  South  Carolina  and  Alabama,  who  were  present,  were 
invited  to  seats  in  the  Convention,  and  were  received  with  great  applause. 
A  committee  appointed  to  draft  an  Ordinance  of  Secession,  having  their  work 
all  prepared  for  them  by  the  leaders,  were  not  long  at  their  labor.  An 
ordinance  was  reported  on  the  8th,  and  many  of  the  "Co-operationists" 
were  so  intimidated  by  threats,  that  on  the  final  vote  on  the  measure  only 
fifteen  had  the  courage  to  say  No.  It  was  adopted  on  the  9th,  by  a  vote  of 
eighty-four  ayes  and  fifteen  noes,  and  was  afterward  declared  unanimous. 
It  was  brief,  and  arranged  in  four  sections.  The  first  was  a  simple  declara 
tion,  in  set  terms,  that  all  connection  with  the  old  Union  was  forever  broken, 
and  that  Mississippi  was  a  "free,  sovereign,  and  independent  State."  The 
second  decreed  that  the  clause  in  the  State  Constitution,  which  required  all 
officers  to  take  an  onth  to  support  the  National  Constitution,  was  thereby 
"  abrogated  and  annulled."  The  third  declared  that  all  rights  acquired  and 
vested  under  the  National  Constitution,  or  any  act  of  Congress,  and  not 
incompatible  with  the  Ordinance,  should  remain  in  full  force  and  effect. 
The  fourth,  speaking  for  the  people  of  the  State,  said,  that  they  would 
"  consent  to  form  a  Federal  Union  with  such  of  the  States  as  have  seceded 
or  may  secede  from  the  Union  of  the  United  States  of  America,"  upon  the 
basis  of  the  National  Constitution,  with  a  qualification. 

The  next  step  was  to  assert  the  sovereignty  of  Mississippi  by  acts. 
That  sovereignty  was  formally  acknowledged  by  Judge  Samuel  J.  Gholson, 
of  the  United.  States  District  Court,  who  resigned  his  office  because  his 
State,  in  the  exercise  of  sovereignty,  had  cut  the  bond  that  held  it  to  the  old 
Union.  South  Carolina  was  formally  acknowledged  as  a  Sovereign  State 
by  the  younger  but  not  less  ardent  sister,  who,  like  herself,  had  a  popula- 


JL64  BLOCKADE   OF  THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER 

tion    of    slaves    greater   in   number   than   her    population    of   freemen — a 
distinction  then  not  vouchsafed  to  any  other  States  in  the  Union.1 

Steps  were  taken,  through  committees,  to  sever  effectually  every  con 
nection  with  the  National  Government,  excepting  the  convenient  one  of  the 
postal  system.  They  also  assumed  the  right  to  dictate  the  terms  upon 
•which  the  Mississippi  River  should  be  navigated,  in  the  portion  that  washed 

the   borders    of  their   commonwealth.     By  order   of  Governor 
'   Pettus>a    the    "Quitnian    Battery,"    as    a   company    of    frantic 

artillerists  called  themselves,  hastened  from  Jackson  to  Ticks- 
burg,  and  planted  cannon  on  the  bluff  there,  with  orders  to  hail  and  examine 

every  vessel   that    should    attempt  to  pass.     On  Tuesday,  the 

18th,6  the  river  steamer  A.  0.  Tyler  was  brought  to  by  a  shot 
athwart  her  bows,  and  others  were  soon  served  in  the  same  way.  This 
battery  was  a  representative  of  sovereignty,  which  the  arrogant  Oligarchs  in 
power  in  Mississippi  set  up,  in  the  very  wantonness  of  pride,  to  command 
the  obeisance  of  others.  The  act  was  sanctioned  by  the  confederated  con 
spirators  assembled  at  Montgomery  a  month  later,  who  followed  up  this 
attempt  to  blockade  the  great  aqueous  highway,  by  establishing  a  custom 
house  at  Seine's  Landing,  near  the  boundary  between  Mississippi  and 
Tennessee,  and  the  erection  of  other  batteries,  whose  guns  for  more  than 
two  years  obstructed  the  river-trade.  That  first  steamer  (A.  0.  Tyler] 
arrested  at  Yicksburg,  was  afterward  converted  into  a  national  gunboat, 
and  did  good  service  in  putting  down  the  rebellion.  The  blockade  at 
Vicksburg  created  intense  exasperation  among  the  navigators  of  the  river, 
and  threats  of  vengeance  came  down  from  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis.2 

Measures  were  taken  by  the  Convention,  and  by  the  Legislature,  which 
had  reassembled,  in  order  to  give  force  to  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  to 
increase  the  military  power  of  the  State.  The  Governor,  on  hearing  that 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  Louisiana  had  seized  the  National  Arsenal  at  Baton 
Rouge,  with  its  fifty  thousand  small  arms,  heavy  cannon,  and  munitions 
of  war,  sent  Colonel  C.  G.  Armistead,  to  ask  him  to  share  his  plunder  with 
his  brother  of  Mississippi,  "  on  such  terms  as  he  might  deem  just."  Pettus 
asked  for  ten  thousand  stand  of  arms.  He  got  eight  thousand  muskets,  one 
thousand  rifles,  six  24-pound  cannon  and  equipage,  and  a  considerable 
amount  of  ammunition.  Private  munificence  was  exhibited  to  some  degree. 
<c  Patriotic  citizens,"  said  the  Governor,  '  in  various  portions  of  the  State, 
have  extended  to  me  pecuniary  aid  in  arming  the  State.  Hon.  A.  G.  Brown 
sent  me  a  bill  on  New  York  for  five  hundred  dollars.  Colonel  Jeff.  Davis 
and  Hon.  Jacob  Thompson  have  guaranteed  the  payment,  in  May  or  June, 
of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  for  the  purchase  of  arms,"3 

1  The  population  of  South  Carolina,  in  1 S60,  was  703,812,  of  whom  402.541  were  slaves,  or  101,270  more 
slaves  than  free  persons.    The  population  of  Mississippi,  at  the  same  time,  was  791,396,  of  whom  486,696  were 
slaves,  or  82,000  more  slaves  than  free  persons. 

2  "Cincinnati  steamboat  men  have  been  thrown  Into  a  fever,  from  the  Governor  of  Mississippi  ordering 
cannon  and  a  military  company  to  Vicksburg,  to  hail  all  steamboats  passing.     The  Abolition  journals  of  Cincin 
nati  howl  over  it,  and  are  greatly  incensed.    We  would  like  to  see  them  help  themselves." — Memphis  Evening 
Argux,  January  17, 1861. 

*  Message  of  Governor  Pettus  to  the  Legislature  of  Mississippi,  January  15, 1861.  Brown  and  Davis  were 
members  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  left  their  seats  because  of  the  alleged  secession  of  their  State. 
Thompson  had  been  a  member  of  Buchanan's  Cabinet  until  the  day  before  the  Mississippi  Ordinance  of 
Secession  was  passed. 


FLORIDA   SECESSION   ORDINANCE.  165 

The  Legislature  of  Mississippi  levied  an  additional  tax  of  fifty  per  cent, 
upon  the  amount  of  the  existing  State  tax,  and  authorized  the  Governor  to 
borrow  two  millions  of  dollars  at  ten  per  cent,  interest,  payable  in  one, 
two,  and  three  years,  out  of  the  resources  of  the  State,  raised  chiefly  by 
taxation.  These  measures  alarmed  the  capitalists  and  large  property-holders, 
who  desired  no  change;  but  many  of  them  had  already  been  threatened 
with  personal  violence  and  confiscation  of  their  estates,  and  all  were  com 
pelled  to  acquiesce  in  any  measures  which  the  leaders  of  secession  saw  fit  to 
employ.  Already  a  system  of  terrorism,  sharp  and  implacable,  had  begun 
to  make  the  expressed  voice  of  the  people  of  Mississippi  a  "unit  in  favor  of 
secession."  By  these  means  the  conspirators  silenced  all  opposition.  The 
hopes  of  the  late  General  Quitman  (a  former  Governor  of  the  State),  a  native 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  one  of  the  most  persistent  and  dangerous 
enemies  of  American  nationality,  and  on  whom  fell  the  mantle  of  Calhoun, 
as  the  chief  leader  of  secessionists,  were  soon  realized.  The  State  was 
placed  in  an  attitude  of  open  revolt  in  the  maintenance  of  the  doctrine  of 
State  Supremacy. 

When  the  Mississippi  Convention  had  finished  the  business  for  which 
it  had  assembled,  it  adjourned  until  the  25th  of  March,  for  an  object  which 
will  be  hereafter  considered. 

Florida,  purchased  of  Spain  less  than  half  a  century  ago,"  and 
the  most  unimportant  State  in  the  Union  in  population1  and 
developed  resources,  was  early  made  the  theater  of  seditious  speech  and 
treasonable  action.  Its  politicians  at  home,  and  its  representatives  in 
Congress,  were  more  haughty  and  pretentious,  if  possible,  than  those  of 
South  Carolina,  in  the  assumption  of  supreme  sovereignty  for  their 
dependent  commonwealth,  as  we  have  already  observed.''  They  were 
anxious  to  establish  an  independent  empire  on  the  borders  of  the  Gulf;  and 
early  in  January,  1801,  they  met  in  Convention  to  take  the  first  step  in  the 
necessary  revolution,  by  declaring  Florida  no  longer  a  member  of  the 
Union.  The  Convention  assembled  at  Tallahassee,  the  capital  of  the  State, 
a  city  of  less  than  two  thousand  inhabitants,  on  the  3d,  when  Colonel  Petit 
was  chosen  temporary  Chairman,  and  Bishop  Rutledge  invoked  the  blessing 
of  God  upon  the  wicked  acts  it  was  about  to  perform.  The  number 
of  its  members  was  sixty-nine;  and  it  was  found  that  not  more  than  one- 
third  of  them  were  "Co-operationists."  The  Legislature,  fully  prepared  to 
work  in  harmony  with  the  Convention,  assembled  at  the  same  place  on 
the  5th. 

On  the  10th  of  January  an  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  adopted  by  the 
Florida  Convention,  by  a  vote  of  sixty-two  ayes  to  seven  noes.  Its  pre 
amble  set  forth,  that  "all  hopes  of  preserving  the  L'nion  upon  terms 
consistent  with  the  safety  and  honor  of  the  Slaveholding  States"  had 
been  "fully  dissipated;"  and  it  was  declared  that  the  State,  acting  in  its 
"  sovereign  capacity,"  was,  by  this  ordinance,  withdrawn  from  the  Union, 
and  Florida  had  become  "  a  sovereign  and  independent  nation."  On  the 
following  day  the  ordinance  was  signed,  amidst  the  firing  of  cannon  and  the 


1  The  population  of  the  State,  in  I860,  was  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty -nine,  of 
•whom  only  a  little  more  than  half  were  white.  a  See  page  60. 


DAVID   L.    YULEE 


166  PERFIDY   OF   UNITED   STATES   SENATORS. 

ringing  of  bells ;  and  the  glad  tidings  were  sent  swiftly  over  the  Gulf  States 
and  other  portions  of  the  Union  by  the  telegraph.  The  representatives  of 
Florida  in  the  National  Congress,  and  especially  Senators  Mallory  and 
Yulee,  received  the  announcement  with  great  satisfaction,  but,  unlike  the 
South  Carolina  Senators,  they  remained  in  their  seats,  that  they  might  be 
more  mischievous  to  the  Government  than  they  could  be  out  of 
them-  On  the  14tV  Yulee  wrote  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Con 
vention,  from  his  desk  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  to  that  effect, 
saying : — "  It  seemed  to  be  the  opinion  [at  a  conference  of  conspirators  in 

Washington]  that  if  we  left  here,  force, 
loan,  and  volunteer  bills  might  be 
passed,  which  would  put  Mr,  Lincoln 
in  immediate  condition  for  hostilities ; 
whereas,  by  remaining  in  our  places 
until  the  4th  of  March,  it  is  thought  we 
can  keep  the  hands  of  Mr.  Buchanan 
tied,  and  disable  the  Republicans  from 
effecting  any  legislation  which  will 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  incoming 
Administration."1  Other  Senators,  as 
we  shall  observe  hereafter,  wrote  simi 
lar  letters  to  their  constituents.  These 
infamous  epistles  were  sent  free  in 
the  national  mail,  under  the  official 
frank  of  their  more  infamous  authors. 

The  Convention  at  Tallahassee  was  addressed  by  L.  W.  Spratt,  of  South 
Carolina,  the  great  advocate  of  the  African  Slave-trade.  Delegates  were 
appointed  to  a  general  convention,  to  assemble  at  Montgomery,  Alabama; 
and  other  measures  were  adopted  to  secure  the  "sovereignty"  of  Florida. 
The  Legislature  authorized  the  emission  of  the  sum  of  five  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars  in  treasury  notes ;  and  they  defined  the  crime  of  treason 
against  the  State  to  be,  in  one  form,  the  holding  of  office  under  the  National 
Government,  in  the  event  of  actual  collision  between  the  State  and  Govern 
ment  troops,  to  be  punished  with  death. 

Before  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed,  the  Governor  of  Florida 
(Perry)  made  secret  preparations,  in  conjunction  with  the  Governor  of 
Alabama,  to  seize  the  national  property  within  the  limits  of  the  State. 
This  consisted  of  Fort  Jefferson,  at  the  Garden  Key,  Tortugas;  Fort 
Taylor,  at  Key  West ;  Forts  Pickens,  McRee,  and  Barrancas,  near  the 
entrance  to  Pensacola  Bay  (a  fine  expanse  of  water  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Escainbia  River),  and  the  Navy  Yard,  at  the  little  village  of  Warrington, 
five  miles  from  the  entrance  to  the  Bay.  He  ascertained  that  the  defenders 
and  defenses  of  Forts  Jefferson  and  Taylor  were  too  strong  for  any  force 
Florida  might  send  against  them,  so  he  prudently  confined  his  efforts  to  the 
harbor  of  Pensacola.  He  issued  orders,  immediately  after  the  passage  of  the 


1  The  original  letter,  now  before  me,  was  found  at  Fernandina,  Florida,  when  the  national  troops  took 
possession  of  that  place,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1862.  It  was  directed  to  u  Joseph  Finegan,  Esq.  (Sovereignty 
Convention),  Tallahassee,  Florida." 


THE   FLORIDA   FORTS  IN  DANGER. 


167 


AKA.M    J.    SI.KMMKI'.. 


Ordinance  of  Secession,  for  the  seizure  of  these  forts  and  the  Navy  Yard, 
and  disloyal  men  were  in  them  ready  to  assist  in  the  work.  Fortunately,  the 
command  of  the  forts  was  in  the  hands  of  Lieutenant  A.  J.  Slemrner,  a  young, 
brave,  and  patriotic  officer  from  Pennsyl 
vania,  who,  like  Anderson,  could  not  be 
moved  by  the  threats  or  persuasions  of  the 
enemies  of  his  country.  Governor  Perry 
had  already  been  to  New  York  and  Phila 
delphia,  and  purchased  one  thousand  May- 
nard  rifles  and  five  thousand  Minie  mus 
kets  for  the  use  of  the  State. 

Fort  Pickens  is  on  Santa  Rosa  Island, 
and  commands  the  entrance  to  the  harbor. 
Nearly  opposite,  but  a  little  farther  sea 
ward,  on  a  low  sand-spit,  is  Fort  McRee. 
Across  from  Fort  Pickens,  on  the  main,  is 
Fort  Barrancas,  built  by  the  Spaniards, 
taken  from  them  by  General  Jackson,  and 
repaired  by  the  National  Government. 

Nearly  a  mile  eastward  of  the  Barrancas,  was  the  Navy  Yard  (since 
destroyed),  then  in  charge  of  Commodore  Armstrong,  a  veteran  captain  in 
the  Navy. 

Rumors  reached  Slemmer  early  in  January,  that  the  works  in  his  charge 
would  be  seized  by  the  Governor  of  Florida,  when  a  Secession  Ordinance 
should  be  passed.  He  believed  the  report  when  word  came  to  him  that  the 
forts  near  Mobile  had  been  surrendered  to  Alabama  troops,  and  he  resolved 
to  take  immediate  measures  to  save  those  at  Pensacola,  if  possible.  On  the 
7th  of  January,  accompanied  by  Lieutenant  Oilman,  he  called  on  Commo 
dore  Armstrong,  and  asked  his  co-operation.  Armstrong  declined  it, 
because  he  had  no  special  orders  to  do  so.  Slemmer  resolved  to  do  what 
he  might  without  his  co-operation,  and  lie  at  once  took  measures  to  secure 
the  powder  in  Fort  Barrancas,  which  he  had  been  occupying.  He  caused 
the  batteries  to  be  put  in  working  order,  strengthened  the  guard, 
and,  at  sunset,"  raised  the  draw-bridge.  That  evening  about  '  Ja^r7  8' 
twenty  armed  men  approached  the  fort,  with  the  evident  inten 
tion  of  seizing  it.  They  were  discovered  by  a  sentinel,  and  an  alarm  was 
given.  Perceiving  this,  and  finding  the  draw-bridge  up,  the  insurgents 
fled. 

On  the  following  day,  Slemmer  received  instructions  from  his  Govern 
ment  to  use  all  diligence  and  power  for  the  protection  of  the  forts.  At  the 
same  time,  Armstrong  received  instructions  to  co-operate  with  Slemmer. 
These  commanders  held  a  consultation.  It  was  agreed  that  the  small  gar 
rison  could  hold  only  one  fort,  and  it  was  resolved  that  that  one  should  be 
Pickens,  the  stronger,  less  liable  to  be  attacked,  and  the  one  that  might 
most  easily  be  re-enforced.  It  was  arranged  for  Armstrong  to  send  the 
steamship  Wyundot,  Captain  Berry  man,  to  take  the  little  garrison  from  the 
Barrancas  to  Fort  Pickens,  increase  the  force  by  as  many  men  as  could  be 
spared  from  the  Navy  Yard,  and  order  the  ~Wyan<1ot  and  the  store-ship 
Supply,  Captain  Walke,  to  anchor  under  the  guns  of  the  fort. 


168 


OCCUPATION   OF   FORT   PICKETS. 


Slemmer  was  soon  ready  for  the  movement,  but  Armstrong  failed  to 
perform  an  essential  part  of  his  business  in  the  matter.  He  could  only 
send  the  garrison  over  in  the  "Wycmdot^  and  furnish  some  provisions  from 
the  Navy  Yard.  Slemmer  went  immediately  to  the  Commodore  for  an 
explanation.  He  charged  Armstrong  with  deception,  and  inquired,  indig 
nantly,  how  he  supposed  the  fort,  calculated  for  twelve  hundred  men,  could 
be  defended  with  only  forty-six,  the  actual  number  of  the  garrison  then  fit 
for  duty  ?  Slemmer  did  not  know  that  the  Commandant  was  surrounded 
by  traitors  just  ready  to  desert  their  flag  and  betray  their  country.  He  did 
not  know  that  when,  at  that  interview,  he  sent  for  Commander  E.  Farrand 
and  Lieutenant  F.  B.  Renshaw,  and  ordered  them  to  see  that  the  plans 
agreed  upon  by  himself  and  Slemmer  were  carried  out,  these  very  men  were 
then  foremost  at  that  post  in  disloyal  designs.  It  was  even  so. 


•  January, 
1861. 


FORTS   P10KENS   AND    M^KEE.1 

On  the  morning  of  the  10th,a  the  "Wyandot  carried  over 
Slemmer's  command.  All  night  long,  and  all  the  day  before, 
the  men,  the  officers  and  their  wives,  and  even  children,  worked 
without  ceasing  in  preparations  for  removal.  For  twenty-four  hours  no  one 
slept,  or  even  rested.  Among  those  workers  were  the  heroic  wives  of 
Lieutenants  Slemmer  and  Gilman,  who  bore  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
history  of  Fort  Pickens  at  that  time,  because  of  their  labor  and  fortitude. 

The  families  at  the  Barrancas  were  embarked  on  the  Supply,  while  the 
war-ship  bore  the  garrison.  The  latter  landed  at  Pickens  at  ten  o'clock, 
and  was  re-enforced  by  only  about  thirty  ordinary  seamen  from  the  Navy 
Yard,  who  were  without  arms  or  equipments  of  any  kind.  Nearly  all  the 
powder  and  fixed  ammunition  at  the  Barrancas  were  also  carried  over  to 
the  strong  fort  on  the  same  day ;  and  all  the  guns  of  the  abandoned  post, 


Fort  McRee,  on  the  main,  is  seeu  in  the  distance,  on  the  extreme  right  of  the  picture. 


CAPTURE  OF  THE  NAVY  YARD.  169 

fifteen  in  number,  bearing  upon  the  bay,  were,  by  Slemmer's  orders,  spiked 
in  position,  for  he  had  neither  time  nor  means  to  dismount  them. 

The  arrangement  for  the  Wyandot  and  Supply  to  anchor  near  Fort 
Pickens  was  not  carried  out ;  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  Slemmer,  he  was 
informed  that  Commodore  Armstrong  had  ordered  both  vessels  away,  the 
former  to  the  south  side  of  Cuba,  and  the  latter  to  her  final  destination  off 
Vera  Cruz,  with  coals  and  stores  for  the  Home  Squadron  there.  He  remon 
strated,  but  in  vain.  That  night  Captain  Berryman  sent  him  some  muskets 
which  he  had  procured,  with  difficulty,  from  the  Navy  Yard,  to  arm  his 
seamen ;  and  Captain  AValkc  assured  him  that  he  would  afford  him  all  the 
aid  in  his  power,  in  defense  of  the  fort. 

On  the  morning  of  the  10th,  about  five  hundred  troops  of  Florida  and 
Alabama,  and  a  few  from  Mississippi,  commanded  by  Colonel  Lomax,  of 
Florida,  appeared  at  the  Navy  Yard,  and  demanded  its  immediate  surrender 
to  the  authorities  of  the  State.  Armstrong  was  powerless.  Of  the  sixty 
officers  and  men  under  his  command,  he  afterward  said,  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  them  were  disloyal,  and  some  were  active  traitors.  Commander 
Farrand  was  actually  among  the  insurgents  who  demanded  the  surrender 


NAVY    YARD    AT   PEX8ACOLA. 


of  the  post.  These  disloyal  men  would  have  revolted,  had  the  Commodore 
made  the  least  resistance,  and  he  was  compelled  to  yield.  Lieutenant 
Renshaw,  the  Flag-officer,  and  one  of  the  leading  traitors  there,  immediately 
ordered  the  National  standard  to  be  pulled  down.  When  at  a  little  less 
than  half-mast  it  was  allowed  to  fall  suddenly  to  the  ground,  when  a  greater 
portion  of  the  men  present,  led  by  Lieutenant  .T.  R.  Eggleston,  of  the 
~}Vt/<tn<loti  greeted  the  dishonored  banner  with  derisive  shouts.  The  com 
mand  of  the  Navy  Yard  was  then  given  to  Captain  V.  M.  Randolph,  another 
naval  officer  who  had  abandoned  his  flag;  and  the  post,  with  ordnance  stores 
valued  at  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  thousand  dollars,  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  authorities  of  Florida,1  At  the  same  time  Colonel  Lomax  and  some 
men  took  possession  of  Fort  Barrancas,  and  restored  the  disabled  guns;  and 
another  party  was  soon  afterward  thrown  into  Fort  McRee.  Farrand, 
Renshaw,  Randolph,  and  Eggleston  had  already  sent  their  resignations  to 


1  When  Colonel  Lomax  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  Navy  Yard,  Commodore  Armstrong  said,  that  he 
had  served  his  country  faithfully  all  his  life:  that  he  loved  the  old  flag,  and  had  protected  it  in  sunshine  and  in 
»torm ;  that  his  heart  was  bleeding  because  of  the  distractions  of  his  country ;  that  he  was  a  native  of  Ken 
tucky,  which  had  no  navy,  and,  therefore,  he  knew  not  where  he  should  go  to  make  a  livelihood  in  his  declining 
years;  that  he  had  no  adequate  force  to  make  resistance,  and  if  he  had.  he  would  rather  lose  his  own  life  than 
to  destroy  the  lives  of  his  countrymen.  Tie  then  said  that  he  "relinquished  his  authority  to  the  representative* 
of  the  Sovereignty  of  Florida."— I'ensacola  Observer,  January  15,  1S61. 


170 


SEIZURE   OF   NATIONAL    PROPERTY. 


Washington;  and  they  were  accepted  before  the  Government  was  aware  of 
their  treachery.  At  the  same  time,  the  insolent  leaders  of  the  insurrection 
in  Florida  sent  word  to  the  President,  through  Senators  Yulee  and  Mallory, 
that  the  seizure  of  the  public  property  within  the  limits  of  the  State  of 
Florida  was  in  consequence  of  the  transfer  of  troops  to  Fort  Pickens,  and 
proposed  a  restoration  when  that  strong  fortress  should  be  evacuated  ! 

Already,   even  before  the   Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed,  Florida 
"January 6,   troops  h^id  seized  the   Chattahoochee  Arsenal/   with   five    hun- 
1S61-       dred  thousand  rounds  of  musket  cartridges,  three  hundred  thou 
sand  rifle  cartridges,  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  gunpowder.1     They  had 
i  january  7.    also  taken  possession  of  Fort  Marion,6  at  St.  Augustine,  formerly 
the  Castle  of  St.  Mark,  which  was  built  by  the  Spaniards  more 
than  a  hundred  years  before.      It  contained  an  arsenal,  the   contents   of 
which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  insurgents.     On  the  15th  they  seized  the 

Coast-survey  schooner  F.  W.  Dana, 
and  appropriated  it  to  their  use. 

Slemmer  heard  of  the  movement 
at  the  Navy  Yard  through  Com 
mander  Walke,  who  had  received 
instructions  from  Armstrong  to  put 
to  sea  immediately  with  the  Sup- 
ply,  if  the  post  should  be  attacked. 
Slemmer  sent  a  note  at  once  to  the 
Commodore,  saying  : — "  I  am  in 
formed  that  the  Navy  Yard  is 
besieged.  In  case  you  determine  to 
capitulate,  please  send  the  marines 
to  strengthen  my  command."  To 
this  he  received  no  reply.  A  few 
hours  afterward,  he  saw  the  old  flag 
go  down  at  the  Navy  Yard,  and 
heard,  with  mingled  surprise  and 
indignation,  that  the  Commodore 
A  CASEMATE  IN  FORT  PICKENS.  <>  had  ordered  the  Wyandot  to  -co 

operate    with    Fort    Pickens  under 

strange    restrictions.      Captain    Berryman  was  ordered  not  to  fire  a  shot 
unless  his  vessel  should  be  attacked.     In  case  Pickens  should  be  assailed, 


1  The  Arsenal  was  in  the  keeping  of  Sergeant  Powell  and  three  men.     Powell  had  been  in  the  employment 
of  the  Government  for  twenty  years.    He  made  the  following  speech  on  this  occasion  :— 

"OFFICERS  AND  SOLDIERS: — Five  minutes  ago  I  was  the  commander  of  this  Arsenal;  but,  in  consequence 
of  the  weakness  of  my  commnnd,  I  am  obliged  to  surrender — an  act  which  I  have  hitherto  never  had  to  do 
during  my  whole  military  career.  If  I  had  a  force  equal  to,  or  half  the  strength  of  yours,  I'll  be  d — d  if  you 
would  have  ever  entered  that  gate  until  you  walked  over  my  dead  body.  You  see  that  I  have  but  three  men. 
These  are  laborers,  and  cannot  contend  against  you.  I  now  consider  myself  a  prisoner  of  war.  Take  my  sword, 
Captain  Jones." 

Jones  returned  it.  saying,  "Take  your  sword;  you  are  too  brave  a  man  to  disarm."  The  troops  then  gave 
three  cheers  for  Powell.— -Correspondence  of  the  Jacksonville  Southern  Confederacy. 

2  To  those  not  familiar  with  military  names,  it  may  be  proper  to  observe,  that  a  casemate  is  a  vaulted 
chamber  in  a  fort,  with  an  opening  outward  for  the  use  of  cannon,  and  spacious  enough,  in  large  regular  works, 
to  be  used  as  quarters  and  hospital  to  a  garrison  during  war.     They  are  made  bomb-proof,  so  that  these  terrible 
missiles  cannot  enter  them.     Our  little  picture  is  a  good  delineation  of  a  casemate,  seen  from  the  interior  of  the 
fort.     Sometimes  they  are  made  only  large  enough  for  a  gun  and  the  gunners. 


THE   TEMPTER   AND  THE   TEMPTED.          *  171 

the  Wyandot  must  be  a  passive  spectator !     She  might  as  well  have  been  on 
the  south  side  of  Cuba,  if  these  instructions  had  been  obeyed. 

Slemmer  was  now  left  to  his  own  resources.  He  was  in  one  of  the 
strongest  forts  on  the  Gulf  coast,  but  his  garrison  consisted  of  only  eighty 
one  souls,  officers  and  men.  There  were  fifty-four  guns  in  position  and  fit 
for  service,  and  five  months'  provisions.  The  casemate  guns,  of  which 
there  were  fourteen  in  order,  were  32-pounders.  Beside  these  there  were 
seven  12-pounders;  one  8-inch  sea-coast  howitzer;  one  10-inch  columbiad; 
six  field-pieces ;  and  twenty-five  24-pound  howitzers  for  flank  defense.  The 
garrison  labored  unceasingly  in  putting  every  thing  in  working  order,  doing 
guard  duty,  &c.,  for  an  attack  was  hourly  expected. 

On  the  12th,"  Captain  Randolph,  Major  Marks,  and  Lieutenant  Rut- 
ledge,  all  in  military  dress,  presented  themselves  at  the  gate  of 
Fort  Pickens,  and  demanded  admittance  as  citizens  of  Florida     *  ^"gj1"7' 
and   Alabama.      They   were  not  permitted  to  enter,  but  were 
allowed   an    interview  at  the  gate  with  Lieutenant  Slemmer.     "  We  have 
been  sent,"  they  said,   "  to  demand  a  peaceable  surrender  of  this  fort,  by 
the  Governors  of  Florida  and  Alabama."     Slemmer  immediately  replied: — 
"  I  am  here  under  the   orders  of  the   President  of  the  United  States,  and 
by  direction  of  the  General-in-chief  of  the  Army;  and  I  recognize  no  right 
of  any  governor  to  demand  a  surrender  of  United  States  property.     My 
orders   are   distinct  and  explicit."     The  intruders  immediately   withdrew, 
and  Slemmer  prepared  for  an  attack  that  night,  which  was  dark  and  stormv. 
All  night  long  sentinels  were  posted  beyond  the  glacis,1  and  the  men  stood 
at  their  guns. 

On  the  loth,*  Colonel  William  II.  Chase,  of  Massachusetts, 
formerly  of  the  United  States  Army,  but  now  in  command  of  all 
of  the  insurgent  troops  in  Florida,  accompanied  by  Farrand,  of  the  Xavy, 
who  had  just  abandoned  his  flag,  asked  for  an  interview  with  Slemmer. 
It  was  granted.  Chase  informed  him  that  he  had  full  power  from  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  Florida  to  take  possession  of  the  fort,  and  he  desired  to  do  so 
without  bloodshed.  "  You  can  contribute  toward  this  desirable  result,"  he 
said,  "and,  in  my  judgment,  without  the  sacrifice  of  the  honor  of  yourself  or 
your  gallant  officers  and  men."  He  said  he  came  to  demand  a  surrender  of 
the  fort,  which  was  to  be  held  subject  to  any  agreement  that  might  be 
entered  into  between  the  Commissioners  of  the  State  (Senators  Mallory  and 
Yulee,  then  in  their  official  seats  at  Washington)  and  the  National 
Government.  "  I  would  not  counsel  you  to  do  aught  that  was  dishonorable," 
said  the  tempter.  "On  the  contrary,  to  do  that  which  will  secure  for 
you  the  commendation  of  all  Christian  gentlemen."  ILe  entreated  him 
not  to  be  guilty  of  allowing  fraternal  blood  to  flow.  "  Listen  to  me  then," 
he  continued,  "  I  beg  of  you,  and  act  with  me  in  preventing  the  shedding 
of  the  blood  of  your  brethren."  He  promised  Slemmer  and  his  garrison 
comfortable  quarters  at  Barrancas,  if  he  would  only  prove  unfaithful  to 
his  trust;  and,  in  conclusion,  he  said: — "Consider  this  well,  and  take  care 
that  you  will  so  act  as  to  have  no  fearful  recollections  of  a  tragedy 


1  The  placis  is  the  superior  slope  of  the  parapet  of  the  covered  way,  extended  in  a  gentle  declivity  to  the 
surrounding  country. 


172  .*  CONVENTION  IN  ALABAMA. 

that  you  might  have  avoided,  but  rather  to  make  the  present  moment 
one  .of  the  most  glorious,  because  Christian-like,  of  your  life."  The 
Serpent  could  not  charm  the  Patriot.  Slemmer  did  so  act  as  to  make  it 
the  most  glorious  moment  of  his  life,  by  first  consulting  with  the  Com 
manders  of  the  Wyandot  and  Supply,  and  then  positively  refusing  to  give 
up  the  fort.1 

The  insurgents  on  shore  now  commenced  preparations  for  assailing  Fort 
Pickens,  and  on  the  1 8th,a  Chase  again  demanded  its  surrender, 
saying   ne   was   re-enforced,   and  more   troops   were   expected. 
Slemmer   remained  firm.     Then   commenced  the   siege   of  Fort 
Pickens,  which  will  be  considered  hereafter. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring  near  Pensacola,2  the  Convention  at 
Tallahassee  were  working  in  harmony  with  the  Legislature.  They  appointed 
Senators  Mallory  and  Yulee,  then  in  the  Senate  at  Washington,  commis 
sioners  to  treat  with  the  National  Government  concerning  its  property 
within  the  limits  of  Florida,  and  also  appointed  delegates  to  a  general 
convention  at  Montgomery. 

On  the  day  after  the  Florida  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed,  the 
politicians  of  Alabama  assembled  at  Montgomery,  the  capital  of  the  State, 
committed  a  similar  act  of  folly  and  crime.  We  have  already  observed 
the  preliminary  movements  to  this  end,  in  that  State,  with  Governor  Moore 
as  an  active  leader.3  The  election  of  members  of  the  Convention  was  held 
on  the  24th  of  December,6  and,  as  in  other  States,  the  politicians 
were  divided  into  two  classes,  namely,  "immediate  Secession 
ists"  and  "  Co-operationists."  The  latter  were  also  divided;  one  party 
wishing  the  co-operation  of  all  the  Slave-labor  States,  and  the  other  caring 
only  for  the  co-operation  of  the  Cotton-producing  States.  The  vote,  as 
reported,  for  all  but  ten  counties  was,  for  secession,  twenty-four  thousand 
four  hundred  and  forty-five ;  and  for  co-operation,  thirty-three  thousand  six 
hundred  and  eighty-five.  Of  the  ten  counties,  some  were  for  secession  and 
others  for  co-operation. 

The  Convention  assembled  at  Montgomery  on  the  Yth  of 
January/  Every  county  in  the  State  was  represented,  and  the 
number  of  delegates  was  one  hundred.  William  Brooks  was  chosen  Presi 
dent.  On  the  same  day,  the  representatives  of  Alabama4  in  the  Congress 
at  Washington,  on  consultation,  resolved  to  telegraph  to  the  Convention 
their  advice  to  pass  an  ordinance  of  secession  immediately. 

The  Convention  was  marked  by  a  powerful  infusion  of  Union  sentiment, 
which  found  expression  in  attempts  to  postpone  secession  under  the  plea  of 
the  desirableness  of  co-operation.  Resolutions  of  this  tenor  were  offered  on 
the  9th ;  while  another  proposed  that  the  powers  of  the  State  should  be 
pledged  to  "  resist  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Government  to 

1  The  foregoing  brief  narrative  of  the  movements  in  Pensacola  Bay,  immediately  after  the  passage  of  the 
Ordinance  of  Secession  by  the  Convention  of  Florida  politicians,  is  compiled  chiefly  from  the  manuscript  report 
of  Lieutenant  Slemmer,  now  before  me,  made  to  Adjutant-General  Thomas,  on  the  26th  of  January,  1861. 

2  The  city  of  Pensacola  is  eight  miles  northeastward  from  the  Navy  Yard,  and  about  ten  miles  from  the 
entrance  to  the  bay.     It  contained  about  two  thousand  inhabitants  at  the  time  we  are  considering. 

3  See  page  60. 

4  Benjamin  Fitzpatrick  and  Clement  C.  Clay,  Senators;  James  L.  Pugh,  David  Clopton,  Sydenhani  Moore, 
George  S.  Houston,  W.  R.  W.  Cobb,  J.  A.  Stallworth,  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  Representatives. 


A   DISCORDANT  ASSEMBLAGE.  173 

coerce  any  seceding  State."  After  discussing  various  resolutions,  it  was 
finally  resolved,  by  unanimous  vote,  that  the  people  of  Alabama  would  not 
submit  to  a  Republican  administration. 

On  the  10th  an  ordinance  of  secession  was  reported  by  the  majority  of 
u  Committee  of  Thirteen,  appointed  to  draft  it,  of  whom  seven  were  "Seces 
sionists"  and  six  "  Co-operationists."  It  was  longer  than  any  of  its 
predecessors,  but  similar  to  them  in  tenor.  With  that  groundless  sophistry 
and  reckless  disregard  of  the  plainest  historic  truths  which  characterized 
the  speeches  and  writings  of  the  men  of  the  State  Supremacy  school,  they 
assumed  that  their  commonwealth,  which  was  created  by  the  National 
Government,  first  a  Territory"  and  then  a  State,6  had  "delegated 
sovereign  powers"  to  that  Government,  which  were  now  &  * 
"  resumed  and  vested  in  the  people  of  the  State  of  Alabama." 
This  was  an  act  as  sensible  as  if  Man  should  say  to  his  Maker,  "  I  will 
resume  the  life  I  have  delegated  to  you,  vest  it  in  myself,  and  henceforth 
there  shall  be  no  union  between  us  !"  The  ordinance  favored  the  formation 
of  a  confederacy  of  Slave-labor  States,  and  formally  invited  the  others  to 
send  delegates  to  meet  those  of  Alabama  in  convention,  on  the  4th  of 
February,  in  the  city  of  Montgomery,  for  consultation  on  the  subject. 

The  Alabama  Convention  was  not  harmonious.  Some  seriously  dis 
cordant  notes  were  heard.  The  Union  element  was  not  inclined  to  yield 
every  thing  without  a  struggle.  There  was  a  minority  report  on  secession  ; 
and  many  men  were  favorable  to  postponing  action  altogether,  until  the 
4th  of  March,  with  the  hope  of  preserving  the  Union.  So 
doubtful  was  the  final  result,  that,  so  late  as  the  1 7th,'  a  dispatch 
was  sent  by  telegraph  to  the  Alabama  delegation  in  Congress,  to 
retain  their  seats  until  further  advised.  This  opposition  exasperated  the 
ultra-secessionists,  and  they  became  very  violent.  When,  in  the  debate 
that  followed  the  presentation  of  the  two  reports,  Nicholas  Davis,  of 
Huntsville,  in  northern  Alabama,  declared  his  belief  that  the  people  of  that 
section  would  not  submit  to  any  disunion  schemes  of  the  Convention, 
William  L.  Yancey,  whose  business  for  many  months  had  been  to  "fire  the 
Southern  heart  and  precipitate  the  Cotton  States  into  revolution,"  sprang  to 
his  feet,  denounced  the  people  of  northern  Alabama  as  "Tories,  traitors, 
and  rebels,"  and  said  they  ought  to  be  coerced  into  submission.  This  high 
criminal,  who  had  talked  so  defiantly  about  the  sin  of  "coercion"  on  the 
part  of  the  National  Government,  when  its  authority  was  resisted,  was  now 
ready  to  use  brute  force  to  coerce  Union-loving  and  loyal  men  into  submis 
sion  to  the  treasonable  schemes  of  a  few  politicians  assembled  in  convention  ! 
Mr.  Davis  was  not  intimidated  by  Yancey's  bluster,  but  calmly  assured  the 
conspirators  that  the  people  of  his  section  would  be  ready  to  meet  their 
enemies  on  the  line,  and  decide  the  issue  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

The  final  vote  on  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  taken  at  about  two 
o'clock  on  the  llth/  and  resulted  in  sixtv-one  ayes  to  thirty- 

—.,  .  J  .  d  January. 

nine  noes.      Ihis  result  created  great  joy.      An  immense  mass 
meeting    was  held  in  front  of  the    State   House   in   Montgomery,    during 
the  afternoon ;  and  weak-kneed    "  Co-operationists,"    carried  away  by   the 
popular   enthusiasm,  pledged    their  constituents  to   a  support  of  the  ordi 
nance.      A   secession   flag,    which    the    women   of   Montgomery   had   pre- 


January, 
1861.  " 


174  REJOICINGS   IN   ALABAMA. 

sented  to  the  Convention,  was  raised  over  the  Capitol,  amidst  the  firing  of 
cannon,  the  ringing  of  bells,  and  the  shouts  of  the  multitude.  There  was  no 
less  excitement  in  Mobile,  whither  the  news  went  with  lightning  speed.  It 
continued  until  late  at  night,  and  was  intensified  by  intelligence  of  the  so- 
called  secession  of  Florida.  Government  Street  was  filled  with  jubilant 
people  of  both  sexes.  They  gathered  in  a  dense  crowd  around  a  "  secession 
pole "  that  had  been  erected  at  the  foot  of  the  street,  from  the  top  of  which 
a  "Southern  banner"  was  displayed.  A  hundred  and  one  guns  were  fired 
in  honor  of  Alabama,  and  fifteen  in  praise  of  Florida,  The  bells  rang  out 
merrily,  and  all  business  ceased.  The  crowd  formed  in  procession,  and 
followed  a  band  of  music,  that  played  the  "  Southern  Marseillaise,"  to  the 
Custom  House,  over  which  waved  a  Lone-star  flag.  On  all  sides  was  seen 
the  fluttering  of  women's  handkerchiefs,  and  the  voices  of  men  speaking  to 
surging  crowds  were  heard,  while  the  military  thronged  the  public  square 
and  there  fired  salvos  of  artillery.  At  night  the  city  blazed  with  fire 
works  of  every  description;  and  the  most  popular  pieces  of  all  were  the 
"Southern  Cross"  and  the  "Lone  Star." 

When  the  excitement  of  the  hour  was  over,  the  Convention  resumed  its 
sittings.  From  beginning  to  end,  these  were  in  secret,  and  the  public  were 
indulged  with  only  a  crumb  of  intelligence  that  fell  occasionally  from  the 
table  of  the  conclave.  It  leaked  out,  however,  that  the  Union  feeling  in  the 
Convention  was  potently  mischievous  toward  the  ultra-secessionists,  and 
that  several  delegates  absolutely  refused  to  sign  the  Ordinance,  unless  its 
action  should  be  postponed  until  the  4th  of  March. 

The  Convention  adjourned  on  the  30th  of  January  until  the  4th  of  March, 
after  having  resolved  against  the  opening  of  the  African  Slave-trade,  and 
making  provision  for  the  due  execution  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession.  At 
the  close  of  the  session,  the  President  (Brooks)  said  : — "  The  people  of 
Alabama  are  now  independent ;  sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  they  will  continue 
free,  sovereign,  and  independent.  Dismiss  the  idea  of  a  reconstruction  of 
the  old  Union,  npw  and  forever."  Soon  afterward,  Thomas  J.  Judge  was 
appointed  a  commissioner  to  negotiate  with  the  National  Government  for 
the  surrender  efforts  and  other  property  to  the  authorities  of  Alabama. 

A  week  before  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed  at  Montgomery, 
volunteer  troops,  in  accordance  with  an  arrangement  made  with  the 
Governors  of  Louisiana  and  Georgia,  and  by  order  of  the  Governor  of 
Alabama,  had  seized  the  Arsenal  at  Mount  Vernon,  about  thirty  miles 
above  Mobile,  and  Fort  Morgan,  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Mobile, 
about  thirty  miles  below  the  city.  The  expedition  to  seize  the  Mount 
Vernon  Arsenal  was  commanded  by  Captain  Danville  Leadbetter,  of  the 
United  States  Engineer  Corps,  and  a  native  of  the  State  of  Maine.1  For 
this  purpose  the  Governor  made  him  his  special  aid,  with  the  rank  of 
colonel.  He  left  Mobile  on  the  steamer  Selma,  at  near  midnight 
of  the  3d  of  January  ,a  with  four  companies  of  volunteers,  and  at 
dawn  surprised  Captain  Reno,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Arsenal.  By 


1  This  man  appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  fiendish  of  the  persecutors  of  Union  men  in  Alabama  and 
East  Tennessee,  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war.  His  atrocious  conduct  in  East  Tennessee  is  darkly  portrayed 
by  Governor  Brownlow,  in  his  Sketches  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Decline  of  Secession,  page  311. 


PLUNDERING.— MADNESS   IN  MOBILE.  175 

this  seizure,  the  Alabama  insurgents  came  into  possession  of  fifteen  thousand 
stand  of  arms,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  powder,  some 
cannon,  and  a  large  quantity  of  munitions  of  war. 

At  about  the  same  hour  on  the  night  of  the  3d,  when  Leadbetter  started 
for  Mount  Vernon,  Colonel  John  B.  Todd,  acting  under  the  orders  of  Gov 
ernor  Moore,  embarked,  at  Mobile,  in  the  steamer  Kate  Dale*  with  four 
companies  of  volunteers,  for  Fort  Morgan.  They  reached  it  at  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  at  five  o'clock  they  wer^,  in  possession  of 
the  post.  The  garrison  not  only  made  n.o  resistance  out  an  eye-witness 
declared,  that  when  the  State  flag  of  Alabama  v.as  unfurled,  in  place  of  the 
National  flag  that  had  been  pulled  down,  they  cheered  it.  It  was  a  blood 
less  conquest.  One  of  the  insurgents,  writing  at  the  fort  that  morning, 
said : — "  We  found  here  about  five  thousand  shot  and  shell ;  and  we  are 
ready  to  receive  any  distinguished  strangers  the  Government  may  see  fit  to 
send  on  a  visit  to  us."  Fort  Gaines,  on  Dauphin  Island,  opposite  Fort 
Morgan,  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  insurgents  at  the  same  time ;  and, 
on  the  same  morning,  the  revenue  cutter  JLewis  Cass  was  surrendered  to 
T.  Sandford,  the  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Mobile,  by  Commander  Morrison. 
On  the  9th,  five  companies  of  volunteers  left  Montgomery  for  Pensacola,  at 
the  request  of  the  Governor  of  Florida,  to  assist  the  insurgents  of  that 
State  in  the  seizure  of  the  forts  and  Navy  Yard.  These  formed  a  part  of  the 
force  to  whom  Armstrong  surrendered  his  post 

When  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed,  the  Mayor  of  Mobile 
culK-d  for  a  thousand  laborers,  to  prepare  defenses  for  the  city.  These, 
and  an  ample  amount  of  money,  were  at  once  supplied.  The  Common 
Council,  in  a  frenzy  of  passion  and  folly,  passed  an  ordinance,  changing 
the  names  of  several  streets  of  the  city  which  bore  those  of  Free-labor 
States  to  those  of  places  in  the  Slave-labor  States.  The  name  of  Maine 
Street  was  changed  to  Palmetto  Street ;  of  Massachusetts  Street,  to  Charles 
ton  Street;  of  New  Hampshire  Street,  to  Augusta  Street;  Rhode  Island 
Street,  to  Savannah  Street,  <fcc.  And  now,  at  the  close  of  January,  the 
authorities  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  of  its  commercial  metropolis,  were 
fully  committed  to  the  great  work  of  treason,  which  brought  terrible  suffer 
ing  upon  large  numbers  of  the  peaceful  citizens  of  that  Commonwealth. 

A  week  after  the  so-called  secession  of  Alabama,  the  politicians  of 
Georgia,  assembled  in  convention  at  Milledgeville,  the  State  capital,  an 
nounced  to  the  world  that  that  Commonwealth  was  no  longer  a  part  of  the 
great  American  Republic.  We  have  already  observed  the  preliminary 
secession  movements  in  that  State,2  under  the  manipulations  of  Toombs, 
Cobb,  Iverson,  and  some  less  notable  conspirators,  and  the  reluctance  of  the 
greater  portion  of  the  more  intelligent  citizens  to  follow  the  lead  of  these 
selfish  and  ambitious  men.  Their  exalted  positions  (one  a  Cabinet  Minister, 
and  the  other  two  named,  National  Senators)  enabled  them  to  work  pow 
erfully,  through  subservient  politicians,  in  deceiving,  misleading,  exciting, 
and  coercing  the  people.  Toombs,  in  particular,  whose  thirst  for  power  and 


1  This  vessel  was  destroyed  by  a  terrible  powder  explosion,  at  Mobile,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  25th  of 
May,  1S65. 

3  Pages  51  to  5S,  inclusive. 


176  THE  GEORGIANS  MISLED. 

personal  aggrandizement,  and  contempt  for  "common  folks,"  made  him 
impatient  of  the  popular  will,  and  consequently  inimical  to  republican  insti 
tutions,  was  unceasing  in  his  efforts  to  destroy  the  confidence  of  the  people 
in  their  free  Government.  He  employed  falsehood,  menaces,  and  the  low 
arts  of  the  mere  demagogue  in  his  unholy  work ;  and  he  seems  to  have 
been  the  chief  manager,  while  at  home  and  in  Washington,  of  a  system  of 
subtle  terrorism,  by  which  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Convention, 
called  to  consider  secession,  were  chosen  from  among  the  politicians  of  his 
disloyal  school.  In  Georgia,  as  in  Virginia,  and  most  of  the  other  Slave- 
labor  States,  there  were  "Minute-men,"  "Vigilance  Committees,"  "Defense 
Committees,"  "  Brotherhoods,"  "  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,"  "  Southern 
Rights,"  and  other  associations,  all  working  in  the  interest  of  the  conspira 
tors.  These  were  used  before  the  election,  and  at  the  ballot-box,  with  great 
effect.  "It  is  a  notable  fact,"  said  a  leading  Georgia  journal,1  "that 
wherever  the  '  Minute-men,'  as  they  are  called,  have  had  an  organization, 
those  counties  have  voted,  by  large  majorities,  for  immediate  secession. 
Those  that  they  could  not  control  by  persuasion  and  coaxing,  they  dra 
gooned  and  bullied  by  threats,  jeers,  and  sneers.  By  this  means,  thousands 

of  food  citizens  were  induced  to  vote  the  immediate  secession  ticket  through 

'  . 

timidity.     Besides,  the  towns  and  cities  have  been  flooded  with  sensation 

dispatches  and  inflammatory  rumors,  manufactured  in  Washington  City  for 
the  especial  occasion.  To  be  candid,  there  has  never  been  as  much  lying 
and  bullying  practiced,  in  the  same  length  of  time,  since  the  destruction  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  as  has  in  the  recent  campaign.  The  fault  has  been 
at  Washington  City ;  from  that  cesspool  have  emanated  all  the  abomina 
tions  that  ever  cursed  a  free  people." 

The  Georgia  journalist  told  the  truth  at  that  time,  for  Washington  City 
was,  indeed,  the  place  where  the  voltaic  pile ,  of  active  treason  was  to  be 

found,  in  the  persons  of  the  congregated  conspirators  in  Congress. 

So  early  as  the  13th  of  December,"  about  twenty  of  them 
assembled  at  night,  at  the  rooms  of  Reuben  Davis,  a  Representative  from 
Mississippi  (one  of  the  Committee  of  Thirty-three'2),  and  there  signed  the 
following  letter  to  their  constituents : — "  The  argument  is  exhausted.  All 
hope  of  relief  in  the  Union,  through  the  agency  of  Committees,  Con 
gressional  legislation,  or  Constitutional  amendments,  is  extinguished,  and 
we  trust  the  South  will  not  be  deceived  by  appearances  or  the  pretense 
of  new  guaranties.  The  Republicans  are  resolute  in  the  purpose  to  grant 
nothing  that  will  or  ought  to  satisfy  the  South.  We  are  satisfied  the 
honor,  safety,  and  independence  of  the  Southern  people  are  to  be  found 
only  in  a  Southern  Confederacy — a  result  to  be  obtained  only  by  separate 
State  secession — and  that  the  sole  and  primary  aim.  of  each  Slaveholding 
State  ought  to  be  its  speedy  and  absolute  separation  from  an  unnatural  and 
hostile  Union." 

This  declaration,  signed  by  a  large  number  of  Senators  and  Repre 
sentatives,  was  scattered  broadcast  over  the  Slave-labor  States,  first  by 
the  telegraph  and  then  in  print.3  It  was  one  of  the  many  u  sensation  dis- 


1  The  Southern  Confederacy,  published  at  Atlanta,  Georgia.  *  See  page  ST. 

*  The  document  was  sent  out  by  Reuben  Davis,  with  the  following  statement :— "  Signed  by  J.  L.  Pugh,  David 


A   DEMAGOGUE'S   LABOPwS.  177 

patches "  spoken  of  by  the  Georgia  journalist.  It  was  also  presented  by 
Mr.  Davis  to  the  Committee  of  Thirty-three,  with  the  expectation,  no  doubt, 
that  it  would  frighten  the  Northern  men  into  acquiescence  with  the  demands 
of  those  of  the  South.  It  failed  to  do  so ;  and  on  the  22d," 
Toombs,  who  had  lately  arrived  in  Washington,  telegraphed  an 
address  to  the  people  of  Georgia,  half  true  and  half  untrue,  in 
which  he  said : — "  I  came  here  to  secure  your  constitutional  rights,  or  to 
demonstrate  to  you  that  you  can  get  no  guaranties  for  these  rights  from 
your  Northern  confederates."  lie  then  informed  them  that  the  Repub 
licans  in  the  Senate  Committee  of  Thirteen  were,  to  a  man,  against  making 
any  concessions  to  the  South.  "  That  Committee  is  controlled,"  he  said, 
"  by  Black  Republicans — your  enemies — who  only  seek  to  amuse  you  with 
delusive  hopes  until  your  election,  in  order  that  you  may  defeat  the  friends 
of  secession.  ...  I  now  tell  you,  upon  the  faith  of  a  true  man,  that 
all  further  looking  to  the  North,  for  security  for  your  constitutional  rights 
in  the  Union,  ought  to  be  instantly  abandoned.  It  is  fraught  with  nothing 
but  ruin  to  yourselves  and  your  posterity.  Secession  by  the  4th  of  March 
next,  should  be  thundered  from  the  ballot-box  by  the  unanimous  voice  of 
Georgia  on  the  2d  day  of  January  next.  Such  a  voice  will  be  your  best 
guaranty  for  LIBERTY,  SECURITY,  TRANQUILLITY,  and  GLORY." 

This  dispatch  produced,  as  it  was  intended  to,  a  profound  sensation  in 
Georgia.     "  It  has  unsettled  conservatives  here/'  telegraphed*  a 

i  r     •   •  f    **i  AT  T\        \  i  ri  •**  '  December  26. 

number  of  citizens  ot  Atlanta,  to  Messrs.  Douglas  and  Cntten- 
den.  "Is  there  any  hope  for  Southern  rights  in  the  Union?"  they 
inquired.  "  We  are  for  the  Union  of  our  fathers,"  they  said,  "  if  Southern 
rights  can  be  preserved  in  it.  If  not,  we  are  for  secession.  Can  we  yet 
hope  the  Union  will  be  preserved  on  this  principle?  You  are  looked  to  in 
this  emergency.  Give  us  your  views  by  dispatch." 

"We  have  hopes,"  said  Douglas  and  Crittenden,  in  reply/  "that  the 
rights  of  the   South,  and  of  every  State  and   section,  may   be 
protected  within  the  Union.       Don't  give  up  the  ship.      Don't 
despair  of  the  Union." 

To  counteract  this  assurance,  Toombs  and  others  sent  numerous  "  sensa 
tion  dispatches"  to  Georgia.    On  the  first  of  January/  the  day 
before  the  election  was  to  be  held,  Toombs  telegraphed  to  an 
Augusta  journal,2  saying: — "The  Cabinet  is  broken  up;  Mr.  Floyd,  Secre 
tary  of  War,  and  Mr.  Thompson,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  having  resigned.3 
A  coercive  policy  has  been  adopted  by  the  Administration.     Mr.  Holt,  of 
Kentucky,  our  bitter  foe,  has  been  made  Secretary  of  War.     Fort  Pulaski 


Clopton,  Sydenham  Moore,  .T.  L.  M.  Curry,  and  J.  A.  Stall  worth,  of  Alabama;  Alfred  Iverson,  J.  W.  II.  Under 
wood,  L.  J.  Gartrell,  James  Jackson  (Senator  Toombs  is  not  here,  but  would  sign),  John  J.  Jones,  and  Martin  J. 
Crawford,  of  Georgia;  George  S.  Hawkins,  of  Florida.  It  is  understood  Mr.  Yulee  will  sign  it  T.  C.  Hindman, 
of  Arkansas.  Both  Senators  will  also  sign  it  A.  G.  Brown.  William  Barksdale,  O.  K.  Singleton,  and  Reuben 
Davis,  of  Mississippi ;  Burton  Cragie  and  Thomas  Iluftin,  of  North  Carolina;  J.  P.  Benjamin  and  JoJIn  M.  Lan- 
drum,  of  Louisiana.  Mr.  Slidell  will  also  sign  it.  Senators  Wigfall  and  Ilemphill.  of  Texas,  will  sign  it"  Davis 
added,  that  he  had  presented  it  to  the  Committee  of  Thirty-three,  when  a  resolution  was  passed  '•  avowedly 
Intended  to  counteract  the  effect  of  the  above  dispatch,  aud,  as  I  believe,  to  mislead  the  people  of  the  South." 

1  William  Ezzard,  Robert  W.  Sims,  James  P.  Hambleton,  Thomas  S.  Powell,  S.  G.  Howell,  J.  A.  Hayden, 
G.  W.  Adair,  and  11.  C.  Honlester. 

a   True  Democrat. 

*  This  was  eight  days  before  Thompson  resigned. 
VOL.  I.— 12. 


178  SECESSION"  OF  GEORGIA  DECLARED. 

is  in  danger.  The  Abolitionists  are  defiant."  On  the  same  day,  Jamison, 
President  of  the  South  Carolina  Convention,  telegraphed  to  the  Mayor  of 
JVIacon,  saying : — "  Holt  has  been  appointed  Secretary  of  War.  He  is  for 
coercion,  and  war  is  inevitable.  We  believe  re-enforcements  are  on  the 
way.  We  shall  prevent  their  entrance  into  the  harbor  at  every  hazard." 

These  dispatches,  it  is  said,  decided  the  wavering  vote  of  Georgia  for 
secession,  at  the  election  on  the  2d  of  January,  and  yet  the  ballot-box 
showed  twenty-five  or  thirty-thousand  fewer  votes  than  usual,  and  of  these 
there  was  a  decided  majority  against  immediate  secession.  "With  all  the 
appliances  brought  to  bear,  with  all  the  fierce,  rushing,  maddening  events 
of  the  hour,  the  Co-operationists  had  a  majority,  notwithstanding  that  falling 
off  of  nearly  thirty  thousand,  and  an  absolute  majority  of  elected  dele 
gates  of  twenty-nine.  But,  upon  assembling,  by  coaxing,  bullying,  and  all 
other  arts,  the  majority  was  changed."1 

The  Convention  assembled  on  the  16th  of  January.  The  number  of 
members  was  two  hundred  and  ninety-five.  They  chose  Mr.  Crawford  to 
preside  over  them,  and  invited  Commissioners  Orr,  of  South  Carolina,  and 
Shorter,  of  Alabama,  to  seats  in  the  Convention.  On  the  18th,  a  resolution 
was  passed,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  ayes  to  one  hundred  and 
thirty  noes,  declaring  it  to  be  the  right  and  the  duty  of  the  State  to  with 
draw  from  the  Union.  On  the  same  day,  they  appointed  a  committee  to 
draft  an  Ordinance  of  Secession.  It  was  reported  almost  immediately,  and 
was  shorter  than  any  of  its  predecessors.  It  was  in  a  single  paragraph,  and 
simply  declared  the  repeal  and  abrogation  of  all  laws  which  bound  the 
commonwealth  to  the  Union,  and  that  the  State  of  Georgia  was  in  "full 
possession  and  exercise  of  all  those  rights  of  sovereignty  which  belong  and 
appertain  to  a  free  and  independent  State."  The  debate  on  the  ordinance 
elicited,  many  warm  expressions  of  Union  sentiments ;  and  it  was  on  this 
occasion  that  Alexander  H.  Stephens  made  the  speech  already  cited.2 
Toombs  was  in  the  Convention,  and  the  chief  manager  of  the  secession 
machinery.  He  worked  it  with  energy,  and  many  changes  among  the  Co- 
operationists  were  apparent.  A.  H.  Stephens,  his  brother  Linton,  Herschel 
V.  Johnson  (the  candidate  of  the  Douglas  Democrats  for  Yice-President), 
B.  H.  Hill,  and  others  who  afterward  took  an  active  part  in  rebellion,  tried 
to  prevent  immediate  secession,  but  in  vain.  Toombs  and  his  party  were 
strong  enough  to  give  to  the  ordinance,  when  it  came  up  for  a  final  vote, 
two  hundred  and  eight  ballots  against  eighty-nine.  The  vote  was  taken  at 
two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  That  evening  the  event  was  celebrated  in  the 
Georgia  capital,  by  a  grand  display  of  fireworks,  a  torchlight  procession, 
music,  speeches,  and  the  firing  of  cannon.  Similar  demonstrations  of  joy 
were  made  at  Savannah  and  Augusta. 

An  effort  to  postpone  the  operation  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  until 
the  3d  of  March  failed.  A  resolution  was  then  adopted,  requiring  every 
member  of  the  Convention  to  sign  the  ordinance.  Another,  proposing  to 
submit  the  ordinance  to  a  final  consideration  by  the  people  through  the 
ballot-box,  was  rejected  by  a  large  majority.  A  copy  of  a  resolution  by 


1   The  American  Annual  Cyclopedia,  and  Register  of  Important  Events  of  the  year  1S61,  page  338. 
»  See  page  56. 


SEIZURE   OF  FOPwT   PULASKI.  179 

the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Xew  York  was  received"  from  the  Governor 
of  Georgia  at  this  point  in  the  proceedings,  and  produced  much 
excitement.  It  tendered  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  all  '  J&™17  **' 
the  available  power  of  the  State  to  enable  him  to  enforce  the  laws, 
and  uphold  the  authority  of  the  National  Government ;  and  declared  that, 
In  defense  of  the  Union,  which  had  conferred  prosperity  and  happiness  upon 
the  American  people,  renewing  the  pledge  given  and  redeemed  by  their 
fathers,  they  were  ready  to  devote  their  fortunes,  "  their  lives,  and  their 
sacred  honor."  As  soon  as  this  resolution  was  read,  Toombs  offered  the 
following,  which  was  adopted  by  unanimous  vote : — "  Resolved^  As  a 
response  to  the  resolutions  of  Xew  York,  that  this  Convention  highly 
approves  of  the  energetic  and  patriotic  conduct  of  the  Governor  of  Georgia, 
in  taking  possession  of  Fort  Pulaski  by  Georgia  troops,  and  requests  him 
to  hold  possession  until  the  relations  of  Georgia  with  the  Federal  Government 
be  determined  by  this  Convention ;  and  that  a  copy  of  this  resolution  be 
ordered  to  be  transmitted  ta  the  Governor  of  Xew  York." 

The  allusion  ajbove  to  the  seizure  of  forts  brings  us  to  the  consideration 
of  the  fact  that  Governor  Brown,  following  the  advice  of  the  South  Caro 
lina  conspirators,  and  the  recommendations  of  Toombs  and  others,  at 


KUKT    1H  LASKl. 


Washington,  ordered  the  seizure  of  the  coast  defenses  more  than  a  fortnight 
before  the  Secession  Convention  met.  Fort  Pulaski,  on  Cockspur  Island,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River,  and  Fort  Jackson,  nearer  the  city  of 
Savannah,  were  seized  on  the  3d  of  January.  The  Xational  Arsenal  at 
the  same  city  was  taken  possession  of  by  insurgents  on  that  day.  On  the 
34th,  the  Arsenal  at  Augusta  was  seized  by  seven  hundred  State  troops,  in 
the  presence  of  the  Governor,  and  by  his  orders.  The  Xational  troops  in 
charge  were  allowed  to  salute  their  flag  when  they  left,  and  were  soon 
sent  to  Xew  York.  In  the  Arsenal  were  twenty-two  thousand  muskets  and 
rifles,  some  cannon,  and  a  large  amount  of  powder  and  other  munitions  of 
War.  The  forts  were  without  garrisons,  and  each  was  in  charge  of  only 
two  or  three  men.  Fort  Pulaski  was  intended  for  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  guns,  and  a  garrison  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  men.  The  walls  were 
more  than  six  feet  in  thickness,  very  solid,  and  well  built  of  hard  gray 
brick.  It  contained  three  furnaces  for  heating  shot.  It  effectually  guarded 
the  main  entrance  to  the  Savannah  River,  and  its  possession  was  a  great 
advantage  to  the  insurgents  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  war  that  ensued. 
The  Convention  at  Milledgeville  adopted  measures  in  accordance  with 
the  new  order  of  things  which  they  had  decreed,  and  made  preparations 


180 


KEVOLUTIONARY   WORK   IN  LOUISIANA. 


for  maintaining,  by  force  of  arms,  the  independence  of  Georgia.  They 
appointed  delegates  to  the  proposed  General  Convention  at  Montgomery, 
and  adjourned  to  an  early  day  in  March. 

Just  one  week  after  the  so-called  secession  of  Georgia,  the  politicians  of 
Louisiana  declared  the  withdrawal  of  that  State  from  the  Union.  It  was 
one  of  the  most  suicidal  acts  that  madmen  ever  committed.  The  prosperity 
of  its  great  commercial  capital  (New  Orleans,  containing  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  inhabitants)  was  a  blessing  almost  wholly  derived  from 
the  Union.  Indeed,  no  State  of  the  Republic  was  more  dependent  on  the 
Union  for  its  permanent  growth  in  population  and  wealth  than  Louisiana. 
The  device  upon  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Commonwealth  was  a  perpetual 
acknowledgment  of  the  fact — a  Pelican  brooding  over  and  feeding  her 
young,  emblematic  of  the  fostering  care  of  the  National  Government  for 
its  children,  the  States  created  by  its  will. 

We  have  already  observed  the  early  movements  of  the  politicians  of 
Louisiana,  led  by  Slidell,  Benjamin,  Moore,  Walker  of  the  Delta,  and 
others,  in  drawing  the  people  into  the  vortex  of  revolution.1  In  the  Legis 
lature,  which  assembled  at  Baton  Rouge  in  special  session  on  the  10th  of 
December,  the  Union  sentiment  was  powerful,  yet  not  sufficiently  so  to 
avert  mischief  to  the  Commonwealth.  An  effort  was  made  to  submit  the 
question  of  "  Convention  or  No  Convention"  to  the  people.  It  failed;  and 
an  election  of  delegates  to  a  convention  was  ordered  to  be  held  on  the  8th 
of  January,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  in  1815.  No 
efforts,  fair  or  unfair,  were  spared  to  excite  the  people  against  the  Govern 
ment,  and  elect  secessionists. 

The  activity  of  the  politicians  in  New  Orleans  was  wonderful.  They 
expected  the  example  of  the  city  would  be  followed  in  the  rural  districts, 

and  they  sought  to  make 
that  example  boldly  revo 
lutionary  by  frequent  pub 
lic  displays  of  their  dis 
union  feelings.  On  the 
21st  of  December,  they 
publicly  celebrated  the  so- 
called  secession  of  South 
Carolina,  with  demon stra: 
tions  of  great  enthusiasm. 
They  fired  cannon  a  hun 
dred  times ;  paraded  the 
streets  with  bands  of  mu 
sicians  playing  the  Marseillaise  Hymn  and  polkas,  but  no  National  air ; 
flung  out  the  Pelican  flag  of  the  State  from  the  Custom  House  and  other 
public  buildings ;  and  their  orators  addressed  the  excited  multitude  in 
favor  of  immediate  secession.  Four  days  afterward,  there  was  a  public 


CUSTOM    HOUSE   AT   NEW   ORLEANS.2 


ratification  of  the   nomination  of  secession 


or 


Southern   Rights"  candi 


dates,   with  the  accompaniments  of  cannon,  and  flags,  and  speeches.     Yet, 
with  all  these  manifestations  of  disaffection  in  the  city,  the  great  mass  of  the 


See  page  61. 


2  This  building  is  not  yet  (1865)  finished. 


PLUNDER  OF  NATIONAL   PROPERTY.  181 

people  of  the  State  remained  loyal — passively  if  not  actively  so.  "  In  our 
section,"  a  gentleman  from  the  lower  part  of  the  State  wrote,  "  the  excite 
ment  is  confined  to  the  politicians ;  the  people  generally  being  borne 
along  with  the  current,  and  feeling  the  natural  disposition  of  sustaining 
their  section.  I  think  that  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  of  the  people 
sincerely  hope  that  some  plan  will  yet  be  devised  to  heal  up  the  dissensions, 
and  to  settle  our  difficulties  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  the  North  and  the 
South."1" 

The  popular  vote  at  the  election  on  the  8th  of  January  was  small.     It 
was  of  such  a  complexion,  however,  that  it  made  the  secessionists  confident 
of  success — so  confident  that  on  the  following  day,"  prompted 
by  advice  from  Slidell,  Benjamin,   and  other  representatives  of    *Ja1"^ry9' 
the    State   at   Washington,  the    Governor   sent   military   expe 
ditions  from  Xew   Orleans  to   seize  Forts  Jackson  and  St.   Philip  on  the 
Mississippi,  below  the  city,  then  in  command  of  Major  Beauregard ;  also 
Fort  Pike  on  Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  the  Arsenal  at  Baton  Rouge,  then  in 
charge  of  Major  Haskin. 

The  expedition  against  the  forts  down  the  Mississippi  consisted  of  a 
part  of  General  Palfrey's  Division.  They  left  the  city  in  the  steamer 
Yankee,  at  near  midnight,  cheered  by  a  multitude  on  the  levee  and  ves-sels. 
They  reached  Fort  St.  Philip  at  eight  o'clock  the  next  evening.6 

•         i  />  -iTA  ti-i^  *  January  10. 

It  was  in  charge  01  a  man  named  L/art,  who  had  a  tew  negroes 
at  \vork  there.  Dart  gladly  gave  the  fort  into  the  custody  of  the  Louisi 
ana  Foot  Rifles,  who  garrisoned  it  in  the  name  of  the  State.  Fort 
Jackson  was  taken  possession  of  on  the  same  evening,  at  nine  o'clock. 
Sergeant  Smith,  of  the  National  Army,  gave  the  keys  to  the  insurgents, 
under  protest,  and  a  company  of  the  Washington  Artillery  took  posses 
sion  of  the  fort.  At  the  same1  time,  Fort  Livingston,  on  Grand  Terre  Island, 
Barataria  Bay,  was  seized  by  State  troops;  and  on  the  20th  of  the  month, 
the  unfinished  fort  on  Ship  Island,  oft*  the  coast  of  Mississippi,  was  seized, 
and  held  by  the  insurgents.  Another  unfinished  fort  (Clinch)  on  Amelia 
Island,  off  the  coast  of  Georgia,  was  taken  possession  of  by  insurgents  of 
that  State. 

The  troops  detailed  for  the  capture  of  the  Government  Arsenal  and  Bar 
racks  at  Baton  Rouge  left  New  Orleans  on  the  evening  of  the  9th,  on  the 
steamer  y<ttiomil,  and  arrived  at  their  destination*  the  next  evening.  Baton 
Rouge  insurgents  had  already  prepared  to  attack  and  seize  the  Arsenal, 
but  at  the  critical  moment  their  courage  had  failed  them,  notwithstand 
ing  there  were  only  eight  men  under  arms,  with  Major  Haskin,  to  defend  it. 

The  Xew  Orleans  troops,  three  hundred  in  number,  were  commanded 
by  Colonel  Walton,  of  the  Washington  Artillery.  They  were  paraded 
at  dawn,  on  the  morning  of  the  llth,  and  proceeded  immediately  to 
surround  the  property  to  be  seized.  Major  Haskin  had  no  adequate  means 
for  defense,  and  was  compelled  to  surrender  without  offering  resistance. 
By  this  success,  the  insurgents  procured  fifty  thousand  small  arms,  four 
howitzers,  twenty  heavy  pieces  of  ordnance,  two  field  batteries  (one  of  6 
and  the  other  of  12  pounders),  three  hundred  barrels  of  gunpowder,  and  a 


1  Annual  Cyclopedia  for  1S61,  page  428. 


182  CONVENTION  IN  LOUISIANA. 

large  quantity  of  other  munitions  of  war.  Governor  Moore,  as  we  have 
seen,  turned  over  to  Governor  Pettus,  of  Mississippi,  a. part  of  this  plunder.1 
On  the  llth,  the  barracks  below  New  Orleans,  which  had  been  for 
some  time  occupied  as  a  Marine  hospital  by  the  National  Government, 
were  seized  by  Captain  Bradford,  of  the  State  infantry,  in  the  name  of 
Louisiana,  by  order  of  the  Governor.  The  Collector  at  New  Orleans  was 
required  to  remove  the  two  hundred  and  sixteen  patients  immediately,  as 
the  State  wanted  the  buildings  for  the  use  of  the  gathering  insurgents. 
General  Dix  was  then  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  Department.  As  soon 
as  he  was  fully  informed  of  the  matter,  he  wrote  to  the  Collector  (Hatch) 
that  he  could  not  "  believe  that  a  proceeding  so  discordant  with  the 
diameter  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  so  revolting  to  the  civili 
zation  of  the  age,  had  been  sanctioned  by  the  Governor  of  the  State  of 
Louisiana."  He  directed  him  to  remonstrate  with  the  Governor.  Humanity 
or  shame  prevailed,  and  the  invalids  were  permitted  to  remain. 

The  Legislature  of  Louisiana  convened  at  Baton  Rouge  on  the  21st  of 
.January,  when  a  flag  with  fifteen  stars  (the  number  of  the  Slave-labor  States) 
was  raised  over  the  Capitol.  The  Convention  met  at  the  same  place  on  the 

23d.  The  number  of 
delegates  present  was 
one  hundred  arid 
thirty.  Ex-Governor 
Alexander  Mouton, 
an  intimate  friend 
and  willing  instru 
ment  of  Slidell,2  was 
chosen  President,  and 
J.  Thomas  Wheat, 
Secretary.  J.  L.  Man 
ning,  ol  South  Carolina,  and  J.  A.  Winston,  of  Alabama,  Commissioners 
from  their  respective  States,  were  invited  to  seats  in  the  Convention,  and 
made  vehement  speeches  in  favor  of  secession.  The  Governor  was  formally 


1  See  page  164. 

2  The  politicians  more  directly  under  the  influence  of  Slidell  seem  to  have  had  the  management  of  the 
Convention.     It  had  been  all  arranged  beforehand,  apparently,  that  Mouton  should  be  made  President  of  that 
body.     He  was  elected  on  the  first  ballot.     As  early  as  the  14th  of  the  month  (January),  nine  days  before  the 
Convention  assembled,  a  letter  written  by  Slidell,  and  signed  by  himself  and  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  and  Repre 
sentatives  J.   M.  Landrum  and  J.  G.  Davidson,  of  Louisiana,  was  addressed,  from  the  Capitol  at  Washington, 
"To  the  Convention  of  the  State  of  Louisiana,"  directed  to  "Hon.  Alexander  Mouton,  President  of  the  Conven 
tion,"  &c.     This  letter  (the  original  is  before  me)  occupies  six  pages  of  large  foolscap  paper,  and  contains  an 
expression  of  the  views  of  the  arch-conspirator  and  his  colleagues  on  the  great  topic  of  the  hour.     It  urges  the 
necessity  of  immediate  and  energetic  action  ;  and  after  referring  to  the  fact,  that  many  of  the  people  of  the  State 
were  unwilling  to  accept  secession  as  a  remedy  for  grievances,  because  it  seemed  like  revolution,  it  avers  the 
right  of  a  people  to  resist  oppression,  and  says: — "  You  may  well  treat  the  difference  between  secession  and 
revolution  as  one  more  of  words  than  of  substance — of  ideas  rather  than  of  things."     It  denounces  Holt  as  "  the 
unconstitutional  head  of  the  War  Department — an  open  and  virulent  enemy  of  the  South" — who  had  submitted 
a  plan  to  the  Government  "of  a  campaign  on  a  gigantic  scale  for  the  subjugation  of  the  seceding  States."    They 
confess  that  they  united  in  a  recommendation  to  the  Governor,  on  the  accession  of  Holt,  to  "take  possession 
at  once  of  the  forts  and  arsenals  of  the  United  States  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Louisiana."     They  recommend 
"immediate  and  unqualified  secession,"  and  express  a  belief  that  every  Slaveholding  State,  except  Maryland 
and  Delaware,  will  join  in  the  revolutionary  movement.     "Without  slavery,  we  perish!"  they  exclaim.     They 
then    express   an   earnest  desire  that  the   Convention  should  fully    recognize  the    right    of   navigating    the 
Mississippi  freely  by  all  citizens  on  its  borders,  and  the  lands  watered  by  its  tributaries,  with  "a  wish  and 
hope,"  they  say,  "to  reconstruct  our  Confederacy  with  such  materials  as  are  not  irreconcilably  hostile."    It  was 
the  delusive  dream  of  some  of  the  conspirators,  and  the  hope  of  the  politicians  of  Louisiana,  that  the  people  of 


SLIDELL'S  SEDITIOUS  LETTER. 

•J 


183 


\v    HN       ^ 

^^H 


'  the  Western  and  Northwestern  States, 
governed  by  self-interest  alone,  would 
become  partners  in  their  revolutionary 
schemes,* 

'•It  had  been  a  subject  of  earnest 
deliberation."  they  say,  "among  the 
delegations  of  the  States  wherein  Gon- 
(  ventions  had  been  held,  whether,  even 
after  their  States  had  seceded,  they  might 
not  possibly  render  better  service  to 
1  th«-ir  constituents  by  remaining  here, 
and  opposing  the  passage  of  any  mea 
sures  tending  to  strengthen  the  incoming 
Administration  in  a  policy  of  coercion." 
It  says  that  they  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  no  certainty  existed  of  their  being 
able  to  do  so.  See  extract  of  Yulee's 
letter,  on  page  1(5(5.  A  fiic-ainiiJe  of 
the  above  paragraph  (the  whole  letter  is 
in  Slidell's  handwriting)  is  given  on  this 
page.  I  am  indebted  to  the  Hon.  Mark 
I).  Wilbur,  afterward  in  the>  National 
military  service  at  Baton  Rouge,  for 
the  original. 


FAC-BIMILK     OF     A.     PART     OF     8LIDEI.I/8     LHTTER. 


menl  of  a  Confedrmry,  leaving  out  Penn 

Thetc  apenln,  it    n«*«Tt»'il,    were  in  all   of  the.    Northwestern    State*,  an<l   the 

thoM  Stale*."—  3ffPfnnon'i  Political  Hittory  of  tkt  Grtat  Ktbtllion,  |>age  4-.'. 


•  A  year  earlier  than  this,  a  Cinrinnati  pnper 
noticed  the  fart,  that  "amenta  of  the  politicians 
f  the  Gulf  State*  bad  been  in  that  city,  con- 
ultiii^  with  leading  politicians  of  the  Buchanan 
party,  and  endeavoring  to  create  a  •entiment 
HIT  bu»!ne»*  men  favorable  to  the  establish- 

!a.  New  Jersey,  New  York,  and  all  New  England.     Free  trade  wa»  to  be  the  basii  of  union. 
S'orth weatern   States,  and  their  aim  wa»  to    spring   the   issue  soon   among  the  citizens  of 


184  LOUISIANA   OEDINANOE   OF   SECESSION. 

thanked  by  the  Convention  for  seizing  the  forts.  A  Committee  of  Fifteen 
was  appointed  to  draft  an  Ordinance  of  Secession.  It  reported  on  the  24th, 
by  their  Chairman,  John  Perkins,  Jr.,  and  its  ordinance  was  adopted,  two 
days  afterward,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  thirteen  ayes  to  seventeen 
noes.  Like  Mississippi,  Florida,  and  Alabama,  Louisiana,  the  creature  of  the 
National  Government,  speaking  in  this  ordinance  through  disloyal  politi 
cians,  declared  that  it  resumed  the  rights  and  powers  "heretofore  dele 
gated  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  of  America,"  its  creator. 

The  galleries  of  the  hall  were  densely  crowded  with  spectators  at  this 
time,  who  observed  the  casting  of  the  ballots  in  profound  silence.  When 
the  result  was  known,  there  was  an  outburst  of  the  most  enthusiastic 
applause.  It  ceased,  and  then  President  Mouton  arose,  with  great  solemnity 
of  manner,  and  said : — "  In  virtue  of  the  vote  just  announced,  I  now 
declare  the  connection  between  the  State  of  Louisiana  and  the  Federal 
Union  dissolved,  and  that  she  is  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  power." 
Then  Governor  Moore  en-  When  all  became  quiet,  a 

tered  the  hall  with  a  mill-  ^j,      s°lemn  prayer  was  offered, 

tary  officer  (Captain  Allen),  ^ff^/m\      ar)d  the  flag  was  "blessed 

bearing  a  Pelican  flag.1  d^ff<{mllll\  accor(^mg  to  tne  rites  and 
This  was  placed  in  the  y^i^tf  j\  i/l  f°rms  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
hands  of  the  President,  OM^^P/  ll  I  ^ic  Church,  by  Father 
while  the  mass  of  specta-  if  t^^Kil^~  Hubert."2  Then  a  hundred 

tors    and    delegates    were      Wjf^ —  I      heavy  guns  were  fired,  and 

swayed    with    excitement,  to  each  member  was  pre- 

-.  ,  ,  ,  ,  THE    PELICAN    FLAG.  ..  -.   _.  - 

and    cheered    vehemently.  sented  a  gold  pen  where 

with  to  sign  the  Ordinance.    After  their  signatures  were  affixed,  to  the  num 
ber  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-one,  the  Convention  adjourned," 

"  JaTsiL26'     to  meet  in  the  City  Hall>  at  New  Orleans>  on  the  29th,  at  which 
time  the  session  was  opened  with  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Palmer, 
whose  Thanksgiving  sermon,  a   few  weeks  before,  we    have    already    con 
sidered.3 

Before  the  adjournment,  the  Convention,  sensible  of  the  folly  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  insurgents  in  planting  a  blockading  battery  at  Vicksburg,  and  in 
accordance  with  the  recommendation  of  Slidell  and  his  Congressional  col 
leagues,4  resolved  unanimously,  that  they  recognized  the  right  of  a  "free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  its  tributaries  by  all  friendly  States 
bordering  thereon;"  also  "the  right  of  egress  and  ingress  of  the  mouths  of 
the  Mississippi  by  all  friendly  States  and  Powers."  A  motion  to  submit  the 
Secession  Ordinance  to  the  people,  for  ratification  or  rejection,  was  lost. 

On  the  day  when  the   Convention  reassembled  at  New  Or 
leans,6   an    event   occurred    there    which    produced    a   profound 
sensation  throughout  the  Union.     Secretary  Dix  had  sent  William  Hemphill 


1  The  Committee  of  the  Convention  appointed  to  prepare  a  new  flag  and  seal  for  the  State,  discovering  that 
the  device  of  a  Pelican  feeding  her  young  had  the  idea  of  Union  in  it,  were  glad  to  find,  also,  that  the  pelican 
was  not  a  fit  emblem  of  Louisiana,  because  its  form  was  unsightly,  its  habits  filthy,  and  its  nature  cowardly,  and 
BO  they  had  a  good  excuse  for  dispensing  with  the  time-honored  device  on  the  flag  and  seal  of  Louisiana.     The 
flag  adopted   by  the  Convention  was   composed  of  fifteen  stripes,  alternate  red,  white,  and  blue,  with  a  red 
square  in  one  corner,  on  which  was  a  single  yellow  star.     It  was  the  National  flag  deprived  of  its  beauty  and 
significance. 

2  Journal  of  the  Convention,  page  18.  3  See  note  3,  page  38.  4  See  note  2,  page  182. 


PROMPT  ACTION  OF  GENERAL  DIX.  185 

Jones  as  special  agent  of  the  Treasury  Department,  to  secure  from  seizure 
the  revenue  cutters  Lewis  Cass  at  Mobile,  and  Robert  McClelland  at 
New  Orleans.  He  found  the  Cass,  as  we  have  observed,  in  possession  of  the 
authorities  of  Alabama.1  He  hastened  to  New  Orleans,  and  in  a  note  to 
Captain  J.  G.  Breshwood,  of  the  McClelland,  inclosing  one  from  Secretary 
Dix,2  he  directed  that  officer  to  proceed  immediately  with  his  vessel  to  New 
York.  Breshwood  instantly  replied  : — "Your  letter,  with  one  of  the  19th 
of  January  from  the  Honorable  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  I  have  duly 
received,  and,  in  reply,  refuse  to  obey  the  order."  .  Jones  immediately  com 
municated  the  fact  of  this  refusal  to  the  Secretary,  by  telegraph,  and  informed 
him  that  Collector  Hatch  sustained  the  action  of  the  rebel.  Dix  instantly 
telegraphed  back,  saying: — "Tell  Lieutenant  Caldwell  to  arrest  Captain 
Breshwood,  assume  command  of  the  cutter,  and  obey  the  order  through  you. 
If  Captain  Breshwood,  after  arrest,  undertakes  to  interfere  with  the  com 
mand  of  the  cutter,  tell  Lieutenant  Caldwell  to  consider  him  as  a  mutineer, 
and  treat  him  accordingly.  If  any  one  atteHtjrts  to  haul  down  the  American 
flag,  shoot  ht't/i  on  the  spot? 

The  conspirators,  who  held  control  of  the  telegraph  in  New  Orleans,  did 
not  allow  this  dispatch  to  pass.  Collector 
Hatch  was  in  complicity  with  them,  and  the 
M<'Clella)id  fell  into  tne  hands  of  the  insur 
gents.  Two  days  afterward,  the  National 
Mint  and  the  Custom  House,  with  all  the 
precious  metals  that  they  contained,  in  coin 
and  bullion,  were  seized  as  legitimate  plunder 
by  the  authorities  of  Louisiana.3  By  an 
ordinance  of  the  State  Convention,  a  greater 
part  of  the  coin  and  bullion  then  seized,  to 
the  amount  of  five  hundred  and  thirty-six 
thousand  dollars,  was  placed  in  the  cotters 
of  the  State. 

General  Dix's  order  soon  went  over  the  JOHN  A.  mi. 

land  by  telegraph  and  newspapers  ;  and  its 

last  sentence  thrilled  every  loyal  heart  with  a  hope  that  the  hour  of  hesita 
tion  and  temporizing,  on  the  part  of  the  Administration,  had  forever  passed 
by.  It  had  the  ring  of  true  loyalty  .and  patriotism;  and  the  words,  "If  any 
one  attempts  to  haul  down  the  American  flag,  shoot  him  on  the  spot,"  went 
from  lip  to  lip  like  electric  fire,  and  became  a  proverb  in  every  true  Ameri 
can's  thoughts.  It  was  heard  with  dismay  by  the  more  timid  insurgents, 
while  its  promises  gave  joy  to  the  lover  of  his  country.4  A  small  medal  was 


1  See  page  17."). 

•  "  The  original  is  before  me.  It  reads  thus:  "This  letter  will  be  presented  to  you  by  Wm.  Hernphill  Jones, 
a  special  agent  of  this  Department.  You  are  required  to  obey  such  directions  as  may  be  given  you,  either 
verbally  or  in  \\ritini:,  by  Mr.  Jones,  with  regard  to  the  vessel  under  your  command.'1 

'The  value  of  gold  and  silver  then  in  the  Mint  was  $118.311,  and  in  the  Sub-treasury,  in  the  Custom 
House,  $4s3.yst.  Soon  after  this  seizure  a  draft  for  $300.(KK)  was  received  from  the  Treasury  Department.  The 
Sub-treasurer  refused  to  pay  it,  saying,  "The  money  in  my  custody  is  no  longer  the  property  of  the  United 
Suites,  but  of  the  Republic  of  Louisiana."  Provision  was  made  by  the  Convention  for  the  payment  of  certain 
drafts;  and  the  funds  in  the  Post-office,  amounting  to  $81,164,  remained  untouched  by  the  insurgents. 

4  When  Karnurut's  fleet  approached  New  Orleans,  in  April,  1S6'2.  and  the  McClelland  was  set  on  fire  and 
abandoned  by  the  traitors  in  charge  of  her,  David  Ritchie,  a  bold  sailor,  boarded  her,  and  saved  from  the  flames 
the  flag  to  which  Secretary  Dir  alluded;  also  the  "Confederate"  flag  which  had  been  raised  in  its  place.  These 


186 


TEXAS   AKD   ITS  PEOPLE. 


struck  by  private  hands,  commemorative  of  the  event,  of  the  exact  size  given 
in  the  engraving  below.     The  words  are  not  quite  correctly  quoted. 

The  disloyal  politicians 
of  Texas,  a  province  pur 
chased  by  the  people  of 
the  United  States  at  the 
cost  of  a  war  with  Mexi 
co  (in  which  two  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  of  treas 
ure,  and  thousands  of  pre 
cious  lives,  were  squan 
dered),  and  by  an  after 
payment  of  ten  millions 
of  dollars  more,  followed 
the  example  of  the  con 
spirators  of  South  Caro 
lina,  and  their  coadjutors  in  crime  in  other  Cotton-growing  States.  That 
province  had  been  a  State  of  the  Union  only  little  more  than  fifteen 
years,  when  these  bold  bad  men  set  up  the  banner  of  revolt.  Its  Governor, 
the  venerable  Samuel  Houston,  the  hero  of  its  war  for  independence,  in  1836, 
and  the  real  founder  of  the  State  as  a  sovereign  commonwealth,  adhered  to 
the  Union.  He  had  been  elected  by  almost  ten  thousand  majority,1  but  the 
Legislature  was  filled  with  disloyal  men.  By  these  and  others,  immediately 
after  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  he  was  urged  to  either  call  the  Legislature 


THE   MINT   AT  NEW   ORLEANS. 


to  a  special  session,  or 
else  a  State  Conven 
tion.  He  knew  how 
mischievous  the  action 
of  the  Legislature  and 
of  such  a  convention 
would  be  at  that  very 
critical  time,  and  he 


steadily  refused.  The 
great  mass  of  the 
people  of  the  State 
were  with  him  in  sen 
timent  ;  and  as  late 


THE   DIX    MEDAL. 


as  at  the  middle  of 
December,  there  was 
an  enthusiastic  Union 
demonstration  at  Austin,  the  capital  of  the  Commonwealth.  Several  young 
men  drove  through  the  streets,  with  the  "  Star-spangled  Banner "  floating 
over  each  carriage.  They  were  greeted  with  loud  cheers  from  the  citizens  ; 
and  on  the  23d,  an  immense  Union  meeting  was  held  there,  when  a  pole, 
ninety  feet  in  hight,  was  erected,  and  the  National  flag  was  thrown  to  the 
breeze  from  its  top.  The  crowd  was  composed  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
many  of  whom  had  come  from  afar  to  greet  the  old  flag,  and  to  hear  the  airs 
of  "Hail  Columbia"  and  "Yankee  Doodle"  played  by  the  band  of  musi 
cians  and  sung  by  patriotic  young  women.  It  was  a  bright  and  joyous  day 
in  Texas,  and  the  hearts  of  the  lovers  of  the  Union  were  made  glad. 


flags  were  sent  to  General  Dix  by  General  Butler,  who  wrote,  saying: — "When  I  read  your  instructions  to 
shoot  on  the  spot  any  one  who  should  attempt  to  haul  down  the  American  flag,  my  heart  bounded  for  joy.  It 
was  the  first  bold  stroke  in  favor  of  the  Union,  under  the  riast  Administration." — General  Butler  in  New 
Orleans :  by  James  Parton,  page  67. 

1  In  1859,  the  politicians  of  Texas  nominated  a  State  ticket  pledged  to  favor  the  reopening  of  the  African 
Slave-trade,  one  of  the  prime  objects  of  the  conspirators  in  the  Gulf  States,  in  plotting  against  the  Union.  It 
was  headed  by  Hardin  R.  Runnels,  a  Mississippian.  The  people  were  alarmed  by  the  movement,  and  when 
Sam.  Houston  took  the  field  as  an  independent  Union  candidate  for  Governor,  they  rallied  around  him,  and  he 
was  ejected  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 


KNIGHTS   OF   THE   GOLDEN   CIRCLE.  187 

That  23d  of  December,  1860,  was  almost  the  last  bright  day  vouchsafed 
for  Texas  during  years  of  civil  war  that  ensued?  At  that  moment  there  was 
a  deadly  enemy  to  free  institutions  and  the  most  sacred  rights  of  man 
working  secretly  in  the  vitals  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  sapping  the  citadel 
of  its  life.  This  was  an  organization  known  as  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle, 
formed  primarily,  it  is  asserted,  for  the  destruction  of  the  nationality  of  the 
Republic,  the  seizure  of  the  richest  provinces  of  Mexico  and  the  island  of 
Cuba,  and  the  establishment  of  an  empire  with  slavery  for  its  corner-stone. 
That  empire  was  to  be  included  in  a  golden  circle,  as  its  projectors  termed 
it,  having  its  center  at  Havana,  in  Cuba,  with  a  radius  of  sixteen  degrees 
of  latitude  and  longitude,  and  reaching  northward  to  the  Pennsylvania  line, 
and  southward  to  the  Isthmus  of  Darien.  It  would  include  the  West  India 
Islands  and  those  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  with  a  greater  part  of  Mexico  and 
Central  America.  The  organization  composed  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle  was  the  soul  of  all  the  "  filibustering ''  movements  from  1850  to  1857  ; 
and  when  these  failed,  its  energies  were  concentrated  to  the  accomplishment 
of  one  of  its  prime  objects — the  destruction  of  the  Union.  At  the  time  we 
are  considering,  two  adventurers  (George  \V.  BickU-y  and  his  nephew)  were 
busily  engaged  in  the  establishment  of  "  castles ''  or  lodges  all  over  Texas, 
creating  a  powerful  band  of  secret  plotters  against  the  Government,  and 
receiving,  as  rich  compensation  for  their  work,  all  the  initiation-fees  paid 
by  members.1  These  "castle's"  included  many  members  of  the  Legislature 
and  active  politicians  in  all  parts  of  the  State.  Sixty  of  these  irresponsible 
men,  early  in  January,  1861,  called  a  State  Convention,  to  meet  at  Austin  on 
the  28th  of  that  month;  and  a  single  member  of  the  Legislature  issued  a  call 
for  the  assembling  of  that  body  at  the  same  time  and  place.  Already  a 
system  of  terrorism  had  been  inaugurated,  and  there  was  general  alarm. - 

^nder  the  management  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  or  "  K. 
G.  C.,"  as  they  styled  themselves  by  initials,  and  the  disloyal  judges  of  the 
State,  an  election  of  delegates  to  the  Convention  was  held.  The  whole 
movement  seemed  so  ridiculous, — so  illegally  and  harmlessly  revolutionary, 
— that  the  great  body  of  the  people  regarded  it  as  a  farce,  and  not  one-half 
of  the  voters  of  the  State  appeared  at  the  polls.  Alas!  it  proved  to  be  the 
beginning  of  a  bloody  tragedy. 

Governor  Houston  now  felt  it  his  duty  to  take  measures  to  counteract 
these  revolutionary  movements.  He  summoned  the  Legislature  to  meet  in 
extraordinary  session  on  the  22d  of  January,  for  the  purpose,  primarily,  of 
considering  the  "Federal  relations"  of  the  State,  and,  secondarily,  to  provide 
against  Indian  hostilities  and  the  wants  of  an  exhausted  treasury. 

The  Legislature  and  the  revolutionary  Convention  met  at  the  appointed 
times.  The  former  betrayed  the  liberties  and  rights  of  the  people  by  the 
adoption  of  a  joint  resolution  declaring  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  latter 
as  proper,  and  recognizing  the  Convention  as  a  legally  constituted  body. 


1  Secession  Times  in  Texas:  by  J.  P.  Newcomb,  editor  of  the  Alamo  Express,  pa^e  6.  Concerning  this 
Order,  we  shall  have  much  more  to  observe  hereafter.  It  is  authoritatively  asserted  that  it  was  founded  by* 
John  C.  Calhoun  and  other  South  Carolina  conspirators,  in  the  year  1S35. 

3  As  early  as  the  beginning  of  December,  it  had  been  asserted  in  the  National  Senate  that  men  were  hang 
ing  from  the  tree*  in  Texas  because  of  their  Union  sentiments!  See  quotation  from  Clinguian's  speech, 
on  puge  79. 


188  TEXAS   ORDINANCE  OF   SECESSION. 

Governor  Houston  protested  against  the  assumption  of  any  powers  by  the 
Convention  beyond  the  reference  of  the  question  of  secession  to  the  people. 

The  Revolutionary  Convention  assembled  in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  at  Austin,  on  the  28th  of  January.  One  of  the  chief 
managers  was  John  H.  Reagan,  a  judge,  who  afterward  became  the  "Post 
master-general"  of  the  so-called  "Confederate  States  of  America."  McQueen, 
a  commissioner  from  South  Carolina,  was  there  to  assist  in  working  the 
machinery.  It  was  easily  managed,  for  it  was  so  well  constructed  that  there 
was  but  little  friction.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  counties  in  the 
State,  not  one-half  were  represented.  The  whole  aifair  was  a  stupendous 
fraud  upon  the  people.  But  what  cared  the  representatives  of  the  Oligarchy 
for  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  people?  Their  whole  movement  in  the 
Slave-labor  States,  since  the  Presidential  election,  had  been  in  contravention 
of  those  rights. 

On  the  1st  of  February  the  Convention,  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote, 
passed  an  Ordinance  of  Secession.  There  were  one  hundred  and  sixty-six 
voices  for  it,  and  only  seven  against  it.  It  declared  that  the  National 
Government  had  failed  "to  accomplish  the  purpose  of  the  compact  of  Union 
between  the  States,"  falsely  charging  that  it  had  not  furnished  the  inhabitants 
of  Texas  with  protection  against  Indian  depredations  on  its  frontiers,  when  a 
large  portion  of  the  Army  had  been,  and  then  was,  actually  employed 
in  that  very  work.  They  charged  that  the  National  Government  would  no 
longer  uphold  the  slave  system.  This  was  their  chief  grievance,  and  there 
fore  they  abrogated,  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  Texas,  the  Ordinance  of 
Annexation  adopted  on  the  4th  of  July,  1845.  They  talked  of  a  "resumption 
of  sovereign  powers"  with  some  propriety,  for  Texas  is  the  only  State  of  the 
Union  that  ever  really  possessed  them,  as  an  absolutely  independent  Com 
monwealth.  They  also  did  what  the  politicians  in  the  other  "Seceding 
States"  refused  to  do,  namely,  decreed  that  the  ordinance  should  be 
submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people.  But  the  merit  of  this  seeming  concession 
to  the  popular  will  was  counterbalanced  by  the  most  outrageous  usurpation 
and  practical  denial  of  the  rights  of  the  people.  They  appointed  a  day  for 
the  delivery  of  the  popular  verdict  so  early  (February  23)  that  there  could 
be  no  opportunity  for  a  public  discussion  of  the  Ordinance.  This,  however, 
was  a  slight  affront  compared  to  two  others,  namely,  the  appointment  of  a 
"Committee  of  Safety,"  and  of  delegates  to  the  Montgomery  Convention. 

The  "Committee  of  Safety"  was  simply  a  powerful  revolutionary  machine 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  effectually  a  system  of  terrorism  already  begun. 
That  Committee  at  once  appointed  two  of  its  number  (Devine  and  Maverick) 
commissioners  to  treat  with  General  Twiggs,  then  in  command  of  the 
National  troops  in  Texas,  for  the  surrender  of  his  army  and  the  public 
property  under  his  control.  The  Committee  also  managed  the  voting  on  the 
Ordinance  of  Secession,  on  the  23d  of  February,  so  adroitly,  by  means  of 
misrepresentations  and  the  arguments  of  the  rope  and  fire-brand,  that  the 
voice  of  a  really  loyal  people  appeared  in  favor  of  secession  by  an  alleged 
majority  of  over  twenty-three  thousand. 

Having  completed  the  preliminary  work  of  treason,  the  Convention 
adjourned  to  meet  again  on  the  2d  day  of  March.  In  the  mean  time  General 
Twiggs,  as  we  shall  observe  presently,  had  fully  performed  his  allotted  part 


FIRMNESS   OF   GOVERNOR   HOUSTON.  189 

in  the  conspiracy,  and  given  the  State  over  to  the  absolute  rule  of  the 
Secessionists ;  and  when  the  Convention  again  assembled,  its  work  was  easy. 
The  votes  of  the  people  on  secession  were  counted  on  the  5th,  and  when  the 
result  was  announced  by  the  President  there  was  great  cheering,  and  he 
proceeded  to  declare  Texas  to  be  an  independent  State.  On  the  following 
day  the  Convention  instructed  its  delegates  at  Montgomery  to  ask  for  the 
admission  of  their  State  into  the  "  Southern  Confederacy,"  and  appointed  a 
committee  to  inform  Governor  Houston 
of  the  new  political  relations  of  the  Com 
monwealth.  To  these  communications  the 
Governor  replied,  in  substance,  that  the 
Convention  had  transcended  its  powers 
and  that  its  acts  were  usurpations.  He 
promised  to  lay  the  whole  matter  before 
the  Legislature,  which  was  to  assemble  on 
the  1 8th,  until  which  time  he  should  con 
sider  it  his  duty  to  perform  the  functions 
of  his  office  regardless  of  all  alleged 
changes. 

The  reply  of  the  Governor  produced 
great  excitement  in   the  Convention,  and 

..  ,,.  l^l^llj'  J  J 

it  was  believed  that  lie  had  issued  orders 
for  assembling  the  militia  of  the  State  to  resist  the  action  of  that  body.  By 
an  ordinance  passed  on  the  8th,  it  defied  his  authority,  and  then  he  appealed 
to  the  people  in  a  stirring  address,  which  strengthened  the  hearts  of  the 
Union  men  of  the  State.  He  recounted  his  services  and  his  difficulties,  and 
complained  bitterly  of  tho  usurpations  of  the  Convention,  which  had  u  trans 
ferred  the  people,  like  sheep,  from  the  shambles,"  from  the  Union  to  an 
unlawful  league.  He  loved  Texas  too  well,  lie  said,  to  do  aught  that  should 
kindle  civil  war  on  its  soil,  and  he  should  not  attempt,  under  the  circum 
stances,  to  exercise  his  authority  as  Governor,  nor  would  he  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  ''Southern  Confederacy."1 

1  "  My  worst  anticipations."  said  the  Governor,  "as  to  the  assumption  of  power  by  this  Convention,  have 
boon  realized.  To  enumerate  all  its  usurpations  would  be  impossible,  as  a  great  portion  of  its  proceedings  have 
been  in  secret.  This  much  lias  been  revealed  : — 

"  It  has  elected  delegates  to  the  provisional  connril  of-the  Confederate  Stntos,  at  Montiromery,  before  Texas 
had  withdrawn  from  the  Union,  and  who,  on  the  *2d  day  of  March,  annexed  Texas  to  the  Confederate  Suites,  and 
constituted  themselves  members  of  Consrress.  when  it  was  not  officially  known  by  the  Convention  until  the  4th 
of  March  that  a  majority  of  the  people  had  voted  in  favor  of  secession.  While  a  portion  of  these  delegates 
were  representing  Texas  in  tho  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States,  two  of  them,  still  claiming  to  be  United 
States  Senators,  have  continued  to  represent  Texas  in  the  United  States  Senate,  under  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  an  administration  that  the  jH-ople  of  Texas  have  declared  odious  and  not  to  be  borne.  Yet  Texas 
has  been  exposed  to  obloquy,  and  forced  to  occupy  the  ridiculous  attitude,  before  the  world,  of  attempting  to 
maintain  her  position  as  one  of  the  United  States,  and  at  the  same  time  claim  to  be  one  uf  the  Confederate 
States. 

"  It  lias  created  a  Committee  of  Safety,  a  portion  of  whom  have  assumed  the  executive  powers  of  the 
Government,  and  to  supplant  the  executive  authority,  have  entered  into  negotiations  with  Federal  officers. 
This  committee,  and  commissioners  acting  under  it,  have  caused  the  Federal  troops  to  be  removed  from  posts 
in  the  country  exposed  to  Indian  depredations,  and  had  them  located  with  tlieir  arms  and  field-batteries  on  the 
coast,  where,  if  their  desire  is  to  maintain  a  position  in  the  country,  they  can  not  only  do  so  successfully,  but 
destroy  the  commerce  of  the  State.  They  have  usurped  the  power  to  draw  these  troops  from  the  frontier;  but 
though  in  possession  of  ample  stores,  munitions  of  war,  and  transjMtrtation,  have  failed  to  supply  troops  in  the 
place  of  those  removed.  As  a  consequence,  the  wail  of  women  and  children  is  heard  upon  the  border.  Devas- 
tati.ir.  and  ruin  has  thus  come  upon  the  people;  and  though  the  Convention,  with  all  the  means  in  its  power, 
has  been  in  session  two  weeks,  no  succor  has  been  sent  to  a  devastated  frontier. 

"  The  Committee  of  Safety  has  brought  danger  instead  of  safety.     It  has  involved  the  State  in  an  enormous 


190  REVOLUTION   IN   TEXAS. 

On  the  20th,  the  Convention  proceeded  tp  depose  Governor  Houston  and 
other  State  officers  who  refused  to  take  the  new  oath.  The  disloyal  Legis 
lature  sanctioned  the  measure,  and  on  the  21st,  the  seals  and  the  archives  of 
the  Commonwealth  were  resigned  into  the  hands  of  Lieutenant-Govern  or 
Clarke,  who  assumed  the  functions  of  Provisional  Governor,  and  who 
speedily  issued  a  proclamation,  forbidding  all  intercourse  with  the  people  of 
the  Northern  States. 

Texas  was  now  under  the  absolute  control  of  the  secessionists,  and  they 
managed  public  affairs  with  a  high  hand.  They  persecuted  every  proclaimer 
of  Union  sentiments ;  and  Houston  himself  actually  renounced  his  allegiance 
to  his  Government,  and,  descending  from  the  proud  patriotic  position  which 
he  at  first  assumed,  became  a  maligner  of  the  President,  and  used  the 
vocabulary  of  treasonable  speech  with  great  fluency.  He  declared  that  he 
was  loyal  so  long  as  there  was  any  loyalty  left  in  Texas.  So  early  as  the 
18th  of  May,  in  a  speech  at  Independence,  he  recognized  the  validity  of  the 
"  Southern  Confederacy,"  and  recommended  obedience  to  its  government. 
In  September  following,  he  found  it  necessary  to  explain  his  position,  which 
he  did  in  a  long  letter,  in  which  he  declared  that  "  Union  "  and  "  reconstruc 
tion  "  were  obsolete  terms.  "  If  there  is  any  Union  sentiment  in  Texas,"  he 
said,  "  I  am  not  aware  of  it."  He  charged  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet  with 
the  crime  of  usurping  the  powers  of  Congress  and  waging  war  against 
"  Sovereign  States,"  thereby  absolving  their  allegiance  to  the  National 
Government.  He  also  charged  that  they  had,  "with  more  than  Vandalic 
malignity  and  Gothic  hate,  sought  to  incite  a  servile  insurrection  in  Missouri." 
He  denounced  the  President  as  an  invader  of  Virginia,  and  declared  that  the 
South  could  never  unite  with  the  North,  and  that  the  latter  could  never 
subjugate  the  South.  The  course  of  Governor  Houston  was  a  painful 
assurance  to  the  people  of  Texas  that  the  heel  of  a  vile  despotism  was  too 
firmly  planted  upon  their  necks  to  give  them  any  hope  of  relief  while  the 
war  continued,  and  they  sat  down  to  wait  with  faith  and  patience  for  the 
hour  when  Right  should  triumph  and  they  should  be  redeemed. 

We  have  now  noted  the  principal  events  connected  with  the  so-called 
secession  of  seven  Cotton-growing  States,  namely,  South  Carolina,  Florida, 


expense  for  an  army,  where  no  army  was  needed,  and  left  unprotected  those  who  needed  protection.  It  has 
exposed  the  State  to  ridicule,  and  wounded  the  chivalry  and  historic  pride  of  the  people,  by  sending  an  army 
of  over  a  thousand  men  to  attack  a  single  post  upon  the  Kio  Grande,- which  has  been  permitted  to  defy  them, 
until  such  time  as  its  commander  saw  fit  to  withdraw.  It  has  assumed  to  appoint  agents  to  foreign  States, 
and  created  offices,  military  and  civil,  unknown  to  the  laws,  at  its  will,  keeping  secret  its  proceedings. 

"  This  Convention  has  deprived  the  people  of  a  right  to  know  its  doings,  by  holding  its  sessions  in  secret. 

"It  has  appointed  military  officers  and  agents  under  its  assumed  authority. 

"  It  has  declared  by  ordinance  that  the  people  of  Texas  ratify  the  constitution  of  the  provisional  govern 
ment  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  has  changed  the  S^ite  Constitution  and  established  a  test  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  Confederate  States,  requiring  all  persons  now  in  office  to  take  the  same,  or  suffer  the  penalty  of  removal 
from  office ;  and,  actuated  by  a  spirit  of  petty  tyranny,  has  required  the  executive,  and  a  portion  of  the  other 
officers  at  the  seat  of  government,  to  appear  at  its  bar  at  a  certain  hour  and  take  the  same. 

"  It  has  assumed  to  create  organic  laws,  and  to  put  the  same  in  execution.  It  has  overthrown  the  theory 
of  free  government,  by  combining  in  itself  all  the  departments  of  government,  and  exercising  the  powers 
belonging  to  each.  Our  fathers  have  taught  us  that  freedom  requires  that  these  powers  shall  not  be  all  lodged 
in,  and  exercised  by,  one  body.  Whenever  it  is  so,  the  people  suffer  under  a  despotism. 

"Fellow-citizens,  I  have  refused  to  recognize  this  Convention.  I  believe  it  has  derived  none  of  the  powers 
which  it  has  assumed,  either  from  the  people  or  the  Legislature.  I  believe  it  guilty  of  an  usurpation,  which  the 
people  cannot  suffer  tamely,  and  preserve  their  liberties.  I  am  ready  to  lay  down  my  life  to  maintain  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  the  people  of  Texas.  I  am  ready  to  lay  down  office  rather  than  yield  to  usurpation  and 
degradation.11 


THE  POWERS    OF    THE    PEOPLE    USURPED. 


191 


Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Georgia,  and  Texas,  and  their  prepara 
tions  for  a  convention  of  delegates,  to  be  held,  by  common  consent,  at  the 
city  of  Montgomery,  Alabama,  on  the  4th  of  February,  1861,  for  the  purpose 
of  forming  a  confederacy  of  Slave-labor  States.  We  have  seen  how,  in  these 
States,  the  serpent  of  Treason  was  hatched  from  the  egg  of  Secession.  We 
have  seen  how  absolutely  the  secession  movement  was  the  work  of  ambitious 
politicians,  evidently  in  opposition  to  the  feelings  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
people,  and  how  carefully  they  excluded  the  people  from  any  participation  in 
the  matter,  after  they  had  used  them  in  putting  the  revolutionary  machinery 
in  motion.  Only  in  Texas  did  they  ask  them  to  sanction  their  acts,  and 
the  concession  in  that  case,  as  we  have  observed,  was  a  most  transparent 
fraud,  to  cheat  the  world  into  a  belief  that  secession  was  accomplished  by  the 
legally  expressed  will  of  the  people.  Each  convention  unwarrantably 
stretched  the  powers  given  it,  by  choosing  from  among  its  own  class  of 
partisans,  without  the  consent  of  the  people,  delegates  to  a  General  Conven 
tion  to  form  a  confederacy  independent  of  the  old  Union ;  and  in  order  to 
carry  out  the  bold  design  of  the  conspirators,  of  having  that  confederacy 
consist  of  the  fifteen  Slave-labor  States,  four  of  the  conventions  appointed 
commissioners  to  go  to  these  several  States  as  seductive  missionaries  in  the 
bad  cause.1  We  have  had  glimpses  of  these  Commissioners  at  several  con 
ventions. 

Let  us  now  observe  relative  events  in  the  other  States  of  the  L'nion. 


1Tho  names  and  destination  of  these  Commissioners  were  as  follows: — 

South  Carolina.— To  Alabama,  A.  P.  Calhoun  :  to  Georgia  James  L.Orr;  to  Florida,  L.  W.  Spratt;  to 
Mississippi,  M.  L.  Bonhatn  ;  to  Louisiana,  J.  L.  Manning :  to  Arkansas,  A.  C.  Spain  •  to  Texas,  .1.  B.  Kershaw. 

Alabama.— To  North  Carolina,  Isharn  W  Gam-it;  to  Mississippi.  K.  W.  Pottus;  to  South  Carolina,  J.  A. 
Elmore;  to  Maryland,  A.  F.  Hopkins;  to  Virginia  Frank  Giliiu-r;  to  Tennessee,  L.  Pope  Walker;  to  Kentucky, 
Stephen  F.  Hale  to  Arkansas,  John  A.  Winston. 

Gforgia. — To  Missouri,  Luther  J.  Glenn;  to  Virginia.  Henry  L.  Ik-nning. 

Mimri**i/>/ti.— To  South  Carolina.  0.  E.  Hooker:  to  Alabama.  Joseph  W.  Matthews;  to  Georgia,  William  L. 
Harris;  to  Louisiana,  Wirt  Adams;  to  Texas,  II.  II.  Miller:  to  Arkansas.  Geo.  R.  Fall;  to  Florida,  K.  M. 
Verger;  to  Tennessee,  T.  J.  Wharton;  to  Ki-ntucky,  W.  S.  Featherstone  ;  to  North  Carolina,  Jacob  Thompson; 

to  Virginia,  Fulton  Anderson;  to  Maryland,  A.  II.  Handy:  to  Delaware,  Henry  Dickinson;  to  Missouri, 

KussclL— Md'heravtit  Political  Hittori/  of  the  Great  Rebellion,  page  11. 


192 


POSITION   OF    THE   VIRGINIANS. 


CHAPTEK    VIII. 


ATTITUDE  OF  THE  BORDER  SL AYE-LABOR  STATES,  AND  OF  THE  FREE-LABOR  STATES. 

HILST  the  politicians  of  the  Gulf  States  were  perfecting 
their  scheme  for  forming  a  confederacy,  there  was 
universal  agitation  on  the  subject  all  over  the  Union, 
and  especially  in  the  Border  Slave-labor  States,  where 
there  were  bonds  of  interest,  and  association,  and  con 
sanguinity  with  both  sections.  Emissaries  of  the  con 
spirators,  resident  and  itinerant,  were  in  those  States, 

working  assiduously  for  the  corruption  of  public  sentiment  concerning 
nationality,  and  for  the  seduction  of  leading  and  influential  men  into  ways 
of  treasonable  transgression.  They  were  specially  active  in  Maryland  and 
Virginia,  because  the  co-operation  of  the  people  of  those  States  would  be 
vitally  important,  in  efforts  to  seize  and  hold  Washington  City  in  the  interest 
of  the  conspirators.  That  city  lay  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  contiguous 
to  and  between  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  was  completely  surrounded  and 
filled  with  a  Slave-holding  population. 

In  Virginia,  where  disunion  sentiments  had  been  uttered  and  fostered, 
and  from  which  they  had  been  widely  disseminated  ever  since  the  birth  of 
the  nation,  the  conspirators  and  politicians  were  anxious,  at  first,  not  so 
much  for  secession  by  States,  or  the  formation  of  a  new  confederacy,  as  for 
a  combined  effort  to  seize  the  Capital  and  national  archives,  and  establish  an 

aristocratic  government,  with  Slavery 
for  its  corner-stone,  on  the  ruins  of  the 
Republic.  In  the  day-dreams  of  the 
politicians,  Washington  City  appeared 
as  a  deserted  capital  (for  the  seat  of 
government  was  to  be  nearer  the  Gulf), 
and  its  magnificent  buildings  were  to  be 
"  consecrated  to  the  genius  of  Southern 
Institutions."  At  the  same  time,  the 
great  majority  of  the  people  in  those 
States  were  loyal  to  the  Constitution, 
and  willing  to  be  obedient  to  the  laws ; 
and  those  of  the  western  section  of 
Virginia — the  mountain  region — as  we 
shall  observe  hereafter,  remained  so,  and 
were  spared  much  of  the  misery  inflicted  by  civil  war. 

John  Letcher,  formerly  a  member  of  Congress,  and  a  willing  instrument 
of  the  conspirators,  was  then  Governor  of  Virginia.  He  and  his  associates 


JOHN   LETOHKB. 


THE   GOVERNOR   OF  VIRGINIA   CAUTIOUS.  193 

watched  the  course  of  public  events  with  great  interest,  for  it  was  difficult 
for  them  to  choose  the  most  expedient  course  of  action.  While  the  authori 
ties  were  cautious,  the  press  was  loud  in  its  demands  for  revolutionary 
action. 

Thoughtful  men  clearly  discerned  portents  of  a  desolating  storm,  and,  on 
the  solicitation  of  many  citizens,  Governor  Letcher  called  the  Legislature  to 
meet  in  extraordinary  session  on  the  7th  of  January.0  In  his 
message,  he  renewed  a  proposition  previously  made  by  himself, 
for  a  convention  of  all  the  States ;  and,  with  a  seeming  desire  to  save  the 
Republic,  he  proposed  that  all  constitutional  remedies  should  be  exhausted 
before  withdrawing  from  the  Union,  saying: — "Is  it  not  monstrous  to  see  a 
Government  like  ours  destroyed,  merely  because  men  cannot  agree  about  a 
domestic  institution  which  existed  at  the  formation  of  the  Government, 
and  which  is  now  recognized  by  fifteen  out  of  the  thirty-three  States  com 
prising  the  Union?"  At  the  same  time,  he  instituted  inquiries  concerning 
the  strength  and  garrison  of  Fortress  Monroe,  within  the  limits  of  his  State, 
and  tfte  probability  of  success,  should  available  Virginia  troops  attempt  to 
seize  it.  He  was  advised,  by  a  competent  judge,  that  the  attempt  would 
fail,  and  he  abandoned  the  contemplated  scheme. 

Letcher,  no  doubt,  knew  the  plans  of  the  conspirators  of  his  section,  and 
counseled  inaction  for  the  moment,  until  the  revolutionary  movements  in  the 
Gulf  region  should  be  more  fully  developed.  "  A  disruption  is  inevitable/' 
he  said,  "  and  if  new  confederations  are  formed,  we  must  h.nve  the  best 
guaranties  before  we  can  attacli  Virginia  to  either."  His  counsel  was 
denounced  by  the  more  Southern  leaders,  as  selfish  and  unpatriotic.  Yet 
they  applauded  his  declaration,  that  he  should  regard  any  attempt  of  the 
National  troops  to  pass  through  Virginia,  "  for  the  purpose  of  coercing  any 
Southern  State,  as  an  act  of  invasion,  which  would  be  repelled."  In  support 
of  this  assertion,  the  Legislature  passed  resolutions/'  declaring 
that  "any  attempt  to  coerce  a  State"  would  be  resisted  by 
Virginia. 

Governor  Letcher  was  at  first  opposed  to  a  State  Convention,  but  the 
Legislature  authorized  the  assembling  of  one  on  the  loth  of  February,  and 
appointed  the  4th  of  that  month  as  the  day  on  which  the  delegates  should 
be  elected.  It  also  decreed  that,  at  the  same  election,  the  question  whether 
the  acts  of  the  Convention  on  the  subject  of  secession  should  be  submitted 
to  the  people  for  ratification  or  rejection,  should  be  decided  by  the  popular 
vote.  The  secessionists  denounced  this  decree  as  an  emasculation  of  the 
Convention  Hill,  and  subjecting  to  imminent  peril  "  all  that  the  people  of 
Virginia  hold  most  sacred  and  dear,  both  as  to  the  Federal  Constitution  and 
the  honor  of  the  State''1 — in  other  words,  imperiling  the  scheme  of  the 
conspirators  to  drag  the  people  of  Virginia  into  revolution.  The  decree 
delighted  the  loyal  people  of  the  State,  and  numerous  Union  meetings  were 
held  in  Western  Virginia. 

While  the  Legislature  seemed  to  be  thoroughly  inoculated  with  the 
revolutionary  virus,  it  felt  the  restraints  of  the  popular  sentiment  too  forcibly 
to  allow  it  to  disregard  the  popular  will,  and  several  measures  looking  to  a 

1  Kicfitnontl  Enquirer. 

VOL.  I.— 13 


194  A  PEACE    CONVENTION  PROPOSED. 

settlement  of  existing  difficulties  were  proposed  in  that  body.  Finally,  on 
the  19th  of  January,  a  series  of  resolutions  were  adopted,  recommending  a 
National  Convention  to  be  held  in  the  City  of  Washington  on  the  4th  day 
of  February,  for  the  alleged  purpose  of  effecting  a  general  and  permanent 
pacification ;  commending  the  "  Crittenden  Compromise," ]  as  a  just  basis  of 
settlement ;  and  appointing  two  commissioners,  one  to  go  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  other  to  the  Governors  of  the  "Seceding 
States,"  to  ask  them  to  abstain  from  all  hostile  action,  pending  the  proceedings 
of  the  proposed  Convention.2  Copies  of  these  resolutions  were  sent  by 
telegraph  to  the  President  and  to  the  Governors  of  all  the  States,  North  and 
South. 

The  proposition  for  a  Peace  Convention  was  received  with  great  favor. 
President  Buchanan  laid  the  matter  before  Congress,  with  a  commendatory 
Message,  in  which  he  said : — "  If  the  seceding  States  abstain  from  any  and 
all  acts  calculated  to  produce  a  collision  of  arms,  then  the  danger  so  much 
deprecated  will  no  longer  exist.  Defense,  and  not  aggression,  has  been  the 
policy  of  the  Administration  from  the  beginning." 

The  Virginians  accompanied  their  propositions  for  securing  peace  with  a 
menace.  On  the  same  day  they  resolved,  "  That  if  all  efforts  to  reconcile  the 
unhappy  differences  between  the  sections  of  our  country  shall  prove  abortive, 
then  every  consideration  of  honor  and  interest  demands  that  Virginia  shall 
unite  her  destinies  with  her  sister  Slaveholding  States."  Virginia  was  made 
to  say  to  the  North,  substantially  in  the  words  of  an  epigrammatist  of  the 
time : — 

"  FIRST. — Move  not  a  finger;  'tis  coercion, 

The  signal  for  our  prompt  dispersion. 

"SECOND. — Wait,  till  /speak  my  full  decision, 
Be  it  for  Union  or  division. 

"THIRD. — If /declare  my  iiltimatum, 

Accept  my  terms  as  I  shall  state  'em. 

"FOURTH. — Then  I'll  remain,  while  I'm  inclined  to; 
Seceding  when  I  have  a  mind  to."3 

The  Virginia  Legislature  appropriated   one  million  of  dollars    for    the 
defense  of  the  State,a  and  made  other  hostile  preparations ;  and 
the  conspirators  were    so    alarmed  by  the  Peace   Congress   pro 
position,  and  by  the  waning  hope  of  seizing  Washington,  that  they   took 
measures  to  precipitate  the  people  of  that  Commonwealth  into  revolution. 
In  order  to  stir  up  the  smoldering  fires  of  enmity  against  the  people  of  the 

1  See  page  89. 

2  Already  a  joint  resolution  had  been  introduced,  to  appoint  a  commission  to  represent  to  the  President 
that,  "in  the  judgment  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  any  additional  display  of  military  power  in  the 
North  will  jeopardize  the  tranquillity  of  the  Republic;  and  that  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter  is  the  first  step 
that  should  be  taken  to  restore  harmony  and  peace." 

For  the  purpose  of  procuring  abstinence  from  hostile  action,  pending  the  proceedings  of  the  proposed  Peace 
Congress,  ex-President  John  Tyler  was  sent  to  President  Buchanan,  and  Judge  John  Robertson  to  Governor 
Pickens,  and  the  Governors  of  "other  seceding  States."  The  President  informed  Mr.  Tyler  that  he  had  no 
power  to  make  such  agreement;  and  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  said  haughtily,  by  resolution,  "The 
separation  of  this  State  from  the  Federal  Union  is  final,  and  we  have  no  further  interest  in  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  The  only  appropriate  negotiations  between  South  Carolina  and  the  Federal  Government  are 
as  to  their  mutual  relations  as  foreign  States." 

3  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser,  March  1,  1S61. 


VIRGINIANS   COUNSELED   TO   REBEL.  195 

North,  created  by  John  Brown's  raid,  representatives  of  Virginia  in  Congress 
issued  a  manifesto,  nine  days  before  the  election   of  delegates  to 
the  State  Convention."     After   mentioning  proceedings  in   Con-  "Janu*212*' 
gress  looking  toward  "  guaranties  for  the  South,"  they  said  : — "  It 
is  our  duty  to  warn  you  that  it  is  in  vain  to  hope  for  any  measure  of  concili 
ation  or  adjustment  which  you  could  accept.     We  are  also  satisfied  that  the 
Republican  party  designs,  by  civil  war  alone,  to  coerce  the  Southern  States, 
under  the   pretext  of  enforcing   the  laws,   unless  it  shall  become  speedily 
apparent  that  the  seceding  States  are  so  numerous,  determined,  and  united, 
as  to  make  such  an  attempt  hopeless.  .  .  .  There  is  nothing  to  be  hoped 
from   Congress.     The    remedy  is    with  you    alone,   when    you   assemble   in 
sovereign  convention.  .  .  .  AVe  conclude  by  expressing  our  solemn  convic 
tion  that  prompt  and  decided  action,  by  the  people  of  Virginia,  in  convention, 
will  afford  the  surest  means,  under  the  providence  of  God,  of  averting  an 
impending   civil   war,  and   preserving  the  hope   of  reconstructing  a  Union 
already  dissolved."     This  manifesto  was  signed  by  K.  M.  T.  Hunter  and  nine 
others.1     Hunter  was  the  ablest  man  among 
them,  and  one  of  the  most  dangerous  of  the 
chief  conspirators  against  the  Government. 

The  election  was  held  on  the 
appointed  day,*  and   of  the   one        Fe^y<i 
hundred  and  fifty-two  delegates 
chosen,  a  large  majority  were  opposed  to 
secession.     Concealing  this  fact,  and   using 
the     other    fact,    that     the      unconditional 
Unionists  were  few,  the  newspapers  in  the 
interest   of  the    conspirators    declared   that 
"  not  twenty  submissionist  Union  men"  had 
been  chosen.     "  Virginia,"  said  the  leading 
organ    of    the    secessionists    in    that    State, 
"  will,  before  the  4th  of  March,  declare  her 
self  absolved  from  all  further  obligation  to  the  Federal  Government.     It  is 
eminently  proper  that  the  State  which  was  the  leader  in  the  Revolution,  and 
the  first  to  proclaim  the  great  doctrine  of  State  Rights  in  1799,  should  lead 
the  column  of  the  Border  States."* 

\Ve  will  consider  the  proceedings  of  the  Virginia  Convention  hereafter. 

The  conspirators  felt  great  anxiety  and  doubt  concerning  the  position  of 
MARYLAND.  To  the  disloyalists  of  that  State,  with  those  of  Virginia,  they 
had  looked  for  the  most  efficient  aid  in  the  work  of  seizing  the  National 
Capital.  Maryland  lay  between  the  Free-labor  States  and  that  capital,  and 
might  be  a  barrier  against  Northern  troops  sent  to  protect  it.  Emissaries 
and  commissioners  from  the  Cotton-growing  States  were  early  within  its 
borders  plying  their  seductive  arts,  and  they  found  so  many  sympathizers 
among  the  slaveholders,  and  a  large  class  in  Baltimore,  connected  by  blood, 
affection,  and  commerce  with  the  South,  that  they  entertained,  for  a  while, 

1  The  following  arc  the  names  attached  to  the  document: — James  M.  Mason,  II.  M.  T.  Hunter,  D.  C.  De 
Jarnette,  M.  II.  II.  Garnett,  Shelton  F.  Leake,  E.  S.  Martin,  II.  A,  Edinonston,  Roger  A.  Pryor,  Thoinaa  i 
Bocock,  A.  G.  Jenkins. 

a  RicJtinond  Enquirer,  February  ft,  1861. 


196  POSITION   OF  MARYLAND. 

bright  hopes  of  the  co-operation  of  the  people  of  that  State.  It  is  said  that 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1861,  no  less  than  twelve  thousand  men  were  organized 
in  that  State,  bound  by  the  most  solemn  oaths  to  do  the  bidding  of  their 
leaders,  whose  purpose  was  to  seize  Washington  City.1 

Independent  of  the  innate  loyalty  of  the  greater  portion  of  the  people  of 
Maryland  to  the  flag  of  the-  Union,  there  were  considerations  of  material 
interests  calculated  to  make  them  weigh  well  the  arguments  for  and  against 
revolution  that  were  presented  to  them.  The  value  of  the  "  slave  property  " 
of  the  State  was  then  estimated  to  be  at  least  fifty  millions  of  dollars.  This 
would  be  imperiled,  for,  if  war  should  be  kindled,  that  "  property,"  possess 
ing  manhood  and  its  instincts,  would  fly  toward  the  free  air  of  the  North,  so 
near  and  so  inviting.  A  blight  would  fall  suddenly  upon  Maryland,  for  the 
withdrawal,  by  such  an  exodus,  of  seven  hundred  thousand  laborers  from  the 
fields  would  leave  the  soil  untilled.  And  yet  the  madmen  of  the  State — 
conspirators  and  demagogues  and  their  dupes — blinded  by  passion,  were 
ready  and  anxious  to  risk  every  thing,  by  clinging  to  the  destinies,  whatever 
they  might  be,  of  the  Slave-labor  States. 

Fortunately  for  Maryland  and  the  Republic,  the  Governor  of  the  State, 
Thomas  H.  Hicks,  his  age  on  the  borders  of  threescore  and  ten,  was  a 
prudent,  loyal  man.  When  Judge  Handy,  the  Commissioner  from  Mississippi, 

visited  him  officially,  at  the  middle  of  December,"  and  set  forth 

the  object  of  his  mission,  and  the  causes  which  justified  secession, 
and  desired  him  to  call  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature,  that  they  might 
authorize  a  State  Convention,  Hicks  assured  him,  that  while  the  people  of 
his  State  were  in  sympathy  with  the  institutions,  habits,  and  feelings  of  the 
Slave-labor  States,  they  were  conservative,  and  ardently  attached  to  the 
Union.  He  was  disposed  to  consult  the  opinions  of  the  people  of  the  Border 
Slave-labor  States  before  acting  in  the  matter,  and  gave  assurance  that  Mary 
land  would  undoubtedly  act  with  those  States.  Handy  was  well  convinced 
that  his  treasonable  schemes  found  no  favor  in  the  mind  and  heart  of 
Governor  Hicks,  and  he  departed.  From  that  time  the  Governor  was 
vehemently  importuned  by  the  politicians  to  convene  the  Legislature. 
Twelve  of  the  twenty-two  State  Senators  jointly  addressed  him,  urging  the 
necessity  of  an  extraordinary  session ;  and  disloyal  politicians  took  steps  for 
calling  an  informal  convention  of  prominent  citizens,  in  order  to  get  an 
expression  of  opinion  in  favor  of  such  session.  At  the  same  time,  the  friends 
of  the  Union  as  strenuously  urged  him  to  refuse  the  call. 

Governor  Hicks  was  firm.  He  well  knew  the  political  complexion  of 
the  Legislature,  and  foresaw  the  mischief  it  might  accomplish ;  so  he  steadily 

refused  to  call  the  members  together.     To  this  refusal  he  added 
4  January  6,   an  appea]  ^o  the  people/  in  the  form  of  a  protest  against  the 

attempt  of  demagogues  to  make  Maryland  subservient  to  South 
Carolina.  "We  are  told,"  he  said,  "by  the  leading  spirits  of  the  South 
Carolina  Convention,  that  neither  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  nor  the  non- 
execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  nor  both  combined,  constitute  their 
grievances.  They  declare  that  the  real  cause  of  their  discontent  dates  as  far 


Baltimore  Correspondent  of  the  New  Tork  World. 


FIRMNESS  OF   GOVERNOR  HICKS.  197 

back  as  1833.  Maryland,  an<l  every  other  State  in  the  Union,  wi^h  a  united 
voice,  then  declared  the  cause  insufficient  to  justify  the  course  of  South  Caro 
lina.  Can  it  be  that  this  people,  who  then  unanimously  supported  the  course 
of  General  Jackson,  will  now  yield  their  opinions  at  the  bidding  of  modern 
secessionists  ?  .  .  .  The  people  of  Maryland,  if  left  to  themselves,  would 
decide,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  present  causes 
of  complaint  to  justify  immediate  secession  ;  and  yet,  against  our  judgments 
and  solemn  convictions  of  duty,  we  are  to  be  precipitated  into  this  revolu 
tion,  because  South  Carolina  thinks  differently.  Are  we  not  equals?  Or 
shall  her  opinions  control  our  actions  ?  After  we  have  solemnly  declared  for 
ourselves,  as  every  man  must  do,  are  we  to  be 
forced  to  yield  our  opinions  to  those  of  another 
State,  and  thus,  in  effect,  obey  her  mandates  ? 
She  refuses  to  wait  for  our  counsels.  Are  we 
bound  to  obey  her  commands  ?  The  men  who 
have  embarked  in  this  scheme  to  convene  the 
Legislature  will  spare  no  pains  to  carry  their 
point.  The  whole  plan  of  operations,  in  the 
event  of  the  assembling  of  the  Legislature,  is,  as 
I  have  been  informed,  already  marked  out ;  the 
list  of  embassadors  who  are  to  visit  the  other 
States  is  agreed  on  ;  and  the  resolutions  which 
they  hope  will  be  passed  bv  the  Legislature,  fullv 

*  *  '  THOMAS    II.     HICKS. 

committing  the  State  to  secession,  are  said  to  be 

already  prepared.     In  the  course  of  nature,  I  cannot  have  long  to  live,  and  I 
fervently  trust  to  be  allowed  to  end  my  days  a  citizen  of  this  glorious  Union. 
But  should   I  be   compelled    to   witness   the   downfall   of  that  Government 
inherited  from  our  fathers,  established  as  it   were    l»y  the  special  favor  of 
God,  I  will  at  least  have  the  consolation,  at  my  dying  hour,  that  I,  neither  by 
word  nor  deed,  assisted  in  hastening  its  disruption."1    Already  Henry  Winter 
Davis,  a  Representative  of  a  Baltimore  district   in  the  National 
Congress,  had  published  a  powerful  appeal"  against   the   calling 
of  the  Legislature,  or  the  assembling  of  a  Border  State  Conven 
tion,  as  some  had  proposed.     Nothing,  he  said,  but  a  convention  of  all  the 
States  could  be  useful. 

The  address  of  Governor  Hicks  was  read  with  delight  and  profound  grati 
tude  by  the  loyal  people  of  Maryland,  while  the  secessionists  at  home  and 
abroad  denounced  him  as  a  "traitor  to  the  Southern  cause."  He  steadily  main 
tained  the  position  of  an  antagonist  to  their  treasonable  designs.  They  tried 
hard,  but  in  vain,  to  counteract  his  influence.  At  the  middle  of  February, 
they  held  an  irregular  convention  in  Baltimore,  and  issued  an  address  and 
resolutions.  Their  operations  were  abortive.  The  best  men  of  the  State,  of 
all  parties,  frowned  upon  their  work.  A  Union  party  was  organized,  com 
posed  of  vital  elements,  and  grew  in  strength  and  stature  every  day.  Mary 
land,  and  especially  Baltimore,  became  a  great  battle-field  of  opinions  between 
the  champions  of  Right  and  Wrong.  The  former  triumphed  gloriously;  and 


1  Governor  Hicks  died  suddenly  at  Washington  City,  on  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  February,  1S65,  where 
be  was  engaged  in  his  duties  as  a  member  of  the  National  Senate, 


198  ACTION   OF   DELAWARE   AND   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

in  less  than  four  years  from  that  time,   slavery  became  utterly  extinct  in 
Maryland,  by  the  constitutional  act  of  its  own  authorities. 

DELAWARE,  lying  still  farther  than  Maryland  within  the  embrace  of  the 
Free-labor  States,  had  but  little  to  say  on  the  subject  of  secession,  and  that 
little,  officially  spoken,  was  in  the  direction  of  loyalty.  Its  Governor,  several 
of  its  Senators,  its  Representatives  in  the  National  Senate,  and  mafly  leading 
politicians,  sympathized  with  the  secessionists,  but  the  people  were  conserva 
tive  and  loyal.  The  Legislature  convened  at  Dover,  the  capital,  on  the  2d  of 
January,  when  the  Governor  (William  Burton)  declared  that  the  cause  of  all 
the  trouble  was  "the  persistent  war  of  the  Abolitionists  upon  more  than  two 
billions  of  property ;  a  war  waged  from  pulpits,  rostrums,  and  schools,  by 
press  and  people — all  teaching  that  slavery  is  a  crime  and  a  sin,  until  it  had 
become  the  opinion  of  one  section  of  the  country.  The  only  remedy,"  he 
said,  "for  the  evils  now  threatening,  is  a  radical  change  of  public  sentiment 
in  regard  to  the  whole  question.  The  North  should  retire  from  its  untenable 
position  immediately."  On  the  following  clay,  Henry  Dickinson,  Commis 
sioner  from  Mississippi,  addressed  them.  He  declared,  with  supporting 
arguments,  that  a  State  had  a  right  to  secede,  and  invited  Delaware  to  join 
the  "Southern  Confederacy"  about  to  be  formed.  He  was  applauded  by 
some,  and  listened  to  courteously  by  all.  Then  the  House,  by  unanimous 
vote,  adopted  a  resolution  (concurred  in  by  a  majority  of  the  Senate),  saying, 
that  they  deemed  it  proper  and  due  to  themselves,  and  the  people  of  Dela 
ware,  to  express  their  unqualified  disapproval  of  the  remedy  for  existing 
evils  proposed  by  Mr.  Dickinson,  in  behalf  of  Mississippi.  This  ended  his 
mission."  Delaware  maintained  that  position  during  the  war  that  ensued; 
and  it  is  a  notable  fact,  that  it  was  the  only  Slave-labor  State  whose  soil  was 
not  moistened  with  the  blood  of  the  slain  in  battle.  No  insurgent  soldier 
ever  appeared  within  the  limits  of  that  State,  except  as  a  prisoner  of  war. 

Great  eiforts  were  made  to  force  NORTH  CAROLINA  into  revolution.     The 
South  Carolinians  taunted    them    with    cowardice ;    the  Virginians    treated 
them  with  coldness;    and  the  Alabamians  and  Mississippians  coaxed  them 
by   the    lips    of   commissioners.     These    efforts   were  vain.     Thompson,   of 
Buchanan's  Cabinet,  went  back  to  Washington,1  convinced  that  the  radical 
secessionists  of  that  State  were  but  a  handful.     The  Legislature  did,  indeed, 
authorize  a  convention ;    but    directed  that  the  people,  when  they  elected 
delegates  for  it,  should  vote  on  the  question  of  Convention  or  No 
Convention.    The  delegates  were  elected,"  one  hundred  and  twenty 
in  number,  eighty-two  of  whom  were  Unionists ;  at  the  same  time, 
the  people  decided  not  to  have  a  convention.     The  Legislature  also  appointed 
delegates  to  the  Peace  Congress  at  Washington  ;  also,  commissioners  to  rep- 
. resent  the  State  in  the  proposed  General  Convention   at  Montgomery,  but 
with  instructions  to  act  only  as  "mediators  to  endeavor  to  bring 
6  February  4.  about  a  reconciliation."     They  also  declared,  by  resolution,5  that 
if  peace  negotiations  should  fail,  North  Carolina  would  go  with 
the   Slave-labor    States.     They   provided   for   the    arming   of   ton   thousand 
volunteers,  and  the  reorganization  of  the  militia  of  the  State.     Further  than 
this  the  legislative  branch  of  the  State  Government  refused  to  go  at  that 

1  See  pages  45  and  144 ;  note  1,  page  143,  and  note  J,  page  91. 


TENNESSEE   FOR   THE   UNION.  199 

time,  and  the  people,  determined  to  avoid  war  if  possible,  kept  steadily  on  in 

their  usual  pursuits.     They  heard  the  howling  of  the  tempest  without,  but 

heeded  not  its  turmoil  for  a  time ;  and  they  were  but  little  startled  by  the 

thunderbolt  cast  in  their  midst  to  alarm  them,  by  Senator  Cling- 

man,   when,  at  the  middle    of  February,0  he  telegraphed  from  a  Fc^"^ry  1S' 

Washington: — "There  is  no  chance  for  Crittenden's  proposition. 

North  Carolina  must  secede,  or  aid  Lincoln  in  making  war  on  the  South."1 

Finally,  by  pressure  from  without,  and  especially  by  the  machinations  of 

traitors  nestled  in  her  own  bosom,  the  State  was  placed  in  an  attitude  of 

open  rebellion. 

The  people  of  TENNESSEE,  the  daughter  of  North  Carolina,  like  those 
of  the  parent  State,  loved  the  Union  supremely ;  but  their  Governor,  Isham 
G.  Harris,  was  an  active  'traitor,  and  had  been  for  months  in  confidential 
correspondence  with  the  conspirators  in  the  Gulf  States  and  in  South  Caro 
lina  and  Virginia.  He  labored  unceas 
ingly,  with  all  of  his  official  power,  to 
place  his  State  in  alliance  with  the 
enemies  of  the  Union.  For  that  pur 
pose  he  called  a  special  session  of  the 
Legislature,  to  assemble  at  Nashville  on 
the  7th  of  January.  In  his  message,  he 
recited  a  long  list  of  so-called  grievances 
which  the  people  of  the  State  had 
suffered  under  the  National  Govern 
ment  ;  appealed  to  their  passions  and 

prejudices,    and     recommended    several         f  ^\^PIk  / 

amendments  to  the  Constitution,  which 
would  give  to  the  support  -of  Slavery  ISHAM  r  HARRig 

all    that    its    advocates     desired,    as    a 

remedy  for  those  grievances.  The  Legislature  provided  for  a  State  Conven 
tion,  but  decreed  that  when  the  people  should  elect  the  delegates,  they 
should  vote  on  the  question  of  Convention  or  No  Convention ;  also,  that  any 
ordinance  adopted  by  the  Convention,  concerning  "  Federal  Relations," 
should  not  be  valid  until  submitted  to  the  people  for  ratification  or  rejection. 

The  election,  held  on  the  Oth  of  February,*  was  very  gratify 
ing  to  the  loyal  people  of  tl>e  State.     The  Union  candidates  were       •  i>ei. 
chosen  by  an  aggregate  mnjority  of  about  sixty-five  thousand ; 
and,  by  a  majority  of  nearly  twelve  thousand,  they  decided  not  to  have  a 
convention.     The   result  produced  great  rejoicings,  for  it  was  believed  that 
the  secession  movements  in  the  State  would  cease.     It  was  a  delusive  hope, 
as  we  shall  observe  hereafter. 

KENTUCKY,  a  Border  State  of  great  importance,  having  a  population,  in 
1860,  of  one  million  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
thirteen,  of  whom  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  were  slaves,  was, 
like  Maryland,  strongly  attached  by  triple  bonds  to  both  sections  of  the 
Union.  Its  action  at  this  crisis,  whatever  it  might  be,  would  have  great 


MoPherson's  Political  History  of  Vie  United  States  during  Hit  Rebellion,  page  41. 


200  DOUBTFUL  POSITION   OF  KENTUCKY. 

influence,  and  that  action  was  awaited  with  anxiety.  The  sympathies  of  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  Beriah  Magoffin,  were  with  the  Southern  people  and 
their  slave-system  of  labor ;  yet  in  his  public  acts,  at  this  time,  he  opposed 
secession.  The  people  of  his  State  were  decidedly  hostile  to  the  revolution 
ary  movements  in  the  Gulf  region ;  yet,  whenever  the  question  was  raised 
concerning  the  right  and  the  duty  of  the  National  Government  to  enforce 
the  laws  by  its  constitutional  power,  that  enforcement  was  called,  in  the  lan 
guage  of  the  disloyal  sophists,  "  coercing  a  Sovereign  State,"  and  therefore, 
they  said,  it  must  not  be  tolerated. 

At  a  convention  of  Union  and  Douglas  men  of  the  State,  held 
« is6i.       on  the  8th  of  January,"  it  was  resolved  that  the  rights  of  Ken 
tucky  should  be  maintained  in  the  Union.     They  were  in  favor 
of  a  convention  of  the  Slave  and  Free-labor  Border  States,  to  decide  upon 

some  just  compromise,  and  declared  their 
willingness  to  support  the  National  Gov 
ernment,  unless  the  incoming  President 
should  attempt  to "  coerce  a  State  or 
States."  The  Legislature,  which  assembled 
at  about  the  same  time,  was  asked  by  the 
Governor  to  declare,  by  resolution,  the 
"  unconditional  disapprobation  "  of  the 
people  of  that  State  of  the  employment 
of  force  against  "  seceding  States."  Ac 
cordingly,  on  the  22d  of  January,  the 
Legislature  resolved  that  the  Kentucki- 
ans,  uniting  with  their  brethren  of  the 
BERIAH  MAGOFFIN.  South,  would  resist  any  invasion  of  the 

soil  of  that  section,  at  all  hazards  and  to 

the  last  extremity.  This  action  was  taken  by  the  authorities  of  Kentucky, 
because  the  Legislatures  of  several  of  the  Free-labor  States  had  offered 
troops  for  the  use  of  the  Government,  in  enforcing  the  laws  in  "  seceding 
States."  The  Legislature  also  decided  against  calling  a  convention,  and 
appointed  delegates  to  the  Peace  Congress  to  meet  at  Washington  City. 
Such  was  the  attitude  of  Kentucky  at  the  beginning.  A  little  later, 
its  public  authorities  and  other  leading  men  endeavored  to  give  to  it  a 
position  of  absolute  neutrality. 

MISSOURI,  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  was  another  Border  State 
of  great  importance.  Its  population  in  1860  was  one  million  one  hundred 
and  eighty-two  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventeen,  of  whom  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  thousand  were  slaves.  Its  inhabitants  had  been  agitated  more  or 
less  by  the  troubles  in  Kansas,  a  State  stretching  along  almost  the  whole  of 
its  western  border,  where  the  friends  and  enemies  of  the  Slave  system  of 
labor  had  quarreled  and  fought  for  several  years  previous  to  the  year  1858. 
In  that  school  of  experience,  the  Missourians  had  been  pretty  well  instructed 
concerning  the  questions  at  issue  in  the  now  impending  conflict ;  and  when 
they  were  called  upon  to  act,  they  did  so  intelligently.  They  knew  the  value 
of  the  Union ;  and  the  great  body  of  the  people  reprobated  the  teachings  of 
the  disloyal  politicians,  and  determined  to  stand  by  the  Union  so  long  aa  it 
seemed  to  them  a  blessing. 


(  I.AllioU.NE   r.  JACK8O9. 


MISSOURI   AND   ARKANSAS   RESIST   SECESSION.  201 

The  4th  of  January,  1861,  was  an  unfortunate  day  for  Missouri.     On  that 
day  Claiborne  F.  Jackson,  an  unscrupulous  politician,  and  a  conspirator  against 
the  Republic,  was  inaugurated  Governor  of 
the  State.      In  his  message  to  the  Legislature, 
he  insisted  that  Missouri  should  stand  by  its 
sister   Slave-labor  States   in  whatever  course 
they  might  pursue  at  that  crisis.     lie  recom 
mended  the  calling  of  a  State  Convention  to 
consider  "Federal  Relations;"  and 
on  the   16th,"   the  Legislature  re 
sponded  by  authorizing   one,   de 
creeing,  however,  that  its  action  on  the  subject 
of  secession  should  be  submitted  to  the  vote 
of  the   people.     The  election  resulted  in  the 
choice  of  a  large  majority  of  Union  delegates 
by  a  heavy  majority  of  the  popular  vote.  They 

assembled  at  Jefferson  City  on  the  28th  of  February.     Their  proceedings  will 
be  considered  hereafter. 

Adjoining  Missouri  on  the  south,  and  lying  between  it  and  Louisiana,  is 
ARKANSAS,  a  rapidly  growing  Cotton-producing  State.  The  people  were 
mostly  of  the  planting  class,  and  were  generally  attached  to  the  Union ;  and 
it  was  only  by  a  rigorous  system  of  terrorism  that  they  were  finally  placed 
in  an  attitude  of  rebellion. 

An  emissary  of  treason,  named  Hubbard,  was  sent  into  Arkansas  at  the 
middle  of  December,  by  the  Alabama  conspirators.  He  was  per 
mitted  to  address  the  State  Legislature6  assembled  at  Little  &D^»>ber20' 
Rock,  when  he  assured  them  that  Alabama  would  soon  secede, 
whether  other  States  did  or  did  not,  and  advised  Arkansas  to  do  the  same. 
Ten  days  afterward  there  was  an  immense  assemblage  of  the  people  at  Van 
Buren,  on  the  Arkansas  River,  in  the  extreme  western  part  of  the  State. 
They  resolved,  on  that  occasion,  that  separate  State  action  would  be  unwise, 
and  that  co-operation  was  desirable.  It  was  evident,  from  many  tests,  that 
nine-tenths  of  the  people  were  averse  to  the  application  of  secession  as  a 
remedy  for  alleged  evils. 

On  the  16th,  the  Legislature  of  Arkansas  provided  for  the  submission  of 
the  question  of  a  State  Convention  to  the  people,  and  if  they  should  decide 
to  have  one,  the  Governor  was  directed  to  appoint  a  day  for  the  election  of 
delegates.  A  majority  of  twelve  thousand  voted  in  favor  of  a  convention. 
An  election  was  held,  when,  out  of  about  forty  thousand  votes,  there  was  a 
popular  majority  of  about  six  thousand  for  Union  delegates.  How  that 
Convention  was  managed  by  the  conspirators,  and  the  people  were  cheated, 
will  be  considered  hereafter. 

We  have  now  observed  the  revolutionary  movements  in  the  Slave-labor 
States  down  to  the  so-called  secession  of  seven  of  them  ;c  their 
preparations  for  a  General  Convention,  at  the  beginning  of  Feb 
ruary,  to  form  a  confederacy  ;  and  the  construction  of  machinery, 
in  the  form  of  State  conventions,  for  sweeping  most  of  the  other  Slave-labor 
Spates  into  the  vortex  of  revolution.    Let  us  see  what,  in  the  mean  time,  was 
done  in  the  matter  in  the  Free-labor  States,  beginning  with  Xew  England. 


202  LOYAL  ACTION   OF  MAINE. 

MAINE,  lying  on  the  extreme  eastern  border  of  the  Republic,  and  adjoin 
ing  the  British  possessions,  had,  in  1860,  a  population  of  over  six  hundred 
thousand.  Its  people  watched  the  rising  tide  of  revolution  with  interest, 
and  were  among  the  first  to  offer  barriers  against  its  destructive  overflow. 
The  idea  of  nationality,  so  universally  a  sentiment  among  intelligent  men  all 
over  the  Free-labor  States,  made  such  action  instinctive ;  and  everywhere 
assurances  of  aid  were  given  to  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Republic. 

Israel  Washburne,  Jr.,  was  then  Governor  of  Maine.  In  his  message  to 
the  Legislature,  on  the  day  of  its  assembling  at  Augusta,  he  ably  reviewed 
the  history  of  the  Slavery  question,  and  recommended  the  repeal  of  any  laws 
that  were  unconstitutional.  "Allow  no  stain,"  he  said,  "on  the  faith  and 

devotion  of  the  State  to  the  Constitution 
and  the  rights  of  the  States."  He  declared 
that  the  concessions  demanded  by  the  poli 
ticians  of  the  Slave-labor  States  were  wholly 
inadmissible,  and  incompatible-  with  the 
safety  of  the  Constitution,  as  the  exponent 
and  defender  of  republican  institutions.  He 
stigmatized  secession  as  a  crime  without  the 
shadow  of  a  right.  "  There  is  no  such 
right  in  the  Constitution,"  he  said.  "  Con 
gress  cannot  grant  it ;  the  States  cannot 
concede  it,  and  only  by  the  people  of  the 
States,  through  a  change  in  the  Constitution, 
'  I8RAEL  WASH!,™*  «.  -  can  it;  be  conferred.  The  laws,  then,  must  be 

executed,  or  this,  the  best,  because  the  freest 

and  most  beneficent  Government  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  is  destroyed." 
He  pledged  the  State  to  a  support  of  the  Union,  and  he  was  sustained  in  this 
by  the    Legislature,  who,  on    the    16th,   declared  by   a   large  majority  the 
attachment  of  the  people  of  that  State  to  the  L'nion,  and  loyalty  to  the  Gov 
ernment,  and  requested  the  Governor  to  assure  the  President  of  that  attach 
ment  and  loyalty,  and  "that  the  entire  resources  of  the  State,  in  men  and 
money,"  were  "  pledged  to  the  Administration  in  defense  and  support  of  the 
Constitution  and  Union."     Willing  to  make  concessions  for  the 
*  ^ae?  "'    sa^e  °^  Peace?  tne  State  Senate  afterward  passed  a  billa  repealing 

the  Personal  Liberty  Act. 

MASSACHUSETTS  was  an  early  and  conspicuous  actor  in  the  great  drama 
we  are  considering.  In  many  aspects,  in  nature  and  society,  it  was  totally 
unlike  South  Carolina,  the  cradle  of  the  rebellion.  Its  people  were  the  most 
energetic,  positive,  and  ever-active  of  any  State  in  the  Union,  and  its  wealth 
for  each  person  was  greater  than  any  other.  It  was  regarded  by  the,  people 
of  the  Slave-labor  States  as  the  central  generator  of  the  Abolition  force  that 
threatened  the  destruction  of  Slavery ;  and  South  Carolina  orators  and 
journalists  made  Massachusetts  the  synonym  of  Puritanism,  which  they 
affected  to  despise,  as  vulgar  in  theory  and  in  practice.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  much  that  was  done  in  religion,  in  politics,  and  in  social  life  in  Massa 
chusetts,  did  not  harmonize  with  the  opinions,  habits,  and  feelings  of  the 
people  of  South  Carolina.  The  representatives  of  Massachusetts  in  the 
National  Senate  (Henry  Wilson  and  Charles  Sumner)  were  known  in  every 


MASSACHUSETTS   READY   FOR   WAR.  203 

part  of  the  Union  as  the  most  able  and  uncompromising  opponents  of  the 
Slave  system;  and  its  Governor  at  that  time  (John  A.  Andrew)  was  an 
earnest  co-worker  with  them  in  the  cause  of  the  final  emancipation  of  the 
slaves  within  the  borders  of  the  Republic.  .  Its  Personal  Liberty  Act  was 
most  offensive  to  the  slaveholders ;  and  the  ill-timed  and  irritating  perform 
ances  of  a  few  zealous  men  in  Boston,  on  the  3d  of  December,  1860,  as  we 
have  observed,  in  celebrating  the  anniversary  of  the  execution  of  John 
Brown,1  added  intensity  to  the  flame  of  passion — of  hatred  and  disgust  of 
New  Englanders — in  all  the  region  below  the  Potomac  and  the  Ohio,  and 
far  away  to  the  Rio  Grande. 

It  was  evident  at  the  beginning  of  January,  1861,  that  the  contagion  of 
secession  was  spreading  too  rapidly,  and  was  too  malignant  in  its  character, 
to  be  arrested  either  by  moral  suasion  or  by  compromises  and  concessions. 
The    time   had   arrived    for    courageous,    conscientious,    and    manly   action. 
Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  the  retiring  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  in 
his  valedictory  address  to  the  Legislature,"  took  open  and    un-     aJ:J™JJry3' 
equivocal  ground  against  secession,  declaring  that  the  North  would 
never  submit  to  the  revolutionary  acts  of  the  Southern  conspirators.     His 
successor,   Governor  Andrew,  was  equally  energetic   and  outspoken.      His 
words    constantly    grew   into   action.       He    saw    approaching    danger,    and 
dispatched  agents  to  other  New  England  States,  to  propose  a  military  com 
bination   in  support  of  the  Government,  first 
in  defending  Washington   City  from   seizure 
by  the  insurgents,  within  and  around  it,  and 
afterward  in  enforcing  the  laws.     At  the  same 
time,  all   cf  the  volunteer  companies  of  the 
State,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of  about 
five  thousand,  commenced  drilling  nightly  in 
their  armories.     Governor  Andrew  also  sent 
one  of  his  staff  (Lieutenant-Colonel  Ritchie) 
to  Washington,  to  consult  with  General  Scott 
and  other  officers,  civil  and  military,  concern 
ing  the  dispatch  of  Massachusetts  troops  to 
the  Capital,  in  the  event  of  insurrectionary 
movements  against  it.    A  satisfactory  arrange 
ment   was    made,   and   troops    were    held    in 
readiness  to  start  at  a  moment's  notice.     How 

well  they  played  an  important  part  in  the  drama,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  will  be  related  hereafter.  It  was  the  blood  of  Massachusetts  soldiers 
that  was  first  poured  out  in  the  terrible  war  for  the  life  of  the  Republic,  that 
soon  commenced. 

RHODE  ISLAND,  the  smallest  of  the  States,  was  full  of  patriotic  zeal.  Her 
large  manufacturing  interests  were  intimately  connected  with  the  States  in 
which  insurrections  had  commenced,  yet  no  considerations  of  self-interest 
could  allure  her  people  from  their  love  of  the  Union  and  allegiance  to  the 
National  Government.  Her  youthful  Governor  (William  Sprague),  anxious 

for  peace  and  union,  recommended,   in  his  message  to    the  Legislature  of 

• 
•   ~ 

1  See  paeo  114. 


o 

JolIN    A.    AMU'.EW. 


204  RHODE   ISLAND  AND   NEW   YORK  AROUSED. 

Rhode  Island,  the  repeal  of  the  Personal  Liberty  Act  on  its  statute-book, 
"  not  from  fear  or  cowardice,"  he  said,   "  but  from  a  brave  determination, 
in  the  face  of  threats  and  sneers,  to  live  up  to  the  Constitution  and  all  its 
guaranties,  the  better  to  testify  our  love  for  the  Union,  and  the  more  firmly 
to  exact  allegiance  to  it  from  all  others."     The   act   was  repealed  at  the 
close  of  January;"  and  this  measure  was  regarded  as  the  fore 
runner  of  other  concessions  that  might  bring  about  reconciliation. 
The  spirit  of  the  conspirators  was  unknown  and  unsuspected.     They  had 

resolved  to  accept  no  compromises  or  con 
cessions,  and  they  sneered  at  generous  acts 
like  this  as  the  "  pusillanimity  of  cowardly 
Yankees."  It  was  the  first  and  the  last 
olive-branch  offered  to  the  traitors  by 
Rhode  Island.  When  they  struck  the 
blow,  with  deadly  intent,  at  the  life  of  the 
Republic,  ten  weeks  later,  she  sent  against 
them  a  sword  in  the  hands  of  her  Gover 
nor  and  others,  that  performed  brave  deeds 
in  the  cause  of  our  nationality. 

In  the  remaining  New  England  States, 
\     namely,   New   Hampshire,    Vermont,    and 
Connecticut,  nothing  specially  noteworthy 
WILLIAM  SPKAGUE.  was  done  in  relation  to  the  secession  move 

ment,   before   the    insurgents    commenced 

actual  war,  in  April ;  but  in  the  great  State  of  NEW  YORK,  whose  popu 
lation  was  then  nearly  three  millions  nine  hundred  thousand,  and  whose 
chief  city  was  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  Republic,  much  was  done  to 
attract  public  attention. 

The  Legislature  assembled  at  the  beginning  of  January,  and  the 
Governor,  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  in  a  conciliatory  message,  proposed  to  cast  oil 
on  the  turbulent  political  waters,  by  offering  concessions  to  the  complaining 
politicians  of  the  South.  The  members  of  the  Legislature  were 
no^  so  yielding;  and  °n  the  first  day  of  the  session6  patriotic 
resolutions  were  introduced  by  Mr.  Spinola,  of  the  lower  house. 
They  were  referred  to  n  Select  Committee  of  Five,  who  reported  a  series  of 
resolutions  and  a  spirited  preamble,  that  were  adopted  on  the  llth.  They 
seemed  to  comprehend  the  true  character  of  the  conspirators  and  the  duty  of 
all  loyal  men.  The  preamble  spoke  of  the  "  insurgent  State  of  South  Caro 
lina  ;"  its  seizure  of  the  public  property  ;  its  act  of  war,  in  firing 
on  the  Star  of  the  West  ;c  the  seizure  of  forts  and  arsenals  else 
where  ;  and  the  treasonable  words  of  the  representatives  of  Southern  States 
in  the  National  Congress.  The  first  resolution  then  declared  that  the  people 
of  New  York  were  firmly  attached  to  the  Union,  and  that,  impressed  with 
the  value  of  that  Union,  they  tendered  to  the  President,  through  their  Chief 
Magistrate,  whatever  aid  in  men  and  money  might  be  required  to  enable  him 
to  enforce  the  laws.  They  directed  the  Governor  to  send  a  copy  of  these 
resolutions  to  the  President,  and  to  the  Governors  of  all  the  States. 
These  produced  much  irritation  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  and  at  the  same 
time  profoundly  impressed  the  people  therein  with  a  distrust  of  the  assu- 


SECESSION   OF   NEW    YORK    CITY    PROPOSED.  205 

ranee  of  their  politicians  that  secession  would  be  peaceful,  and  that  there 
would  be  no  war.1 

At  that  time  a  notorious  character  named  Fernando  Wood  was  Mayor  of 
the  City  of  Xew  York.     lie  was  a  special  favorite  of  the  worst  elements  of 
society  in  that   cosmopolitan   city,  and   sympathized   with   the   conspirators 
against  the  Republic,  during  the  civil  war  that  ensued.     Four 
days  before"  the  Legislature  of  the  State  passed  its  patriotic  reso-  °Ja""gJy  '' 
lutions,  this  disloyal  man  sent  a  message  to  the  Common  Council 
of  the  city,  in  which  he  mentioned  the  advantages  which  the  people  might 
secure  by  following  the  example  of  those  of 
South    Carolina   in    revolutionary  measures. 
"Why  should  not  New  York  City,"  he  said, 
u  instead    of   supporting   by    her    contribu 
tions  in  revenue  two-thirds  the  expenses  of 
the  United  States,  become  also  equally    in 
dependent?      As   a   free   city,    with  but   a 
nominal  duty  on  imports,  her  local  govern 
ment   could   be  supported  without   taxation 
upon  her  people.     Thus  we  could  live  free 
from  taxes,  and  have   cheap  goods,   nearly 
duty   free.       In    this   she    would   have   the 
whole  and  united  support   of  the  Southern 
States,  as    well   as    of  all    other    States,  to 
whose  interests  and   rights,  under  the  Con-  KI.WI>-  i..  M..P...  \\. 

Htitution,  she  has  always  been  true.     If  the 

Confederacy  is  broken  up,"  he  continued,  "the  Government  is  dissolved; 
and  it  behooves  every  distinct  community,  as  well  as  every  individual,  to 
take  care  of  themselves.  When  disunion  lias  become  a  fixed  and  certain 
fact,  why  may  not  New  York  disrupt  the  bands  which  bind  her  to  a  venal 
and  corrupt  master — to  a  people  and  a  party  that  have  plundered  her 
revenues,'  attempted  to  ruin  her  commerce,  taken  away  the  power  of  self- 
government,  and  destroyed  the  confederacy  of  which  she  was  the  proud 
Empire  City?  Amid  the  gloom  which  the  present  and  prospective  con 
dition  of  things  must  cast  over  the  country,  NVw  York,  as  a  frA>.  <vVy, 
may  shed  the  only  light  and  hope  for  a  future  reconstruction  of  our  blessed 
confederacy."8  His  own  treasonable  words  seemed  to  have  startled  him, 


1  See  Toombs's  counter-resolution  in  tho  Georgia  Convention.  The  Legislature  of  Virginia,  on  the  17th 
of  January,  ordered  the  resolutions  to  be  returned  to  Governor  Morgan. 

8  One  of  the  favorite  writers  for  I)t  Mine's  AVrjVir  (already  mentioned  as  the  most  stately  and  pretentious 
of  the  periodieal  publications  in  the  Slave-labor  States),  and  who  was  a  leader  of  the  peculiar  "  Virginia  aris 
tocracy  "  based  on  the  ownership  of  slaves,  pronounced  this  proposition,  "the  most  brilliant  that  these  eventful 
times  have  given  birth  to,"  and  then  proceeded  in  the  following  style,  characteristic  of  the  writers  and  speakers 
of  his  class  at  that  time,  to  give  his  views  on  the  subject: — 

"Should  New  York  fail  to  erect  herself  into  a  free  port  and  separate  republic;  should  she  remain  under  the 
dominion  of  tho  corrupt,  venal  wire-workers  of  Albany,  and  of  the  immoral,  infidel,  agrarian,  free-love 
Democracy  of  western  New  York;  should  she  put  herself  under  the  rule  of  Puritans,  the  vilest,  most  selfish, 
and  unprincipled  of  the  human  race;  should  she  join  a  northern  confederacy;  should  she  make  New  England, 
western  New  York,  northern  Ohio,  northern  Indiana,  or  northern  Illinois  her  masters;  should  she  make  enemies 
of  her  Southern  friends,  and  deliver  herself  up  to  the  tender  mercies  of  her  Northern  enemies,  she  will  sink  to 
rise  no  more.  Better,  a  thousand  times  better,  to  come  under  the  dominion  of  free  negroes,  of  gipsies,  than 
of  Yankees,  or  low  Germans,  or  Canadians.  Gipsies  and  free  negroes  have  many  amiable,  noble,  and  generous 
traits;  Yankees,  sour-krout  Germans,  and  Canadians  none.  Senator  Wade  says,  and  Seward  too.  that  the  North 
will  absorb  Canada.  They  are  half  true ;  the  vile,  sensual,  animal,  brutal,  inlldel,  superstitious  democracy  of 


206  .  THE   TIMIDITY   OF   COMMERCE. 

and  given  him  visions  of  a  felon's  cell,  for  he  immediately  added,  meekly — : 
"  Yet  I  am  not  prepared  to  recommend  the  violence  implied  in  these  views."1 

The  seditious  suggestions  of  this  Mayor,  and  the  opposing  and  defiant 
tone  of  the  Legislature,  alarmed  the  commercial  classes  and  large  capitalists, 
and  these  hastened  to  seek  some  method  for  pacifying  the  Southern  insurgents. 
War  seemed  inevitable.  Its  besom  would  sweep  thousands  of  the  debtors 
of  New  York  merchants  and  manufacturers  in  the  Slave-labor  States  into  the 
mill  of  absolute  ruin,  and  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  bills  receivable  in  the 
hands  of  their  creditors  must  be  made  as  worthless  as  so  much  soiled  white 
paper.  This  material  consideration,  and  an  almost  universal  desire  for  peace 
and  quiet,  developed  a  quick  willingness  to  make  every  concession  to  the 
demands  of  the  discontented  Southerners  consistent  with  honor.  As  an 
expression  of  this  feeling,  and  with  the  hope  of  practical  results,  a  memorial 
for  compromise  measures,  largely  signed  by  merchants,  manufacturers,  and 
capitalists,  was  forwarded  to  Congress  on  the  12th  of  January.  The  memo 
rialists  prayed  that  body  to  legislate  so  as  to  give  assurances  "  with  any 
required  guaranties,"  to  the  slaveholders,  that  their  right  to  regulate  Slavery 
within  the  borders  of  their  respective  States  should  be  secured;  that  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  should  be  faithfully  executed;  that  Personal  Liberty 
Acts  in  "possible  conflict"  with  that  law  should  be  "  readjusted  ;"  and  that 
they  should  have  half  the  Territories,  whereof  to  organize  Slave-labor  States. 
They  were  assured,  the  memorialists  said,  that  such  measures  would  "re 
store  peace  to  their  agitated  country." 

This  memorial  was  followed  by  another,  adopted  on  the  18th  of  January, 
at  a  meeting  of  merchants  in  the  rooms  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
similar  in  tone  to  the  other,  and  substantially  recommending  the  "Crittenden 
Compromise "  as  a  basis  for  pacification.  They  appointed  a  committee  to 
take  charge  of  the  memorial,  to  procure  signatures  to  it,  and  forward  it  to 
Congress.  It  was  taken  to  Washington  early  in  February,  with  forty 
thousand  names  attached  to  it. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  an  immense  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  at  the 
Cooper  Institute,  in  New  York,  when  it  was  resolved  to  send  three  Com 
missioners  to  six  of  the  u  seceded  States,"  instructed  to  confer  with  the 
"  delegates  of  the  people,"  in  convention  assembled,  in  regard  to  "  the  best 
measures  calculated  to  restore  the  peace  and  integrity  of  the  Union."  James 
T.  Brady,  Cornelius  K.  Garrison,  and  Appleton  Oaksmith  were  appointed 
such  Commissioners.  At  about  the  same  time,  the  "  Democratic  State 
Central  Committee"  called  for  the  appointment  of  four  delegates  from  each 


Canada  and  the  Yankee  States  will  coalesce  ^  and  Senator  Johnson  of  Tennessee  will  join  them.  But  when 
Canada,  and  western  New  York,  and  New  England,  and  the  whole  beastly,  puritanic,  '  sour-krout,'  free  negro, 
infidel,  superstitious,  licentious,  democratic  population  of  the  North  become  the  masters  of  New  York — what 
then  ?  Outside  of  the  city,  the  State  of  New  York  is  Yankee  and  puritanical;  composed  of  as  base,  unprin 
cipled,  superstitious,  licentious,  and  agrarian  and  anarchical  population  as  any  on  earth.  Nay,  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  say,  it  is  the  vilest  population  on  earth.  If  the  city  does  not  secede,  and  erect  a  separate  republic, 
this  population,  aided  by  the  ignorant,  base,  brutal,  sensual  German  infidels  of  the  northwest,  the  stupid 
democracy  of  Canada  (for  Canada  will,  in  some  w-ay,  coalesce  with  the  North),  and  the  arrogant  and  tyrannical 
people  of  New  England  will  become  masters  of  the  destinies  of  New  York.  They  hate  her  for  her  sympathies 
with  the  South,  and  will  so  legislate  as  to  divert  all  her  western  trade  to  outlets  through  Chicago,  the  St.  Law 
rence,  Portland,  and  Boston.  She  will  then  be  cut  off  from  her  trade  North  and  South.  In  fine,  she  must  set 
up  for  herself  or  be  ruined." — George  Fitzhugh  in  D&  Bow's  Review  for  February,  18C1. 

1  The  Board  of  Aldermen  ordered  three  thousand  copies  of  this  message  to  be  "printed  in  document  form.'1 


GERM  OF  THE  PEACE  PARTY.  207 

Assembly  district  in  the  State,  to  meet  as  representatives  of  the  party  in 
convention  at  Albany  on  the  31st  of  January.  They  assembled  on  that  day, 
and  the  delegates  were  addressed  by  the  venerable  ex-Chancellor  Walworth, 
ex-Governor  Seymour,  and  men  of  less  note,  and  a  series  of  resolutions  were 
adopted,  expressive  of  the  sense  of  the  party  on  the  great  topic  of  the  day. 
They  declared,  substantially,  that  a  conflict  of  sectional  passions  had  pro 
duced  present  convulsions  ;  that  the  most  ineffective  argument  to  be  pre 
sented  to  the  "  seceding  States''  was  war,  which  would  not  restore  the 
Union,,  but  would  "  defeat  forever  its  reconstruction  ;"  that  the  restoration 
of  the  Union  could  only  be  obtained  by  the  exercise  of  a  spirit  of  conciliation 
and  concession  ;  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  nature  of  the  impending  diffi 
culties  that  made  an  adjustment  by  compromise  improper ;  and  that  the 
Union  could  only  be  preserved  by  the  adoption  of  a  Border-State  policy, 
embodied  in  the  Crittenden  Compromise.  They  appointed  a  committee  to 
prepare,  in  behalf  of  the  Convention,  "  a  suitable  memorial  to  the  Legislature, 
urging  them  to  submit  the  Crittenden  Compromise  to  a  vote  of  the  electors 
of  the  State,  at  the  earliest  practicable  day." 

At  about  this  time  there  seemed  to  be  concerted  action  all  over  the  State 
to  discountenance  anti-slavery  movements,  and  to  silence  those  men  whose 
agency,  it  was  alleged,  had  caused  the  "  public  sentiment  of  the  North  to 
have  the  appearance  of  a  hostility  to  the  South,  incompatible  with  its  con 
tinuance  in  the  Union."  Anti-slavery  meetings  were  broken  up  by  violence  ; 
and  early  in  March"  an  association  was  formed  in  New  York 
City,  called  T/«  Am*ri<*<tn  Xwh-ti/  for  tin  Promotion  of  '  **^ 6' 
Nitiomtl  futon,  of  which  Professor  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  the 
inventor  of  the  perfected  electro-magnetic  telegraph,  was  chosen  President.1 
Its  professed  object  was  "  to  promote  the  union  and  welfare  of  our  common 
country,  by  addresses,  publications,  and  all  other  suitable  means  adapted  to 
elucidate  and  inculcate,  in  accordance  with  the  Word  of  God,  the  duties  of 
American  citizens,  especially  in  relation  to  Slavery."  Reiterating  the  idea 
put  forth  a  few  weeks  before  by»  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smythe,  of  Charleston,  in 
denunciation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,5  this 
society,  in  its  "  Programme,"  said  . — "The  popular  declaration  that  all  men 
are  created  equal,  and  entitled  to  liberty,  intended  to  embody  the  sentiments 
of  our  ancestors  respecting  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  right  of  kings  and 
nobles,  and  perhaps,  also,  the  more  doubtful  sentiment  of  the  French  school, 
may  be  understood  to  indicate  both  a  sublime  truth  and  a  pernicious  error." 
Again: — u  Our  attention  will  not  be  confined  to  Slavery,  but  this  will  be,  at 
present,  our  main  topic.  Four  millions  of  immortal  beings,  incapable  of  sell- 
care,  and  indisposed  to  industry  and  foresight,  are  providentially  committed 
to  the  hands  of  our  Southern  friends.  This  stupendous  trust  they  cannot 
put  from  them  if  they  would.  Emancipation,  were  it  possible,  would  be 


1  The  officers  of  the  society  \vcre:— PrfKidtni,  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse.  Eftcutire  Committee,  John  W. 
Mitchell,  Sidney  K.  Morse,  Benjamin  Douglass,  Lucius  Hopkins.  .1.  T.  Moore.  .1.  II.  Brower.  Thomas  Tileston, 
A.  O.  Jennings.  Francis  Hopkins.  II.  .1  Baker.  Kdwin  Crosswell,  William  H.  Price,  Cornelius  I)u  Hois.  J.  15. 
Waterburr,  J.  Holmes  Agnew.  AV-^V/c,  S.  F.  11.  Morse.  James  T.  Soutter.  Hubbard  Winslow.  Scth  Bliss. 
Treuturrr.  James  T.  Soutter.  Secretaries,  Hubbard  Winslow.  Seth  Bliss.  The  New  York  Journal  of  Com 
merce,  speaking  of  the  society,  expressed  its  regret  that  something  like  it  had  not  been  formed  thirty  years 
before,  in  the  "infancy  of  the  Abolition  heresy,"  and  employing  a  small  "army  of  talented  lecturers  to  follow 
in  the  wake,  or  precede  Abolition  lecturers." 

a  See  not«  3,  jiage  88. 


208  OPPOSING   OPINIONS   IN  NEW   JERSEY. 

rebellion  against  Providence,  and  destruction  to  the  colored  race  in  our 
land."  These  sentences  indicate  the  scope  of  this  society's  operations.  It 
was  the  germ  of  that  powerful  "  Peace  Party  "  which  played  a  conspicuous 
part,  as  we  shall  observe,  during  the  last  three  years  of  the  civil  war  that 
ensued. 

While  the  Legislature  of  New  York  was  firmly  resolved  to  support  the 
National  Government  with  arms,  if  necessary,  it  was  ever  willing  to  try 
first  the  power  of  peaceful  measures.  It  responded  to  Virginia's  proposition 
for  a  Peace  Congress,  by  appointing  five  delegates  thereto,  who  were 
instructed  not  to  take  any  part  in  the  proceedings,  unless  a  majority  of  the 
Free-labor  States  were  represented.  From  that  time  forth,  the  people  of 
New  York  watched  the  course  of  events  with  intense  interest ;  and  when 
the  National  flag  was  dishonored  at  Fort  Sumter,  their  patriotism  was  most 
conspicuous,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter. 

NEW  JERSEY,  intimately  connected  with  New  York,  was  the  theater  of 
early  movements  in  relation  to  secession.  So  early  as  the  llth  of  December, 
1860,  a  convention  of  "  all  national  men  in  favor  of  constitutional  Union 
measures"  was  held  at  Trenton,  the  capital.  They  adopted  a  series  of 
resolutions  declaring  that  there  was  danger  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union ; 
that  the  interference  of  "  Northern  agitators  with  the  rights  and  property 
of  fifteen  States  of  the  Union"  was  the  cause  of  "  the  portentous  crisis ;" 
that  they  saw  no  remedy  excepting  in  the  "  avowal  of  the  North,  in  the 
most  prompt  and  explicit  manner,"  of  its  determination  to  remove  all  political 
agitation  for  the  abolition  of  Slavery ;  repeal  all  Personal  Liberty  Acts  ; 
execute  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law;  allow  the  slaveholder  to  have  the 
attendance  of  his  slaves  during  his  temporary  sojourn  in  any  of  the  Free- 
labor  States,  "  on  business  or  pleasure ;"  accord  to  the  South  all  the  rights 
of  property  in  man,  and  accept  the  decrees  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  on  the  Slavery  question,  as  their  rule  of  action.  They 
appointed  five  commissioners  to  confer  with  sister  States  on  the  great  topic 
of  the  time.  .  * 

The  Legislature  of  New  Jersey  met  at  Trenton,  the  capital,  on  the  8th 
of  January.  The  Governor,  Charles  S.  Olden,  in  his  message,  expressed  a  hope 
that  the  compromise  measures  in  Congress  might  be  adopted  ;  if  not,  he 
recommended  a  convention  of  all  the  States,  to  agree  upon  some  plan  of 
pacification.  On  the  15th,  a  majority  of  the  Committee  on  National 
Affairs  reported  a  series  of  resolutions  as  the  sense  of  the  people  of  New 
Jersey,  the  vital  point  of  which  was  the  indorsement  of  the  Crittenden 
Compromise.  They  were  adopted  on  the  31st  of  January,  the  Democrats 
voting  in  the  affirmative.  The  Republican  members  adopted  a  series  of 
resolutions,  totally  dissenting  from  the  declaration  of  the  majority,  that  their 
indorsement  of  the  Crittenden  Compromise  was  "the  sentiment  of  the 
people  of  the  State."  They  declared  the  willingness  of  the  people  to  aid 
in  the  execution  of  all  the  laws  of  Congress ;  affirmed  their  adhesion 
to  the  doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty,  with  a  qualification  ;  asserted  the 
nationality  of  the  Government,  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  State 
Supremacy ;  declared  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  National  Government  to 
maintain  its  authority  everywhere  within  the  limits  of  the  Republic, 
and  pledged  the  faith  and  power  of  New  Jersey  in  aid  of  that  Govern- 


MEETING   IN   INDEPENDENCE  SQUARE. 


209 


mcnt,  to  any  required  extent.     This  pledge  the  people  of  that  State  nobly 
redeemed. 

The  great  State  of  PENNSYLVANIA,  with  its  three  millions  of  inhabitants, 
and  its  immense  and  varied  interests,  was  profoundly  moved  by  the  events 
in  the  Gulf  region.  Even  before  there  had  been  any  Secession  Conventions, 
and  the  muttering  thunders  of  treason  in  that  section  were  only  echoed 
from  the  halls  of  Congress,  there  was  an  immense  assemblage  of  citizens  in 
Independence  Square,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  to  counsel  together  on 
the  state  of  public  affairs.  It  was  called  by  the  Mayor,  Alexander  Henry, 
and  was  held  on  the  13th  of  December,  I860.  Disunion — the  separation  of 
the  States — seemed  inevitable,  the  Mayor  said  in  his  proclamation,  "unless 
the  loyal  people,  casting  off  the  spirit  of  party,  should,  in  a  special  manner, 


VIEW     IN     INDKrKNPKNrE     PgfARE.: 


avow  their  unfailing  fidelity  to  the  Union,  and  their  abiding  faith  in  the 
Constitution  and  laws."  The  meeting  was  opened  with  prayer  by  the 
thoroughly  loyal  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  that  diocese, 
Right  Rev.  Alonzo  Potter,  and  was  addressed  by  men  of  all  parties.  The 
tone  of  every  speech  was  deprecatory  of  war ;  and  nearly  every  one 
expressed  a  willingness  to  make  every  possible  concession  to  the  demands 
of  the  Oligarchy  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  Union  and  peace.  The 
troubled  aspect  of  the  nation  was  generally  attributed  to  the  interference  of 
the  "North"  with  Slavery,  such  as  "the  misplaced  teachings  of  the 
pulpit,  the  unwise  rhapsodies  of  the  lecture-room,  and  the  exciting  appeals 
of  the  press,"8  on  the  subject.  It  was  urged  that  these  "must  be  frowned 


1  In  this  view,  at  the  end  of  the  avenue  of  trees  Is  seen  the  Walnut  Street  front  of  the  venerable  Stat« 
Flouse,  in  whose  ereat  hall  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  discussed,  adopted;  and  signed. 
*  Speech  of  Mayor  Ili-nry  at  the  opening  of  the  meeting. 
VOL.   I.— 11 


210 


LOYAL   ACTION   OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


down  by  a  just  and  law-abiding  people."1  There  were  some  who  demurred, 
and  counseled  a  manly  and  energetic  assertion  of  the  sovereign  authority 
of  the  National  Government ;  but  the  prevailing  sentiment  was  highly 
conservative,  and  even  submissive.  The  resolutions  adopted  by  the  meeting 
proposed  the  repeal  of  the  Personal  Liberty  Act  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
recognition  of  the  obligations  of  the  people  to  assist  in  the  full  execution  of 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law ;  pointed,  with  "  pride  and  satisfaction,  to  the  recent 
conviction  and  punishment,  in  Philadelphia,"  of  those  who  had  attempted 
to  rescue  an  alleged  fugitive  from  bondage  ;  recommended  the  passage  of  a 
law  providing  for  the  payment  of  full  remuneration  to  the  owner  of  a  slave 
who  might  lose  him  by  such  rescue ;  declared  that  they  recognized  slaAres 
as  property,  in  accordance  with  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  ;  and  also,  "  that  all  denunciations  of  Slavery,  as  existing  in 
the  United  States,  and  of  our  fellow-citizens  who  maintain  that  institution, 
and  who  hold  slaves  under  it,  are  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  brotherhood 
and  kindness  .which  ought  to  animate  all  who  live  under  and  profess  to 
support  the  Constitution  of  the  American  Union." 

The  newly  elected  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  was 
inaugurated  on  the  15th  of  January,  1861,  and  his  address  on  that  occasion 
resounded  with  the  ring  of  the  true  metal  of  loyalty  and  positiveness  of 
character,  which  he  displayed  throughout  the  war  that  ensued.  He  coun 
seled  forbearance,  and  kindness,  and  a  conciliatory  spirit;  proposed  the 

repeal  of  the  Personal  Liberty  Act  of 
that  State,  if  it  was  in  contravention  of 
any  law  of  Congress  ;  and  denounced  the 
wicked  doings  of  the  conspirators  and 
their  servants.  Two  days  afterward, 
the  Legislature,  by  resolutions,  approved 
of  the  conduct  of  Major  Anderson  in 
Charleston  harbor,  and  of  Governor 
Hicks,  in  Maryland.  In  another  series 
of  resolutions,  passed  on  the  24th,  it 
severely  rebuked  the  conduct  of  the 
South  Carolinians ;  declared  that  the 
Constitution  gave  the  Government  full 
power  to  maintain  its  authority,  and 
pledged  the  "faith  and  power  of  Penn 
sylvania"  to  the  support  of  all  such 

measures  as  might  be  required  to  put  down  insurrection,  saying : — "  All 
plots,  conspiracies,  and  warlike  preparations  against  the  United  States,  in 
any  section  of  the  country,  are  treasonable  in  their  character,"  and  that 
all  the  powers  of  Government  should  be  used,  if  necessary,  to  suppress 
them,  "  without  hesitation  or  delay."  How  fully  these  pledges  of  Pennsyl- 


ANDREW   G.    CURTIN. 


1  Speech  of  Mayor  Henry.  Such  was  the  alleged  irritated  state  of  public  feeling  in  Philadelphia  at  that  time 
(strenuously  denied  by  many),  that  only  three  days  before  this  meeting,  the  Mayor,  in  a  note  to  the  Chairman  of 
a  committee  of  the  "  People's  Literary  Institute  "  of  that  city,  deprecated,  as  "  extremely  unwise,"  the  appear 
ance  before  them,  as  a  lecturer  on  "  The  Policy  of  Honesty,"  of  George  William  Curtis,  known  to  be  an  earnest 
lover  of  his  country,  and  as  earnest  a  foe  to  the  Slave  system.  "  If  I  possessed  the  lawful  power."  said  the  Mayor, 
"I  would  not  permit  his  presence  on  that  occasion."  The  proprietor  of  the  hall  in  which  Curtis  was  to  lecture 
was  officially  informed  that  a  riot  might  be  expected  if  that  gentleman  should  appear,  and  he  refused  its  use. 


OHIO   READY   FOR   CONFLICT.  211 

vania  were  redeemed,  and  its  patriotism,  fidelity,  and  prowess  were  attested, 
let  the  records  of  the  generous  gifts  of  men  and  money  to  the  cause,  and 
the  sufferings  of  the  people  of  that  State,  testify. 

Next  west  of  Pennsylvania  lay  OHIO,  with  two  millions  three  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  It  was  first  settled  chiefly  by  New  Englanders,  and 
was  a  part  of  the  great  Northwestern  Territory,  which  was  solemnly  con 
secrated  to  free-labor  by  the  Congress  of  the  old  Confederation,  in  1787.1  It 
was  a  vast  agricultural  State,  tilled  with  industrious  and  energetic  inhabit 
ants,  who  loved  freedom,  and  revered  the  National  Government  as  a  great 
blessing  in  the  world.  Their  chief  magistrate,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
troubles,  was  William  Dennison,  Jr.,  who  was  an  opponent  of  the  Slave 
system,  and  loyal  to  the  Government  and  the  Constitution. 

The  Legislature  of  Ohio  met  on  the  7th 
of  January,  1801.  In  his  message,  the 
Governor  explained  his  refusal  to  sur 
render  alleged  fugitive  slaves  on  the 
requisition  of  the  authorities  of  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee  ;  denied  the  right  of  se 
cession  ;  affirmed  the  loyalty  of  his  State  ; 
suggested  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious 
features  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  as  the 
most  effective  method  for  procuring  the 
repeal  of  Personal  Liberty  Acts;  and  called 
for  a  repeal  of  the  laws  of  Southern  States 
which  interfered  with  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  citizens  of  the  Free-labor  States. 
'*  Determined  to  do  no  wrong,"  he  said,  kt  we  will  not  contentedly  submit  to 


Five  days  afterward,"  the  Legislature  passed  a  series  of  reso-   JJ 
lutions  in  which  they  denounced  the  secession  movements,  and 
promised,  for  the  people  of  Ohio,  their  firm  support  of  the  National  Govern 
ment,   in   its   efforts   to  maintain  its  just  authority.     Two  days 
later/  they  reaffirmed  this  resolution,  and  pledged  "the  entire   'January  u. 
power  and  resources  of  the  State  for  a  strict  maintenance  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws  by  the  General  Government,  by  whomsoever  admin 
istered."     This  position  the  people  of  Ohio  held  throughout  the  war  with 
marvelous    steadfastness,   in    spite   of  the  wicked    machinations  of  traitors 
among  themselves,  who  were  friends  of  the  conspirators  and  their  cause. 

Adjoining  Ohio,  on  the  west,  lay  INDIANA,  another  great  and  growing 
State  carved  out  of  the  Northwestern  Territory,  with  over  one  million 
three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  real  and  personal  estate 
valued  at  about  five  hundred  and  thirty  millions  of  dollars.  There  was 
burning  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  that  State  the  most  intense  loyalty  to 
the  Union,  but  there  was  no  occasion  for  its  special  revealment  until  the 
attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  in  April,  1861,  when  it  blazed  out  terribly  for  the 
enemies  of  the  Republic.  The  sons  of  its  soil  were  found  on  every  battle- 


1  8e«  The  Journal  of  Congress,  July  13,  17S7,  Folwell's  edition,  xii.  58. 


212 


ACTION   OF  INDIANA   AND   MICHIGAN. 


a  January  2, 
1861. 


January  3. 


AUSTIN   BLAIB. 


field  during  the  first  year  and  a  half  of  the  war,  and  the  people  were  grandly 
faithful  to  the  end,  as  our  record  will  show. 

North  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  on  a  vast  peninsula,  whose  shores  are  washed 
by  magnificent  inland  seas,  lies  MICHIGAN,  with  a  population  of  almost  eight 
hundred  thousand.  Its  Legislature  met  at  the  beginning  of  Janu 
ary,"  when  the  retiring  Governor,  Moses  Wisner,  in  a  message  to 
that  body,  denounced  the  President  of  the  United  States  as  a 
partisan,  and  the  Democratic  party  as  the 
cause  of  the  discontent,  alarm,  and  hatred  in 
the  South,  because  of  its  misrepresentations 
of  the  principles  and  intentions  of  the  Re 
publican  party.  He  declared  the  Personal 
Liberty  Act  of  that  State,  and  other  meas 
ures  inimical  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  to 
be  right,  and  the  exponents  of  the  senti 
ments  of  the  people.  "Let  them  stand," 
he  said;  "this  is  no  time  for  timid  and 
vacillating  counsels,  while  the  cry  of 
treason  is  ringing  in  our  ears."  The  new 
Governor,  Austin  Blair,  who  was 
inaugurated  the  next  day,6  took 
substantially  the  same  ground ;  argued  that 
secession  was  disintegration,  and  that  the  Republic  was  a  compact  Nation, 
and  not  a  League  of  States.  He  recommended  the  Legislature  to  make 
the  loyalty  and  patriotism  of  the  people  of  Michigan  apparent  to  the 
country  ;  whereupon,  that  body  passed  some  resolutions/  pledging 
to  the  National  Government  all  the  military  power  and  mate 
rial  resources  of  the  State.  They  expressed 
an  unwillingness  to  offer  compromises  and 
concessions  to  traitors,  and  refused  to  send 
delegates  to  the  Peace  Congress,  or  to  repeal 
the  Personal  Liberty  Act.  The  best  blood 
of  Michigan  flowed  freely  in  the  war,  and  the 
people  nobly  sustained  the  Government  in 
the  struggle  for  the  life  of  the  Republic. 

ILLINOIS,  the  home  of  the  President  elect, 
and  more  populous  than  its  neighbor,  Indi 
ana,  the  number  of  its  inhabitants  being 
over  one  million  seven  hundred  thousand, 
had  a  loyal  Governor  at  the  beginning  of 
1861,  in  the  person  of  Richard  Yates.  The 
Legislature  of  the  State  assembled  at  Spring 
field,  on  the  7th  of  January.  The  Governor's  message  was  temperate  and 
patriotic ;  and  he  summed  up  what  he  believed  to  be  the  sentiment  of  the 
people  of  his  State,  in  the  words  of  General  Jackson's  toast,1  thirty  years 


«  February  2. 


KICHARD   TAXES. 


1  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  other  conspirators  against  the  Republic,  inaugurated  the  first  act  in  the  groat  drama 
of  treason,  in  the  spring  of  1830,  in  the  form  of  the  assertion  that  a  "  Sovereign  State  may  nullify  or  disobey  an 
Act  of  the  National  Congress."  As  Thomas  Jefferson  was  the  author  of  the  Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions 


DECLARATIONS   OF   ILLINOIS   AND   WISCONSIN. 


213 


ALEXANDER    W.    RANDALL. 


before : —  "  Our  Federal  Union  :  it  must  be  preserved."  Little  was  done 
at  that  time,  excepting  the  appointment  of  delegates  to  the  Peace  Congress ; 
but  throughout  the  war,  Governor  Yates  and  the  people  of  Illinois  per 
formed  a  glorious  part. 

Northward  of  Illinois,  WISCONSIN  was 
spread  out,  between  Lakes  Michigan  and 
Superior  and  the  Mississippi  River,  with  a 
population  of  nearly  eight  hundred  thousand. 
Its  voters  were  Republicans  by  full  twenty 
thousand  majority.  Its  Governor,  Alexan 
der  W.  Randall,  was  thoroughly  loyal.  In 
his  message  to  the  Legislature,  which  con 
vened  at  Madison  on  the  10th  of 
January,"  he  spoke  of  the  doc 
trine  of  State  Supremacy  as  a  fallacy,  and 
said  : — "  The  signs  •  of  the  times  indicate, 
in  my  opinion,  that  there  may  arise  a 
contingency  in  the  condition  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  under  which  it  may  become  neces 
sary  to  respond  to  the  call  of  the  National  Government  for  men  and 
means  to  sustain  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  and  thwart  the  designs  of 
men  engaged  in  an  organized  treason."  The  Legislature  was  ready  to 
respond  to  these  words  by  acts,  but  no  occasion  seemed  to  call  for  them 
at  that  time,  and  nothing  was  done  until  after  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter. 
Then  the  people  of  Wisconsin  gave  men  and  money  freely  to  the  great 
cause  of  American  Nationality. 

Westward  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
stretching  away  northward  along  its  course 
from  the  borders  of  Missouri,  were  the 
young  and  vigorous  States  of  Iowa  and 
Minnesota ;  and  across  the  continent,  on 
the  shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  was  Cali 
fornia.  The  hearts  of  the  people  of  these 
States  beat  responsive  to  Union  sentiments 
whenever  uttered.  Iowa  had  nearly  seven 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  Its  Gover 
nor,  Samuel  J.  Kirk  wood,  was  thoroughly 
loyal,  and  spared  no  exertions  in  raising 
troops  for  the  defense  of  the  State  against 
lawless  insurgents  that  might  come  up  from 
Missouri,  and  in  aid  of  the  National  Gov 
ernment,  when  the  President  called  for 

them.  "  In  this  emergency,"  the  Governor  said,  "  Iowa  must  not,  and 
does  not,  occupy  a  doubtful  position.  For  the  Union,  as  our  fathers 
formed  it,  and  for  the  Government  they  framed  so  wisely  and  so  well,  the 


BAMfEL  J.    KIRKWOOD. 


of  179S,  which  seemed  to  favor  the  doctrine  of  nullification,  they  resolved  to  plant  their  standard  of  incipient 
revolt  under  the  auspices  of  his  great  name.  A  dinner  was  prepared  at  Washington  City,  on  the  birthday  of 
Jefferson,  professedly  to  honor  his  memory.  It  was  the  work  of  Calhoun  and  others.  President  Jackson  and 


214  PLEDGES   OF   IOWA  AND   MINNESOTA. 

people  of  Iowa  are  ready  to  pledge  every  fighting  man  in  the  State,   and 

every  dollar  of  her  money  and  credit."      That  pledge  was  nobly  redeemed. 

One-tenth  of  the  entire  population  of  the  State,  or  seventy  thousand  men, 

went  to  the  field  ! 

The  people  of  Minnesota  were  equally  faithful  to  the  old  flag.    Alexander 

Ramsay  was  Governor.  The  Legisla 
ture  that  assembled  on  the  26th  of 
January  passed  a  series  of  loyal  resolu 
tions,  declaring  the  Constitution  as  it 
was  to  be  sufficient  for  the  whole 
Union ;  denouncing  secession  as  revolu 
tion  ;  condemning  in  severest  terms  the 
treasonable  acts  at  Charleston,  saying, 
that  when  one  or  more  States  appear 
in  military  array  against  the  Govern 
ment,  it  could  discover  no  other  honor 
able  or  patriotic  resource  than  to  test,  by 
land  and  sea,  "the  full  strength  of  the 
Federal  authority  under  our  National 

ALEXANDER   RAMSAY.  fog."          ^     gaVG    38811^06    Of      &H    GEmCSt 

desire   for    peace   with    and    good-will 

toward  the  people  of  the  South;  thanked  General  Scott  for  his  patriotic 
efforts,  and  declared  that  the  people  of  Minnesota  would  never  consent  to  the 
obstruction  of  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River,  "  from  its  source 
to  its  mouth,  by  any  power  hostile  to  the  Federal  Government." 

By  a  careful  observation  of  the  aspect  of  public  sentiment  in  the  various 
States  of  the  Union  at  the  period  when  a  new  Administration  was  about  to 
assume  the  conduct  of  national  affairs,  as  delineated  in  brief  outline  in  this 
chapter,  the  reader  will  perceive  that  the  great  majority  of  the  people  were 
thoroughly  loyal  to  the  National  Government,  and  desired  peace  upon  any 
honorable  terms.  At  the  same  time,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  there  was  a 
large  class  of  politicians  who,  misrepresenting  the  greater  portion  of  their 
partisans,  seemed  incapable  of  rising  above  the  selfish  considerations  of  party 
domination.  With  amazing  sycophancy,  they  hastened  to  assure  the  Slave 
power  of  their  sympathy  and  subserviency.  At  home,  in  speeches,  through 
the  public  press,  and  sometimes  through  the  pulpit,  they  clamored  loudly  for 
concessions  to  its  most  extravagant  demands,  and  begged  the  sturdy  patriots 
of  the  Free-labor  States,  who  loved  freedom  more  than  power,  to  bend  the 
knee  of  abject  submission  to  the  arrogant  Oligarchy  rather  than  raise  a  resist 
ing  hand  to  save  the  Republic  from  destruction.  They  talked  oracularly  of 
that  phantom,  the  "coercion  of  a  sovereign  State,"  and  denounced,  every 

his  Cabinet  were  invited  to  attend.  There  was  a  numerous  company.  The  doctrine  of  Nullification  had  lately 
been  put  forth  as  an  orthodox  dogma  of  the  Democratic  creed,  and  the  movements  of  Calhoun  and  his  political 
friends  were  looked  upon  with  suspicion.  At  this  dinner,  it  was  soon  apparent  that  the  object  was,  not  to 
honor  Jefferson's  memory,  but  to  commence  treasonable  work  with  the  sanction  of  his  name  and  deeds.  Jack 
son  perceived  this  plainly,  and  offered  as  a  toast,  "Our  Federal  Union:  it  must  be  preserved."  Calhoun 
immediately  arose  and  offered  the  following: — "The  Union:  next  to  Liberty,  the  most  dear;  may  we  all 
remember  that  it  can  only  be  preserved  by  respecting  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  distributing  equally  the 
benefits  and  burdens  of  the  Union."  "  The  proceedings  of  that  day,1'  said  Mr.  Benton,  who  was  present, 
'•revealed  to  the  public  mind  the  fact  of  an  actual  design  tending  to  dissolve  the  Union."  See  Benton's  Thirty 
Years'  View,  i.  143. 


EVIL  INFLUENCE   OF   POLITICIANS. 


215 


public  expression  of  a  determination  to  uphold  the  National  authority  by 
force  of  arms,  if  necessary,  as  puerile,  unmeaning,  and  mischievous.  Hun 
dreds  of  letters,  some  of  them  written  by  men  who  had  been  honored  by 
high  social  and  official  positions,  were  borne  by  the  mails  southward,  in 
which  it  was  asserted,  again  and  again,  that  the  people  of  the  Free-labor 
States  would  never  allow  the  Government  to  make  war  upon  a  "  seceding 
State;"  and  when  the  conspirators  struck  the  first  deadly  blo\v  at  the  life  of 
the  nation,  they  did  so  with  the  assurance  that  their  political  friends  in  the 
North  would  keep  the  sword  of  the  Republic  immovably  in  its  scabbard, 
until  the  black  crime  should  be  consummated.1  They  were  mistaken. 

1  An  ex-President  of  the  United  States  wrote  to  the  man  who  afterward  became  chief  leader  of  the  con 
spirators,  savin?: — "  Without  discussing  the  question  of  riffht — of  abstract  power  to  secede — I  have  never  believed 
that  actual  disruption  of  the  Union  can  occur  without  blood;  and  if,  through  the  madness  of  Northern  Aboli 
tionists,  that  dire  calamity  must  come,  the  fighting  will  not  be  alone  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  merely.  It  will 
be  within  our  own  borders,  in  our  own  streets,  l>etween  the  two  classes  of  citizens  to  whom  I  have  referred. 
Those  who  defy  law  and  scout  constitutional  obligations  will,  if  we  ever  reach  the  arbitrament  of  arms,  find 
occupation  enough  at  home." — Extract  of  H  Letter  from  Franklin  Pierce  to  JejFermm  Daris,  January  6,  1S60. 

After  the  South  Carolina  Ordinance  of  Seecssfon  was  adopted,  an  ex-Governor  of  Illinois  wrote  to  the  same 
man.  saying : — '*!  arn,  in  heart  and  soul,  for  the  South,  us  they  are  right  in  the  principles  and  possess  the  Con 
stitution.  If  the  public  mind  will  bear  it.  the  seat  of  Government,  the  Government  itself,  and  the  Army  and 
Navy,  ought  to  remain  with  the  South  and  the  Constitution.  I  have  been  promulgating  the  above  sentiment, 
although  it  is  rather  revolutionary.  A  J'roritiotiul  Gorernment  should  bt  extablidied  at  Washington  to 
receire  the  jtoicer  of  the  outgoing  I*rettidtnt,  and  for  the  President  elect  to  take  tiie  oath  of  office,  out  of  Slate 
Territory.  ...  If  the  Slave  States  would  unite  and  form  a  convention,  they  might  have  the  power  to  coerce 
the  N<  rth  into  terms  to  amend  the  Constitution  so  as  to  protect  Slavery  more  effectually." — Extract  of  a  Letter 
from  John  Reynold*,  of  Bellerille,  Illinois,  to  Jefferson  Davis  and  ex-Governor  William  Smith,  of 
Virginia,  dated  December  2S,  IsGO. 

Many  influential  public  journals  in  the  Free-lal»or  States  advocated  the  right  of  secession  and  the  wrong  of 
"coercion."'  One  of  these,  more  widely  read  and  more  frequently  quoted  in  the  South  than  any  other,  as  the 
exponent  of  public  opinion  in  the  North.  Raid  : — "  For  far  less  than  this  [the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln]  our  fathers 
seceded  from  Great  Britain;  and  they  left  revolution  organized  in  every  Suite,  to  act  whenever  it  is  demanded 
by  public  opinion.  The  confederation  is  held  together  only  by  public  opinion.  Koch  State  is  organized  as  a 
complete  government,  holding  the  purse  and  wielding  the  sword,  possessing  the  right  to  break  the  tie  of  the 
confederation  as  a  nation  might  break  a  treaty,  and  to  repel  coercion  as  a  nation  might  repel  invasion." — \eio 
York  Herald,  November  9,  I860. 

At  a  larjre  political  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  ICth  of  January.  1>G1.  one  of  the  resolutions  declared: — 
"We  are  utterly  opposed  to  any  such  compulsion  asls  demanded  by  a  portion  of  the  Republican  party;  and  the 
Democratic  party  of  the  North  will,  by  all  constitutional  means,  and  with  its  moral  and  political  influence, 
oppose  any  such  extreme  policy,  or  a  fratricidal  war  thus  to  he  inaugurated."  On  the  '22d  of  February,  a  poli 
tical  State  Convention  was  held  at  ILirrisburg,  the  capital  of  Pennsylvania,  when  the  members  said,  in  a  resolu 
tion: — "  We  will,  by  all  proper  and  legitimate  means,  oppose,  discountenance,  and  prevent  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  Republicans  in  power  to  make  any  armed  aggressions  upon  the  Southern  States,  especially  so  long 
as  laws  contravening  their  rights  shall  remain  unrepealed  on  the  Statute-books  of  Northern  States,  and  so  long 
as  the  just  demands  of  the  South  shall  continue  to  be  unrecognized  by  the  Republican  majorities  in  these 
States,  and  unsecured  by  proper  amendatory  explanations  of  the  Constitution."  Such  utterances  in  the  great 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  similar  ones  elsewhere,  by  the  chosen  representatives  of  a  powerful  party  in  conven 
tion  assembled,  encouraged  the  conspirators  in  a  belief  that  there  would  be  no  war  made  upon  them,  and  fcr 
that  reason  they  were  defiant  everywhere  and  on  all  occasions. 


216          PLAN  OF  CONSPIRATORS  REVEALED. 


CHAPTEK    IX. 

PKOCEEDINGS  IN  CONGEESS.— DEPAETUEE  OF  CONSPIEATOES. 


HILST  the  country  at  large,  solemnly  impressed  by  the 
thick  gathering  portents  of  a  fearful  storm,  was  violently 
agitated,  and  all  eyes  and  hearts  were  turned  anxiously 
toward  the  National  Congress  and  the  Executive  of  the 
Government  for  assurances  of  safety,  the  halls  of  that  Con 
gress  presented  some  strange  spectacles  for  the  patriot,  the 
philosopher,  and  the  historian.  The  line  of  demarkation 
between  the  patriots  and  the  conspirators  in  that  body  had 
been  early  and  distinctly  drawn  by  the  latter,  as  we  have  observed,  with 
amazing  boldness ;  and  while  the  former,  sincerely  wishing  to  be  just,  were 
ardently  seeking  for  some  honorable  way  for  conciliating  the  malcontents, 
the  traitors  were  implacable  and  defiant.  At  all  times  they  plainly  revealed 
their  determination  not  to  agree  to  any  terms  for  conciliation,  even  if 
such  terms  should  offer  more  than  they  demanded  ;  and  they  looked  upon 
the  yielding  spirit  of  the  true  men  in  Congress  as  an  exhibition  of  that 
subserviency,  born  often  of  an  intense  love  for  the  Union,  which  had  for 
ever  been  making  concessions  to  the  Slave  interest,  to  the  mortal  hurt  of  the 
nation. 

There  was  perfect  unity  of  action  between  the  conspirators  in  Congress 
and  the  conspirators  and  politicians  working  in  the  Slave-labor  States.     They 
wrought  harmoniously;  those  at  the  seat  of  Government  directing  important 
movements,  and  those  who  controlled  political  affairs  in  the  several  States 
executing  them  with   energy,   secrecy,   and   success,  for  the   corrupt    State 
Legislatures  were  auxiliaries  in  the  business  of  the  enslavement  of  the  people 
by  the  Oligarchy.     This  evident  harmony  of  action  we  have  observed  while 
considering  the   secession  movements  in   the  seven  Cotton-growing  States. 
The  public  suspected  it  after  the  rebellious  acts  of  the  South  Caro 
lina  politicians,  late  in  December  ;a  and  early  in  January  it  was 
authoritatively  proclaimed,  in  an  anonymous  communication  published  in  the 
National  Intelligencer 'Hi  the  seat  of  Government,  and  signed  EATON.     It  was 
written  by  a  "  distinguished  citizen  of  the  South,  who  formerly  represented 
his  State  in  the  popular  branch  of  Congress,"  and  was  then  tem- 
*  ^"seT7  5'   porarily  sojourning  in  Washington.1     Pie  charged  that  a  caucus 
was  held  on  the  preceding  Saturday  nigh^t b  in  that  city,  by  the 
Senators  from  seven  of  the  Cotton-producing   States   (naming  them2),  who, 

1  National  Intelligencer,  January  9,  1861. 

8  These  were,  Benjamin  Fitzpatrick  and  Clement  C.  Clay,  Jr.,  of  Alabama;  E.  W.  Johnson  and  William  K. 
Sebastian,  of  Arkansas;  Eobert  Toombs  and  Alfred  Iverson,  of  Georgia;  Judah  P.  Benjamin  and  John  Slidell, 


EVIDENCES   OF    CONSPIRACY.  217 

at  that  time,  resolved,  in  effect,  to  assume  to  themselves  the  political  power 
of  the  South,  and  to  control  all  political  and  military  operations  for  the  time ; 
that  they  telegraphed  directions  to  complete  the  seizure  of  forts,  arsenals, 
custom  houses,  and  other  public  property,  as  already  recorded  in  preceding 
pages,  and  advised  conventions  then  in  session,  or  soon  to  assemble,  to  pass 
ordinances  for  immediate  secession.  They  agreed  that  it  would  be  proper 
for  the  representatives  of  the  "seceded  States"  to  remain  in  Congress,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  measures  by  the  National  Government  for 
its  own  security. 

"  They  also,"  said  this  writer,  "  advised,  ordered,  or  directed  the  assem 
bling  of  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  seceding  States,  at  Montgomery, 
on  the  loth  of  February.  This  can,  of  course,  only  be  done  by  the  revolu 
tionary  conventions  usurping  the  powers  of  the  people,  and  sending  delegates 
over  whom  they  will  lose  all  control  in  the  establishment  of  a  provisional 
government,  which  is  the  plan  of  the  dictators."  They  resolved,  he  said,  to 
use  every  means  in  their  power  to  force  the  Legislatures  of  Tennessee,  Ken 
tucky,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Texas,  Virginia,  and  Maryland,  into  the  adoption 
of  revolutionary  measures.  They  had  already  possessed  themselves  of  all  the 
avenues  of  information  in  the  South — the  telegraph,  the  press,  and  the  wide 
control  of  the  postmasters ;  and  they  relied  upon  a  general  defection  of  all 
the  Southern-born  members  of  the  Army  and  Xavy.  "  The  spectacle  "here 
presented,"  he  said,  "is  startling  to  contemplate.  Senators,  intrusted  with 
the  representative  sovereignty  of  States,  and  sworn  to  support  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  while  yet  acting  as  the  privy  counselors  of  the 
President,  and  anxiously  looked  to  by  their  constituents  to  effect  some  prac 
tical  plan  of  adjustment,  deliberately  conceive  a  conspiracy  for  the  overthrow 
of  the  Government  through  the  military  organizations,  the  dangerous  secret 
order  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  Committees  of  Safety,  Southern 
Leagues,  and  other  agencies  at  their  command.  They  have  instituted  as 
thorough  a  military  and  civil  despotism  as  ever  cursed  a  maddened  country." 

These  charges  were  sustained  by  an  electrograph,  which  appeared  in  the 
Charleston  Mercury    on    the    7th,"    dated    at  Washington    City 
on  the  6th.    "The  Senators,"  it  said,  "from  those  of  the  Southern   "  J™™^ 
States    which    have   called    conventions    of    the    people,    met   in 
caucus  last  night,  and  adopted  the  following  resolutions : — 

"  Resolved^  That  we  reconlmend  to  our  respective  States  immediate 
secession. 

"  Resolved^  That  we  recommend  the  holding  of  a  General  Convention  of 
the  said  States,  to  be  holden  in  the  city  of  Montgomery,  Alabama,  at 
some  period  not  later  than  the  loth  day  of  February,  1861." 

These  resolutions,  and  others  which  the  correspondent  did  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  divulge,  were  telegraphed  to  the  conventions  of  Alabama,  Missis 
sippi,  and  Florida.  He  said  there  was  much  discussion  concerning  the 
propriety  of  the  members  of  Congress  from  seceding  States  retaining  their 
seats,  in  order  to  embarrass  legislation,  and  added,  "  It  is  believed  that  the 
opinion  that  they  should  remain,  prevailed."  The  truth  of  these  statements 


of  Louisiana;  Jefferson  Davis  and  Albert  G.  Brown,  of  Mississippi;  John  Hemphill  and  Lewis  T.  Wigfall,  of 
Texas;  and  David  L.  Yulee  and  Stephen  R.  Mallory,  of  Florida. 


218  SAD   POSITION   OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

was  confirmed  by  the  letter  written  by  Senator  Yulee  (already  referred  to1), 
on  the  14th  of  January,  in  which  he  inclosed  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  passed 
at  that  meeting,  in  one  of  which  they  resolved  to  ask  for  instructions, 
whether  the  delegations  from  "  seceding  States  "  were  to  remain  in  Congress 
until  the  4th  of  March,  ;t  for  the  purpose  of  defeating  hostile  legislation." 
The  other,  and  last,  resolved  "That  a  committee  be,  and  are  hereby,  appointed, 
consisting  of  Messrs.  Davis,  Slidell,  and  Mallory,  to  carry  out  the  objects  of 
the  meeting."  It  was  also  stated,  in  a  dispatch  from  Washington  to  the 
Baltimore  press,  dated  the  day  after  "Eaton's"  revelations  appeared,  that 
"the  leaders  of  the  Southern  movement  are  consulting  as  to  the  best  mode  of 
consolidating  their  interests  in  a  confederacy  under  a  provisional  government. 
The  plan  is  to  make  Senator  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  Provisional  President,  and 
Jefferson  Davis  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  of  Defense.  Mr.  Hunter 
possesses,  in  a  more  eminent  degree,  the  philosophical  character  of  Jeiferson 
than  any  other  statesman  now  living." 

These  revelations ;  the  defiant  attitude  of  the  traitors  in  Congress,  in 
speech  and  action  ;  the  revolutionary  movements  at  Charleston  ;  the  startling 
picture  of  the  perilous  condition  of  the  country,  given  in  a  Special 
"  ^iseT71  Message  of  the  President  on  the  8th,a  and  the  roar  of  the  tornado 
of  secession,  then  sweeping  fearfully  over  the  Gulf  States,  pro 
duced  the  most  intense  and  painful  excitement  in  the  public  mind.  That 
Message  of  the  8th,  under  the  circumstances,  seemed  like  a  cry  of  despair  or 
a  plea  for  mercy  from  the  President,  who  seemed  painfully  conscious,  after 
the  departure  of  the  South  Carolina  Commissioners  and  the  disruption  of  his 
Cabinet,  that  faith  in  the  promises  of  the  conspirators,  which  had  lured  him 
all  along  into  a  fatal  conciliatory  policy,  could  no  longer  be  entertained  or 
acted  upon  without  imminent  peril  to  the  nation  and  his  own  reputation. 
He  perceived  that  the  golden  moment,  when  vigorous  action  on  his  part 
might  have  crushed  the  serpent  of  secession,  had  passed,  and  that  the  reptile 
had  become  a  fearful  drngon;  and  now  he  earnestly  entreated  Congress  to 
appease  the  voracious  appetite  of  the  monster,  and  still  the  turbulence  that 
alarmed  the  Executive,  by  concessions  equivalent  to  the  Crittenden  Compro 
mise.  He  assured  that  body  that  he  considered  secession  a  crime,  and 
that  he  should  attempt  to  collect  the  public  revenue  everywhere,  so  far  as 
practicable  under  existing  laws;  at  the  same  time  he  declared  that  his  execu 
tive  powers  were  exhausted,  or  were  wholly  inadequate  to  meet  existing 
difficulties.  To  Congress  alone,  he  said,  "  belongs  the  power  to  declare  war, 
or  to  authorize  the  power  to  employ  military  force,  in  all  cases  contemplated 
by  the  Constitution,"  and  on  it  a  alone  rests  the  responsibility."  And  yet  he 
did  not  ask  that  body  to  delegate  powers  to  him  for  the  purpose  of  protect 
ing  the  life  of  the  nation.  "  It  cannot  be  denied,"  he  said,  "that  we  are  in 
the  midst  of  a  great  revolution ;"  but  instead  of  imploring  Congress,  and  his 
political  friends  in  it,  with  the  spirit  of  a  vigilant  and  determined  patriot,  to 
give  him  the  means  to  stay  its  progress,  he  contented  himself  with  offering 
insufficient  reasons  why  he  had  not  already  done  so,  by  re-enforcing  and 
provisioning  the  garrison  in  Fort  Sumter  before  it  was  too  late,  and  also  by 
urging  Congress  to  submit  to  the  demands  of  the  revolutionists. 

1  See  page  166.     See  also  a  notice  of  Slidell's  Letter  in  note  2,  page  1S2. 


PATRIOTISM   IX  CONGRESS.  219 

In  this  the  President  acted  consistently.  He  well  knew  that  the  political 
constitution  of  the  two  Houses  at  that  time  was  such,  that  no  Force-bill  could 
be  passed.  Besides,  Attorney-General  Black  had  expressed  his  doubts  whether 
Congress  had  the  ability  "  to  find  constitutional  powers  to  furnish  the  Presi 
dent  with  authority  to  use  military  force"1  in  the  execution  of  the  laws; 
and  in  view  of  the  position  which  he  had  assumed  in  his  Annual  Message  on 
the  subject  of  "coercion"  and  "subjugation  of  a  States"2  he  would  feel  in 
conscience  bound  to  veto  any  Force-bill  looking  to  such  action.  He  did  not 
ask  Congress  for  any  more  power,  nor  did  he  give  a  word  of  encouragement 
to  the  loyal  people  that  he  would  heed  the  warning  voice  of  the  veteran 
General  Wool,  and  others,  who  implored  the  Government  not  to  yield  Fort 
Sumter  to  the  insurgents,  and  thereby  cause  the  kindling  of  a  civil  war.  "So 
long  as  the  United  States  keep  possession  of  that  fort,"  said  Wool,  "the 
independence  of  South  Carolina  will  only  be  in  name,  and  not  in  fact." 
Then,  with  prophetic  words,  whose  predictions  were  fulfilled  a  few  weeks 
later,  he  said  : — "  If,  however,  it  should  be  surrendered  to  South  Carolina, 
the  smothered  indignation  of  the  Free  States  would  be  roused  beyond  con 
trol.  It  would  not  be  in  the  power  of  any  one  to  restrain  it.  "In  twenty  days 
tiro  Jntndrcd  thousand  men  would  l>c  in  readiness  to  take  vengeance  on  all 
who  would  betray  the  l^nion  into  the  Jiandt*  <>f  /Vx  ^netnifn.  Be  assured  that 
I  do  not  exaggerate  the  feelings  of  the  people.''1"1  The  soldier,  with  a  states 
man's  sagacity,  Correctly  interpreted  the  will  of  that  people. 

As  the  plot  thickened,  and  the  designs  of  the  conspirators  became  more 
manifest,  the  loyal  men  in  Congress  were  more  firmly  rooted  in  a  determina 
tion  to  withstand  the  further  aggressions  of  the  Slave  interest  and  the  malice 
of  the  public  enemies.  This  determination  was  specially  apparent  when  the 
Crittenden  Compromise,  and  other  measures  looking  toward  conciliation,  were 
considered  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  Appalled  by  visions 
of  civil  war,  distracted  by  discordant  oracles  and  counselors,  and  anxious  to 
have  reconciliation,  and  union,  and  peace  at  almost  any  sacrifice,  the  people, 
no  doubt,  would  have  acquiesced  in  Mr.  Qrittenden's  propositions.4  But 
their  true  representatives,  better  instructed  by  experience  and  observation 
concerning  the  perfidy  of  the  traitors-  before  them,  who  might  accept  those 
measures  as  a  concession,  but  not  as  a  settlement,  and  would  be  ready  to 
make  a  more  insolent  demand  another  year,  could  not  be  induced  to  wrong 
posterity  by  a  desertion  of  the  high  and  holy  principles  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  for  the  sake  of  temporary  ease.  They  could  not  consent  to 
have  the  National  Constitution  so  amended,  that  it  should  be  forever  subser 
vient  to  the  truculent  Slave  interest  and  its  desolating  influence.  They  plainly 
saw  that  such  would  be  the  effect  of  the  most  vital  of  the  amendments  of  it 
proposed  by  Mr.  Crittenden.  They  did  not  doubt  /</.<  patriotism,  yet  they 
deemed  it  wise  and  prudent  to  act  upon  the  suggestions  of  the  first  President 
of  the  Republic,  when,  warning  his  countrymen  against  attempts  to  destroy 
the  Union,  he  said : — "  One  method  of  assault  may  be  to  effect,  in  the  forms 
of  the  Constitution,  alterations  which  impair  the  energy  of  the  system,  and 


Sec  pape  70.  J  Letter  to  General  Cass.  <l.ited  Troy,  December  31,  I860. 

1  See  page  72.  *  See  the  substance  of  these  propositions  recorded  on  pages  89  and  90. 


220  PLANS   OF   CRITTENDEN  AND  DAVIS. 

thus  to  undermine  what  cannot  be  directly  overthrown."1 — "  I  most  cheer 
fully  accord  to  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  purity  of  motive  and  patriotic 
intentions  and  purposes,"  said  Henry  Wilson,  one  of  the  most  active  and 
vigilant  men  in  the  Senate.  "  While  I  believe  every  pulsation  of  his  heart 
throbs  for  the  unity  and  perpetuity  of  this  Republic ;  while  I  cherish  for  him. 
sentiments  of  sincere  respect  and  regard,  I  am  constrained  to  say  here,  and 
now,  that  his  policy  has  been  most  fatal  to  the  repose  of  the  country,  if 
not  to  the  integrity  of  the  Union  and  the  authority  of  the  Government. 
Whether  his  task  be  self-imposed,  or  whether  it  be  imposed  upon  him  by 
others,  he  has  stood  forth,  day  by  day,  not  to  sustain  the  Constitution,  the 
Union,  and  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  ;  not  to  rebuke  seditious  words  and 
treasonable  acts ;  but  to  demand  the  incorporating  into  the  organic  law  of 
the  nation  of  irrepealable,  degrading,  and  humiliating  concessions  to  the 
dark  spirit  of  slavery."2 

It  was  plainly  perceived  that  Jefferson  Davis,  one  of  the  most  cold, 
crafty,  malignant,  and  thoroughly  unscrupulous  of  the  conspirators,  had 
embodied  the  spirit  of  Crittenden's  most  vital  propositions  in  a  more  compact 
and  perspicuous  form,  in  a  resolution  offered  in  the  Senate  on  the 
24th  of  December,"  saying,  "  That  it  shall  be  declared,  by  amend 
ment  of  the  Constitution,  that  property  in  slaves,  recognized  as  such  by  the 
local  law  of  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  shall  stand  on  the  same  footing,  in 
all  constitutional  and  Federal  relations,  as  any  other  species  of  property  so 
recognized  ;  and,  like  other  property,  shall  not  be  subject  to  be  divested  or 
impaired  by  the  local  law  of  any  other  State,  either  in  escape  thereto  or  by 
the  transit  or  sojourn  of  the  owner  therein.  And  in  no  case  whatever  shall 
such  property  be  subject  to  be  divested  or  impaired  by  any  legislative  act  of 
the  United  States,  or  any  of  the  territories  thereof."3  In  other  words,  the 
Constitution  was  to  be  made  to  recognize  property  in  man,  and  slavery  as  a 
national  institution.  Speaking  for  the  Oligarchy,  Senator  Wigfall,  in  a  speech 
on  the  Crittenden  Compromise,  exclaimed: — "We  say  that  man  has  a  right 
to  property  in  man.  We  say  that  our  slaves  are  our  property.  We  say  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  every  government  to  protect  its  property  everywhere.  .  .  . 
If  you  wish  to  settle  this  matter,  declare  that  slaves  are  property,  and,  like 
all  other  property,  entitled  to  be  protected  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  on 
land  and  on  sea.  Say  that  to  us,  and  then  the  difficulty  is  settled."  Because 
the  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  would  not  consent  to  abase 
their  Constitution,  and  make  it  subservient  to  the  cause  of  injustice  and 
inhumanity,  the  Oligarchy  rebelled  and  kindled  a  horrible  civil  war  ! 

We  have  observed  that  a  Committee  of  Thirteen  was  chosen  by  the 
Senate,  and  another  of  Thirty-three  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  to 
receive,  consider,  and  report  upon  plans  for  pacification.4  These  committees 
labored  sedulously,  but  at  every  step  they  were  met  by  evidence  that  the 
conspirators  would  not  be  satisfied  with  any  thing  that  might  be  offered. 
These  men  were  holding  their  seats  in  Congress,  and  committing  perjury 
every  hour,  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  further  their  plans  for  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  Republic ;  and  when  they  could  be  no  longer  useful  there,  they 


1  Washington's  Farewell  Address  to  his  Countrymen.  8  Congressional  Globe,  December  24,  1860. 

1  Speech  in  the  National  Senate,  February  21,  1861.  «  See  pages  86  and  89. 


SENATOR   CLARK'S   SUBSTITUTE.  221 

cast  off  all  disguise,  insolently  flaunted  the  banner  of  treason  in  the  faces  of 
true  men,  and  fled  to  the  fields  of  open  and  defiant  revolt,  there  to  work  the 
infernal  engines  of  rebellion  with  fearful  power.  Yet  all  the  while,  earnest, 
loyal  men  patiently  labored,  in  committees  and  out  of  them,  in  the  halls  of 
Congress  and  out  of  them,  to  produce  reconciliation,  preserve  the  Union, 
and  secure  the  stability  and  prosperity  of  the  Republic.  No  less  than 
seventeen  Representatives  offered  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  all 
making  concessions  to  the  Slave  interest ;  and  petitions  and  letters  came  in 
from  all  parts  of  the  Free-labor  States,  praying  Congress  to  adopt  the  Crit- 
tendon  Compromise  as  the  great  pacificator. 

Finally,  it  became  so  evident  that  the  labors  of  the  committees  were  only 
wasted,  that  Daniel   Clark,  of  New  Hampshire,  offered  in  the 
Senate"   two  resolutions  as  an  amendment  to  Mr.  Crittenden's   ajannary9- 

1*>G1. 

propositions.  The  first  declared  that  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution  were  ample  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  and  the  protec 
tion  of  all  the  material  interests  of  the  country;  that  it  needed  to  be 
obeyed  rather  than  amended  ;  and  that  an  extrication  from  the  present 
dangers  was  to  be  looked  for  in  strenuous  efforts  to  preserve  the  peace, 
protect  the  public  property,  and  enforce  the  laws,  rather  than  in  new 
guaranties  for  particular  interests,  compromises  for  particular  difficulties, 
or  concessions  to  unreasonable  demands.  The  second  declared  that  "all 
attempts  to  dissolve  the  Union,  or  overthrow  or  abandon  the  National 
Constitution,  with  the  hope  or  expectation  of  constructing  a  new  one,  were 
dangerous,  illusory,  and  destructive;  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  no  such  reconstruction  is  practicable,  and  therefore  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  existing  Union  and  Constitution  should  be  directed 
all  the  energies  of  the  Government  and  the  efforts  of  all  good  citizens.""1 

This  amendment,  so  thoroughly  wise  and  patriotic,  and  so  eminently 
necessary  at  that  critical  moment  in  averting  the  most  appalling  national 
danger,  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  twenty-five  against  twenty-three.*  The 
leading  conspirators  in  the  Senate,  who  might  have  defeated  the  amend 
ment  and  carried  the  Crittenden  Compromise,  did  not  vote.  This  reticence 
was  preconcerted.  They  had  resolved  not  to  accept  any  terms  of  adjust 
ment.  They  were  bent  on  disunion,  and  acted  consistently.3 

In  the  Senate  Committee  of  Thirteen,  which  was  composed  of  five 
Republicans  and  eight  opposed  to  them,  Mr.  Crittenden's  proposition  to 
restore  the  line  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  (36°  30')  was,  after  full  discus 
sion,  voted  down.  The  majority  of  the  Committee  were  favorable  to  the 
remainder  of  his  propositions,  but,  under  the  rule  made  by  the  Committee 
at  the  beginning,  that  no  resolution  should  be  considered  adopted  unless  it 
received  a  majority  both  of  the  Republicans  and  anti-Republicans,  they 
were  not  passed.  Finally,  Mr.  Seward  proposed  that  no  amendment  should 
be  made  to  the  Constitution  which  would  authorize  or  give  to  Congress  any 

1  Congressional  Glol>f.  January  9,  1S61. 

*  The  vote  was  as  follows:— YEAS,  Messrs.  Anthony.  Baker.  Binzham.  Cameron.  Chandler,  Clark,  Collamer, 
Dixon.  Doolittle.  Durkee.  Fessemlen,  Foote,  Foster,  Grimes.  Hale.  Harlan.  Kin-;.  Seward.  Simmons.  Sunnier, 
Ten  Eyck.  Trtimbull.  Wade.  Wilkinson,  and  Wilson.     NAYS.  Messrs.  Bayard.  Bisrler.  Bra?::.  Brisrht.  Clinirman, 
Crittenden,  Fitch,  Green.  Gwin.  Hunter.  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  Kennedy,  Lane  of  Oregon,  Mason,  Nicholson, 
Pearce.  Polk.  Powell.  Pn-rh.  Rice.  Saulsbury.  and  Sebastian. 

*  See  notice  of  "The  1660  Association,"  on  page  95. 


222  REPORT   OF   THE   COMMITTEE   OF   THIRTY-THREE. 

power  to  abolish  or  interfere,  in  any  State,  with  the  domestic  institutions 
thereof,  including  that  of  persons  held  to  service  or  labor  by  the  laws  of 
such  State.  Only  Jefferson  Davis  and  Robert  Toombs  voted  against  it. 
He  then  proposed  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850  should  be  so 
amended  as  to  secure  to  the  alleged  fugitive  a  trial  by  jury.  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  amended  it  so  as  to  have  the  alleged  fugitive  sent  for  trial  to  the 
State  from  which  he  had  escaped.  This  was  voted  down,  the  Republicans 
and  Mr.  Crittenden  alone  voting  for  it.  Mr.  Seward  further  proposed 
that  Congress  should  pass  an  efficient  law  for  the  punishment  of  persons 
engaged  in  the  armed  invasion  of  any  State  from  another  State,  and  all 
persons  in  complicity  with  them.  This,  too,  was  rejected;  and  so  was 
every  thing  short  of  full  compliance  with  the  demands  of  the  Slave  interest. 

In  the  House  Committee  of  Thirty-three  were  seen  like  failures  to 
please  the  Oligarchy,  notwithstanding  great  concessions  were  offered. 
These  concessions  were  embodied  in  an  elaborate  report  sub- 
mitted  bJ  Mr-  Corwin,"  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee.  It 
condemned  legislative  interference  with  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 
It  recommended  the  repeal  of  Personal  Liberty  Acts,  in  so  far  as  they  con 
flicted  with  that  law.  It  recognized  Slavery  as  existing  in  fifteen  States  of 
the  Union,  and  denied  the  existence  of  any  power,  outside  of  a  State,  com 
petent  to  interfere  with  it.  It  urged  the  propriety  of  a  faithful  execution 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  It  recognized  no  conflicting  elements  in  the 
National  Constitution  and  laws  that  might  afford  sufficient  cause  for  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  enjoined  upon  Congress  the  duty  of  measur 
ing  out  exact  justice  to  all  the  States.  It  declared  it  to  be  essential  for 
the  peace  of  the  country  for  the  several  States  faithfully  to  observe  their 
constitutional  obligations  to  each  other;  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
National  Government  to  maintain  its  authority  and  protect  its  property 
everywhere.  It  proposed  that  each  State  should  be  requested  to  revise  its 
statutes,  or  to  so  amend  the  same,  that  citizens  of  other  States  therein  might 
enjoy  protection  against  popular  violence,  or  illegal  summary  punishment 
for  implied  crimes  without  trial  in  due  form  of  law ;  also,  that  the  States 
should  be  requested  to  provide  by  law  against  the  setting  in  motion,  within 
their  respective  borders,  any  lawless  invasion  of  another  State.  The  Presi 
dent  was  requested  to  send  a  copy  of  this  report  to  the  Governors  of  the 
States,  asking  them  to  lay  it  before  their  respective  Legislatures. 

In  addition  to  this  report,  Mr.  Corwin  submitted  a  joint  resolution  pro 
posing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  whereby  any  further  amendment, 
giving  Congress  power  over  Slavery  in  the  States,  was  forbidden.  By  a 
portion  of  the  Committee  the  report  was  considered  too  yielding,  and  two 
minority  reports  were  submitted.  One  by  Messrs.  Washburne  and  Tappan 
declared  that,  in  view  of  the  rebellion  then  in  progress,  no  concessions 
should  be  made  ;  arid  then  they  submitted,  as  a  distinct  proposition,  Senator 
Clark's  substitute  for  Crittenden's  plan.  Another,  by  Messrs.  Burch  and 
Stout,  proposed  a  convention  of  the  States  to  amend  the  Constitution.  A 
proposition  was  also  made  to  substitute  the  Crittenden  Compromise  for 
Corwin's  report.  Albert  Rust,  of  Arkansas,  offered  in  the  Senate  a  pro 
position,  substantially  the  same  as  Crittenden's,  as  "  the  ultimatum  of  the 
South ;"  and  Henry  Winter  Davis,  of  Maryland,  proposed  a  resolution  to 


DEBATES   IN   THE   SENATE.  223 

request  the  several  States  to  revise  their  statutes,  to  ascertain  whether  any 
of  them  were  in  conflict  with  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  and,  if  so,  to  repeal 
them  forthwith. 

The  consideration  of  reports  and  propositions  concerning  pacification 
occupied  a  large  portion  of  the  session,  and  nearly  every  debater  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress  was  engaged  in  the  discussion.  It  was  fairly  opened  in 
the  Senate  on  the  Yth  of  January,"  when  Mr.  Crittenden  called 
up  a  resolution  which  he  had  offered  on  the  2d,  to  provide  by 
law  for  submitting  his  proposed  amendments  to  the  Constitution  to  a  vote 
of  the  people.  He  saw  no  chance  for  any  agreement  on  the  subject  in  Con 
gress,  and  he  perceived  no  other  course  for  him  to  pursue  than  to  make  an 
appeal  to  the  people.  He  earnestly  desired  to  save  the  Union  and  prevent 
civil  war.  He  felt  that  the  danger  to  which  the  Republic  was  exposed 
was  imminent,  and  he  pleaded  earnestly  for  the  people  to  take  care  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union,  saying : — "  The  Constitution  will  take  care  of 
you ;  the  Union  will  be  sure  to  protect  ami  preserve  you."  He  proposed,  he 
said,  to  take  the  Slavery  question  from  Congress  forever.  He  did  not  think 
he  was  asking  any  one  to  make  concessions,  but  only  to  grant  equal  rights. 
He  was  opposed  to  secession,  as  a  violation  of  the  law  and  the  Constitution. 
"If  a  State  wishes  to  secede,"  he  said,  "let  them  proclaim  revolution 
boldly,  and  not  attempt  to  hide  themselves  under  little  subtleties  of  law, 
and  claim  the  riy/tt  of  secession.  A  constitutional  right  to  break  the  Con 
stitution  was  a  new  doctrine." 

Senator  Toombs  followed  Senator  Crittenden.  His  speech  was  charac 
teristic  of  the  man— coarse,  treasonable,  and  defiant.  "The  Abolitionists," 
he  said,  "have  for  long  years  been  sowing  dragons'  teeth,  and  they  have 
finally  got  a  crop  of  armed  men.  The  Union,  Sir,  is  dissolved.  That  is  a 
fixed  fact  lying  in  the  way  of  this  discussion,  and  men  may  as  well  hear  it. 
One  of  your  confederates  [South  Carolina]  has  already  wisely,  bravely, 
boldly,  met  the  public  danger  and  confronted  it.  She  is  only  ahead  and 
beyond  any  of  her  sisters  because  of  her  greater  facility  of  action.  The 
great  majorif  y  of  those  sister  States,  under  like  circumstances,  consider  her 
cause  as  their  cause."  He  then  declared  that  "the  patriotic  men  of  the 
country,*'  having  appealed  to  the  Constitution,  to  justice,  and  to  fraternity 
in  vain,  were  "prepared  for  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword.  Now,  Sir," 
he  said,  "  you  may  see  the  glitter  of  the  bayonet  and  hear  the  tramp  of 
armed  men  from  your  Capital  to  the  Rio  Grande." 

Toombs  then  proceeded,  with  great  insolence  of  speech  and  manner,  to 
define  his  own  position  and  demands.  "  They  are  what  you,"  he  said,  "  Avho 
talk  of  constitutional  right,  call  treason.  I  believe  that  is  the  term.  I 
believe  for  all  the  acts  which  the  Republican  party  call  treason  and  rebellion, 
there  stands  before  them  as  good  a  traitor  and  as  good  a  rebel  as  ever 
descended  from  revolutionary  loins.  What  does  this  rebel  demand  ?"  The 
right,  he  said,  of  going  into  all  the  Territories  with  slaves,  as  property,  and 
that  property  to  be  protected  there  by  the  National  Government.  "  Shall  I 
not  do  it?"  he  asked.  "You  say  No.  You  and  the  Senate  say  No;  the 
House  says  No;  and  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  your  whole  con 
spiracy  against  the  Constitution,  there  is  one  shout  of  No  !  It  is  the  price 
of  my  allegiance.  Withhold  it,  and  you  can't  get  my  obedience.  There  is 


224  TOOMBS'S   FAREWELL   SPEECH. 

the  philosophy  of  the  armed  men  that  have  sprung  up  in  this  country,  and 
I  had  rather  see  the  population  of  my  own,  my  native  land  beneath  the 
sod,  than  that  they  should  support  for  one  hour  such  a  Government." 

Toombs  further  demanded  that  offenders  against  Slave  erodes  in  one 
State,  fleeing  into  another,  should  be  delivered  up  for  punishment ;  that  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  should  be  rigidly  enforced,  and  that  no  State  should 
pass  Personal  Liberty  Acts.  He  denounced  the  National  Constitution  as 
having  been  made  by  the  fathers  for  the  purpose  of  getting  "  at  the  pockets 
of  the  people."  With  a  wicked  perversion  of  history,  he  declared  that  a 
"  large  portion  of  the  best  men  of  the  Revolution  voted  against  it,"  and  that 
it  was  "  carried  in  some  of  the  States  by  treachery."  He  sneered  at  the 
venerable  Senator  from  Kentucky  (who  had  fought  for  his  country  when 
this  traitor  was  yet  an  infant,  and  had  entered  Congress  as  a  member  when 
this  conspirator  was  a  schoolboy),  because  of  his  attachment  to  that  Con 
stitution,  and  his  denial  of  the  constitutional  right  of  a  State  to  secede. 
"  Perhaps  he  will  find  out  after  a  while,"  said  Toombs,  a  that  it  is  a  fact 
accomplished.  You  have  got  it  in  the  South  pretty  much  in  both  ways. 
South  Carolina  has  given  it  to  you  regularly,  according  to  the  approved 
plan.  You  are  getting  it  just  below  there  [in  Georgia],  I  believe,  irregularly, 
outside  of  law,  without  regular  action.  You  can  take  it  either  way.  You 
will  find  armed  men  to  defend  both.  .  .  .  We  are  willing  to  defend  our  rights 
with  the  halter  around  our  necks,  and  to  meet  these  Black  Republicans,  their 
myrmidons  and  allies,  whenever  they  choose  to  come  on."  The  career  of 
this  Senator  during  the  war  that  ensued  was  a  biting  commentary  upon 
these  high  words  before  there  was  any  personal  danger  to  the  speaker,  and 
illustrated  the  truth  of  Spenser's  lines  in  the  Fairy  Queen: — 

"  For  highest  looks  have  not  the  highest  mind, 

Nor  haughty  words  most  full  of  highest  thought ; 
But  are  like  bladders  blown  up  with  the  wind, 
That  being  pricked  evanish  out  of  sight." 

Toombs  concluded  his  harangue  by  a  summing  up  of  charges  not  unfavor 
able  to  the  Government  against  which  he  was  rebelling,  but  against  the 
political  party  that  had  outvoted  his  own  party  at  the  late  election,  and 
was  about  to  assume  the  conduct  of  that  Government.  "Am  I  a  freeman?" 
he  asked.  "Is  my  State  a  free  State,  to  lie  down  and  submit,  because 
political  fossils  [referring  to  the  venerable  Crittenden]  raise  the  cry  of 'the 
glorious  Union  ?'  Too  long,  already,  have  we  listened  to  this  delusive 
song.  We  are  freemen.'  We  have  rights;  I  have  stated  them.  We  have 
wrongs  ;  I  have  recounted  them.  I  have  demonstrated  that  the  party  now 
coming  into  power  has  declared  us  outlaws,  and  has  determined  to  exclude 
four  thousand  millions  of  our  property  [slaves]  from  the  common  Terri 
tories."  He  then  said : — "  They  have  refused  to  protect  us  from  invasion 
and  insurrection  by  the  Federal  power,  and,"  he  added  truly,  "  the  Consti 
tution  denies  to  us  in  the  Union  the  right  either  to  raise  fleets  or  armies  for 
our  own  defense.  All  these  charges  I  have  proven  by  the  record."  He 
then  said,  with  gross  perversion  of  the  truth,  that  they  had  appealed  in 
vain  for  the  exercise  of  their  constitutional  rights.  Restore  them  and  there 
would  be  peace.  "  Refuse  them,"  he  said,  "  and  what  then  ?  We  shall 


VIEWS   OF  HUNTER   AND   SEWARD.  225 

then  ask  you,  'Let  us  depart  in  peace.'  Refuse  that,  and  you  present  us 
war.  We  accept  it ;  and,  inscribing  upon  our  banners  the  glorious  words, 
'  Liberty  and  Equality,'  we  will  trust  to  the  blood  of  the  brave  and  the 
God  of  battles  for  security  and  tranquillity."  With  these  words  ringing  in 
the  ears  of  Senators,  <ind  these  declarations  of  premeditated  treason  hurled 
in  the  face  of  the  President,  this  conspirator  left  the  Senate 
Chamber  and  the  National  Capital  forever,4  and  hastened  to 
Georgia,  to  cheat  the  people  of  their  rights  and  precipitate  them 
into  the  seething  caldron  of  civil  war. 

The  Georgia  Senator  was  followed,  a  few  days  later/  by  two  of  the  ablest 
members  of  that  House,  namely,  Hunter  of  Virginia,  and  Seward 
of  New  York.     Their  speeches  were  marked  by  great  dignity  of   '  J™™^n 
manner  and  language,  but  irreconcilable  opposition  of  sentiment. 
Hunter's  foreshadowed  the  aims  and  determination  of  the  conspirators,  while 
Seward' s  as  clearly  foreshadowed    the  aims 
and  determination  of  the  loyal  people  of  the 
country  and  of  the  incoming  Administration, 
of  which  he  was  to  be  the  Prime  Minister. 

Mr.  Hunter  was  one  of  the  most  polished, 
subtle,  and  dangerous  of  the  conspirators. 
Like  Calhoun,  his  logic  was  always  masterly, 
and  powerfully  persuasive.  He  led  the  judg 
ments  of  men  with  great  ease.  For  years, 
as  the  champion  of  State  Supremacy — 
the  intimate  friend  and  disciple  of  Calhoun 
— he  had  been  laboring  to  sap  the  life  of 
the  National  Government.  He  now  boldly 
proposed  radical  changes  in  the  Constitu 
tion  and  the  Government,  and  advocated 
the  right  and  duty  of  secession.  He  de-  WU.LIAM  H.  SF.WARD. 

clared    that    "the   South"    must   obtain   by 

such  changes  guaranties  of  pmcer^  so  as  not  to  be  governed  by  the  majorities 
of  "the  North."1  His  whole  speech  favored  the  widening  of  the  line  of 
separation  between  the  Free-labor  and  Slave-labor  States,  and  consequently 
practical  disunion.' 

Mr.  Seward  was  regarded  as  the  oracle  of  the  Republican  party,  now 
about  to  assume  the  administration  of  National  affairs,  and  his  words  were 
listened  to  with  eager  attention.  It  was  felt  that  he  was  to  pronounce  for 

1  He  proposed  Calhoun's  favorite  plan  of  a  dual  executive,  modified,  as  he  thought,  to  adapt  it  to  the  cir- 
enmstonces  of  the  hoar.  He  proposed  that  "  each  section,"  as  ho  called  the  Free-labor  and  Slave-labor  States, 
should  elect  a  President,  to  be  called  the  First  and  Second  President,  the  first  to  serve  for  four  years,  and  the 
President  next  succeeding  him  to  serve  for  four  other  years,  and  afterward  be  re-elidible.  During  the  term  of 
the  President,  the  second  should  be  President  of  the  Senate,  having  a  casting  vote  in  the  event  of  a  tie.  No 
treaty  or  law  should  be  valid  without  the  signatures  of  both  Presidents ;  nor  should  any  appointments  to 
oflice  bo  valid  without  the  sanction  of  both  Presidents  or  of  a  majority  of  the  Senators.  He  also  proposed 
a  sectional  division  of  the  Supreme  Court,  which  should  consist  often  members,  five  from  the  Free-labor  States 
and  five  from  the  Slave-labor  States,  the  Chief-Justice  to  be  one  of  the  five.  These  judges  were  to  be  appointed 
by  the  President  of  each  section. 

3  It  is  a  significant  fact,  that  the  closing  formula  of  legal  documents  which  usually  have  the  words :  "  Done 

jnthe year  of  American  Independence,"  had  been  for  many  years  made  subservient  in  Virginia  and  other 

Slave-labor  States  to  the  heresy  of  State  Supremacy,  by  the  form  of  "Done  in  the year  of  Virginia"  or 

"North  Carolina  Independence." 

VOL.  I.— 15 


226  SPEECHES   OF  JOHNSON  AND   CLEMENS. 

peace  or  war.  He  spoke  guardedly,  and  yet  not  enigmatically.  He  skill 
fully  analyzed  the  treasonable  movements  of  the  Oligarchy,  exposed  the 
falsehood  of  their  pretenses,  the  real  springs  of  their  ambition  and  their 
crime,  and  pleaded  with  powerful  argumentation  for  affiliation  and  union. 
He  declared  his  adherence  to  the  Union  in  its  integrity  and  with  all  its  parts, 
with  his  friends,  with  his  party,  with  his  State,  with  his  country,  or  without 
either,  as  they  might  determine ;  in  every  event,  whether  of  peace  or  war, 
with  every  consequence  of  honor  or  of  dishonor,  of  life  or  of  death.  He 
concluded  by  saying  : — "  I  shall  cheerfully  lend  to  the  Government  my  best 
support  in  whatever  prudent,  yet  energetic  efforts  it  shall  make  to  preserve 
the  public  peace,  and  to  maintain  and  preserve  the  Union,  advising  only  that 
it  practice,  as  far  as  possible,  the  utmost  moderation,  forbearance,  and 
conciliation." 

The  speeches  of  Toombs,  Hunter,  and  Seward  were  key-notes  to  all  that 
succeeded  on  the  great  topic  of  the  hour.  There  were  others  of  eminent 
ability,  and  worthy  of  careful  preservation  in  the  annals  of  the  great  Civil 

War,  as  exponents  of  the  conflicting 
views  entertained  concerning  the  Gov 
ernment,  its  character,  and  its  power.1 
Several  of  these  were  from  represen 
tatives  of  Slave-labor  States,  and  were 
extremely  loyal.  Foremost  among 
them  was  that  of  Andrew  Johnson, 
Senator  from  Tennessee,  now" 
S65'  President  of  the  Republic— a 
man  who  had  come  up  from  among  the 
common  people,  planted  himself  firmly 
on  the  foundation  of  human  rights  and 
popular  prerogatives,  and  performed 
valorous  service  against  the  pretensions 
and  claims  of  the  imperious  Oligarchy. 

ANDREW   JOHNSON.  ,,   T         .,,  .  .    .        .~ 

"  1  will  not  give  up  this  Government, 

he  said,  "  that  is  now  called  an  experiment,  which  some  are  prepared  to 
abandon  for  a  constitutional  monarchy.  No  !  I  intend  to  stand  by  it,  and  I 
entreat  every  man  throughout  the  nation  who  is  a  patriot,  and  who  has  seen 


1  Charles  Sumner,  Henry  Wilson,  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  and  others  in  the  Senate ;  and  John  Sherman,  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  Thomas  Corwin,  and  others  in  the  House  of  .Representatives,  made  powerful  speeches  against 
Mr.  Crittenden's  propositions,  and  in  favor  of  universal  freedom.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  passages  in  the 
great  debate  was  the  speech  of  Sherrard  Clemens,  of  Western  Virginia,  who  took  such  decided  ground  against 
the  pretensions  of  the  Oligarchy,  that  its  representatives  in  Congress  called  him  a  traitor.  With  the  most 
biting  scorn,  he  thus  referred  to  the  conspirators  in  Congress  : — "  Patriotism  has  become  a  starveling  birdiing, 
clinging  with  unfledged  wings  around  the  nest  of  twigs  where  it  was  born.  A  statesman  noio  must  not  only 


'Narrow  his  mind, 


And  to  party  give  up  what  was  meant  for  mankind,' 

but  he  must  become  as  submissive  as  a  blind  horse  in  a  bark-mill  to  every  perverted  opinion  which  sits,  whip 
in  hand,  on  the  revolving  shaft  at  the  end  of  which  he  is  harnessed,  and  meekly  travels.  To  be  considered  a 
diamond  of  the  first  water,  he  must  stand  in  the  Senate  House  of  his  country  [like  Toombs  and  his  fellow- 
traitors],  and,  in  the  face  of  a  forbearing  people,  glory  in  being  a  traitor  and  a  rebel.  He  must  solemnly  proclaim 
the  death  of  the  nation  to  which  he  had  sworn  allegiance,  and,  with  the  grave  stolidity  of  an  undertaker,  invite 
its  citizens  to  their  own  funeral.  lie  must  dwarf  and  provincialize  his  patriotism  to  the  State  on  whose  l^cal 
passions  he  thrives,  to  the  county  where  he  practices  court,  or  to  the  city  where  he  flaunts  in  all  the  meretricious 
dignity  of  the  Doge  of  Venice.  He  can  take  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  but  he 


BAKER'S   ESTIMATE    OF   THE    UXIOX.  227 

and  is  compelled  to  admit  the  success  of  this  great  experiment,  to  come 
forward,  not  in  heat,  not  in  fanaticism,  not  in  haste,  not  in  precipitancy, 
but  in  deliberation,  in  full  view  of  all  that  is  before  us,  in  the  spirit  of 
brotherly  love  and  fraternal  affection,  and  rally  round  the  altar  of  our 
common  country,  and  lay  the  Constitution  upon  it  as  our  last  libation,  and 
swear  by  our  God,  by  all  that  is  sacred  and  holy,  that  the  Constitution 
shall  be  saved  and  the  Union  preserved."  From  this  lofty  attitude  of 
patriotism  he  never  stooped  a  line  during  the  fierce  struggle  that  ensued. 

Senator    Baker,   of   Oregon,  who    attested  his    devotion    to  his  country 
by  giving  his  life  in  its  defense  on   the  battle-field  a  few  months 
later,"    made  a    most    eloquent    appeal  for  the  preservation    of   ' 
the  Union.6     He   and  others  had  been  powerfully  moved  by  the 

«Jnnuarv  12 

treasonable  speech  of  Toombs.  He  drew  a  graphic  picture  of  the 
terrible  effects  that  might  be  expected  from  secession — nationality  destroyed, 
and  on  its  ruins  several  weak  republics  established,  without  power  to  carry 
on  any  of  the  magnificent  schemes  in  hand  for  the  development  of  the 
resources  of  the  continent.  He  spoke  of  the  continual  incentives  to  war 
between  the  separated  States,  and  the  contempt  into  which  all  would  fall  in 
the  estimation  of  the  world.  "  With  standing  armies  consuming  the  sub 
stance  of  our  people  on  the  land/'  he  said,  a  and  our  Xavy  and  our  postal 
steamers  withdrawn  from  the  ocean,  who  will  protect,  or  respect,  or  who 
will  even  know  by  name  our  petty  confederacies?  The  American  man-of- 
war  is  a  noble  spectacle.  I  have  seen  it  enter  an  ancient  port  in  the  Medi 
terranean.  All  the  world  wondered  at  it  and  talked  about  it.  Salvos  of 
artillery,  from  forts  and  shipping  in  the  harbor,  saluted  its  flag.  Princes  and 
princesses  and  merchants  paid  it  homage,  and  all  the  people  blessed  it,  as  a 
harbinger  of  hope  for  their  own  ultimate  freedom.  I  imagine  now  the  same 
noble  vessel  again  entering  the  same  haven.  The  flag  of  thirty-three  stars 
and  thirteen  stripes  has  been  hauled  down,  ami  in  its  place  a  signal  is  run 
up  which  flnuntrt  the  device  of  a  lone  star  or  a  palmetto-tree.  Men  ask, 
'Who  is  the  stranger  that  thus  steals  into  our  waters?'  The  answer,  con 
temptuously  given,  is,  4She  comes  from  one  of  the  obscure  republics  of  Xorth 
America — let  her  pass  on.' ' 

The  plan  of  this  work  does  not  contemplate  the  recording  of  Congres 
sional  debates  in  detail;  so  we  will  proceed  to  notice,  in  few  words,  the 
result  of  the  great  discussion  on  pacification.  It  was  continued  from  time  to 


can  enter  with  honor  into  a  conspiracy  to  overthrow  it.  He  is  ready  to  laugh  in  your  face  when  yon  tell  him, 
that  before  he  was 'muling  ami  puking  in  his  nurse's  arms.' there  lived  an  obscure  person  by  the  name  of 
George  Washington,  and  who.  before  he  died,  became  eminent,  bv  perpetuating  the  immortal  joke  of  advising 
the  people^>f  the  United  States  that  'it  is  of  infinite  moment  that  we  should  properly  estimate  the  immense 
value  of  our  National  Union  .  that  we  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable  attachment  to  it ;  that 
we  should  watch  for  its  [(reservation  with  jealous  anxiety,  discountenancing  whatever  may  suggest  even  a  sus 
picion  that  it  can.  in  any  event,  be  abandoned  ;  and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the  first  dawning  of  every  attempt 
to  alienate  any  portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  together 
the  various  parts.'" 

With  greater  bitterness  Mr.  Clemens  denounced  the  Abolitionists,  and  quoted  from  the  writings  and 
Bpeeches  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison  and  Wendell  Phillips,  in  which  they  advocated  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
•"All  hail  disunion!"  cried  Phillips,  in  one  of  these.  '•  Sacrifice  every  thing  for  the  Union?  God  forbid! 
Sacrifice  every  thing  to  keep  South  Carolina  in  it?  IJather  build  a  bridge  of  gold  and  pay  her  toll  over  it  Let 
her  march  off  with  banners  and  trumpets,  and  we  will  speed  the  parting  guest.  Let  her  not  stand  upon  the 
order  of  her  going,  but  go  at  once.  Give  her  the  forts  and  arsenals  and  sub-treasuries,  and  lend  her  jewels  of 
silver  and  gold,  and  Egypt  will  rejoice  that  she  has  departed." — Congressional  Globe,  1S60,  '61.  Appendix, 
pages  103,  104. 


228  CONSPIRATORS   LEAVING   CONGRESS. 

time  until  the  last  days  of  the  session,  when  many  of  the  conspirators  had 
left  Congress  and  gone  home. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  two  days  before  the  close  of  the  session,  Mason  of 
Virginia  called  up  the  Crittenden  resolutions  in  the  Senate,  when  Clarke's 
substitute1  was  reconsidered  and  rejected,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a 
direct  vote  on  the  original  proposition.  After  a  long  debate,  continuing 
until  late  in  the  "  small  hours  "  of  Sunday  morning,"  the  Critten- 
^en  Compromise  was  finally  rejected  by  a  vote  of  twenty  against 
nineteen.2  It  might  have  been  carried  had  the  conspirators 
retained  their  seats.  The  question  was  then  taken  in  the  Senate  on  a  resolu 
tion  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  to  amend  the  Constitution  so  as  to 
prohibit  forever  any  amendment  of  that  instrument  interfering  with  slavery 
in  any  State.  This  resolution  was  adopted. 

In  the  atmosphere  of  to-day,  made  clear  by  the  tempest  of  war,  we 
perceive  that  this  result  was  most  auspicious.  We  may  now  see  clearly  the 
peril  to  which  -the  nation  would  have  been  subjected  had  that  Compromise, 
or  kindred  propositions  for  perpetuating  and  nationalizing  slavery,  been 
adopted.  Had  the  Constitution  been  amended  in  accordance  with  the  propo 
sitions  of  the  patriotic  but  short-sighted  Crittenden,  the  Republic  would 
bavc  been  bound  in  the  fetters  of  one  of  the  most  relentless  arid  degrading 
despotisms  that  ever  disgraced  the  annals  of  mankind. 

On  the  12th  of  January,  the  conspirators  commenced  withdrawing 
from  Congress.  On  that  day  the  Representatives  of  the  State  of  Mis 
sissippi  sent  in  a  communication  to  the  Speaker,  saying  they  had  been, 
informed  of  the  secession  of  their  State,  and  that,  while  they  regretted  the 
occasion  for  that  action,  they  approved  the  measure.  Two  days 
afterward,6  Albert  G.  Brown,  one  of  the  Senators  from  Missis 
sippi,  withdrew  from  active  participation  in  the  business  of  the  Senate. 
His  colleague,  Jeiferson  Davis,  did  not  take  his  leave,  on  account  of 
sickness,  until  the  21st,  when  he  made  a  parting  speech.  He  declared 
his  devotion  to  the  doctrine  of  State  Supremacy  to  be  so  zealous, 
that  if  he  believed  his  State  had  no  just  cause  for  leaving  the  Union,  he 
should  feel  bound  by  its  action  to  follow  its  destiny.  He  thought  it 
had  just  cause  for  withdrawing,  and  declared  that  he  had  counseled  the 
people  (in  other  words,  the  politicians)  of  that  State  to  do  as  they  had 
done.  He  drew  a  distinction  between  nullification  and  secession,  and 
asserted,  in  the  face  of  history  and  common  sense,  that  Calhoun  advocated 
nullification  in  order  to  save  the  Union !  With  the  most  transparent 
sophistry  he  then  argued  in  favor  of  the  right  of  secession,  and  against  the 
prevailing  idea,  that  when  the  preamble  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
asserts  that  "  all  men  are  created  equal,"  it  means  all  without  distinction  of 
race  or  country.  Then,  with  a  wicked  perversion  of  the  plainest  teachings 
of  history,  he  said : — "  When  you  deny  to  us  the  right  to  withdraw  from  a 


1  Sec  page  221. 

2  The  vote  was  as  follows : — 

AYES.— Messrs.  Bayard,  Bright,  Bigler,  Crittenden,  Douglas,  Gwin,  Hunter,  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  Ken 
nedy,  Lane,  Lathain,  Mason,  Nicholson,  Polk,  Pugh,  Rice,  Sebastian,  Thompson,  Wigfall — 19. 

NOES. —Messrs.  Anthony.  Bingham,  Chandler,  Clarke,  Dixon.  Doolittle,  Durkie,  Fessenden,  Foote,  Foster, 
Grimes,  Ilarlan,  King.  Morrill,' Suinncr,  Ten  Eyck,  Truinbull.  Wade,  Wilkinson,  Wilson— 20. 


WITHDRAWAL  OF   CLA£r   AND   IVERSOX.  229 

government  which  threatens  to  be  destructive  of  our  rights,  we  but  tread 
in  the  path  of  our  fathers  when  we  proclaim  our  independence,  and  take 
the  hazard."  In  direct  conflict  with  truth,  and  with  the  most  shameless 
hypocrisy,  Avhich  his  subsequent  conduct  revealed,  he  declared  that  the  step 
was  taken  by  himself  and  his  State  not  for  any  selfish  purpose,  but  "  from 
the  high  and  solemn  motive  of  defending  and  protecting  the  rights  we  have 
inherited,  and  which  it  is  our  sacred  duty  to  transmit  unshorn  to  our 
children."  lie  concluded  with  an  expression  of  a  hope  that  peaceful  rela 
tions  between  the  two  sections  might  be  maintained,  and  declared  that  he 
left  the  Senate  without  any  animosity  toward  a  single  member  personally. 
" I  carry  with  me,"  he  said,  "no  hostile  remembrance.  Whatever  offense 
I  have  given  which  has  not  been  redressed,  or  for  which  satisfaction  has 
not  been  demanded,  I  have,  Senators,  at  this  hour  of  our  parting,  to  offer 
you  my  apology  for  any  pain  which,  in  the  heat  of  discussion,  I  have  in 
flicted.  .  .  .  Having  made  this  announcement,  which  the  occasion  seemed  to 
me  to  require,  it  only  remains  for  me  to  bid  you  a  final  adieu."  Davis 
then  left  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  immediately  entered  more  openly  upon 
his  treasonable  work,  in  which  he  had  been  engaged  for  many  years. 

On  the  same  day  when  Davis  left  the  Senate,  the  representatives  of 
Alabama  and  Florida  in.  that  House  formally  withdrew.  Yulee  and  Mai- 
lory,  the  Florida  Senators,  spoke  in  tem 
perate  language;  but  Clement  C.  Clay,  Jr., 
of  Alabama,  one  of  the  most  malignant  foes 
of  the  Republic,  and  who  was  a  secret 
plotter  in  Canada,  during  the  war,  of  high 
crimes  against  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  signalized  his  withdrawal  by  a 
harangue  marked  by  the  intensest  venom. 
He  commenced  his  speech  by  the  utterance 
of  what  he  knew  to  be  untrue,  by  saying: — 
"•  I  rise  to  announce,  for  my  colleague  and 
myself,  that  the  people  <>f  Alabama  have 
adopted  an  Ordinance  of  Separation,  and 
that  they  are  (ill  in  favor  of  withdrawing 
from  the  Union.  I  wish  it  to  be  understood 
that  this  is  the  act  of  the  puttie  of  Ala 
bama."1  He  then  uttered  a  tirade  of  abuse  against  the  people  of  the  Free- 
labor  States,  and  closed  by  saying:  "As  a  true  and  loyal  citizen  of  Alabama, 
approving  of  her  action,  acknowledging  entire  allegiance,  and  feeling  that  I 
am  absolved  by  her  act  from  all  my  obligations  to  support  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  I  withdraw  from  this  body,  intending  to  return  to  the 
bosom  of  my  mother,  and  share  her  fate  and  maintain  her  fort  lines."  His  white- 
haired  colleague,  Fitzpatrick,  indorsed  his  sentiments,  and  both  withdrew. 

A  week  later,"  Senator  Iverson,  of  Georgia,  having  received 
a  copy  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  from  the  Convention  of  the   "  ^g*17  2S' 
politicians  of  his  State,  formally  withdrew,  when   he  took  the 
occasion    to    say,  in   contemplation   of  war  : — "  You  may  possibly  overrun 


CLEMENT    C.    TI.AY,    JR. 


See  an  account  of  the  opposition  of  the  people  to  secession,  on  pajre  173. 


230  SEIZURE   OF   A#MS   IN   NEW   YORK. 

us,  desolate  our  fields,  burn  our  dwellings,  lay  our  cities  in  ruins,  murder 
our  people,  and  reduce  us  to  beggary,  but  you  cannot  subdue  or  subjugate 
us  to  your  Government  or  your  will.  Your  conquest,  if  you  gain  one, 
will  cost  you  a  hundred  thousand  lives,  and  more  than  a  hundred  million 
dollars.  Nay,  more,  it  will  take  a  standing  army  of  a  hundred  thousand 
men  and  millions  of  money,  annually,  to  keep  us  in  subjection.  You  may 
whip  us,  but  we  will  not  stay  whipped.  We  will  rise  again  and  again  to 
vindicate  our  right  to  liberty,  and  to  throw  off  your  oppressive  and  cursed 
yoke,  and  never  cease  the  mortal  strife  until  our  whole  white  race  is 
extinguished,  and  our  fair  land  given  over  to  desolation.  You  may  have 
ships  of  war,  and  we  may  have  none.  You  may  blockade  our  ports  and 
lock  up  our  commerce.  We  can  live,  if  need  be,  without  commerce.  But 
when  you  shut  out  our  cotton  from  the  looms  of  Europe,  we  shall  see 
whether  other  nations  will  not  have  something  to  say  and  something  to  do 
on  that  subject.  Cotton  is  King!  and  it  will  find  means  to  raise  your 
blockade  and  disperse  your  ships." 

Iverson  prudently  kept  himself  away  from  all  personal  danger  during 

the  war  that  ensued  ;  and  in  less  than  a  year  he  saw  his  overrated  monarch 

dethroned,  and  heard  the  cry  of  the  great  distress  of  his  own  people.     His 

truculent  colleague,  Toombs,  had  already,  as  we  have  seen,  gone  home  to 

work   the  machinery  by  which   the   people   of  Georgia   were   unwillingly 

placed  in  an  attitude  of  rebellion.     Toombs  had  also  been  bringing  one  of 

his  Northern  admirers  in  subserviency  to  his  feet,  in  this  wise : — Early  in 

January,  it  became  known  to  the  Superintendent  of  the  Metropolitan  Police 

of  New  York,   who  were  not   under  the  control  of  the  Mayor,  that  large 

quantities   of  arms,  purchased  of  Northern  manufacturers  and  merchants, 

were  going  southward.     It  was  resolved  to  put  a  stop  to  traffic  that  would 

evidently  prove  injurious  to  the  Government,  and  late  in  the 

"  JTs6iry  22'  montn<l   nearly   forty   boxes    of   arms,   consigned    to    parties  in 

Georgia  and  Alabama,  and  placed  on  board  the  steamer  Mon- 

ticello,  bound   for   Savannah,  were   seized  by  the  New  York  police.     The 

fact  was  immediately   telegraphed   to  Governor  Brown,  at   Milledgeville. 

Toombs  was  there,  and  took  the  matter  into  his  own  hands.     He 

telegraphed b  as  follows  to  the  Mayor  of  New  York  : — "  Is  it 

true  that  arms,  intended  for,  and  consigned  to  the  State  of  Georgia,  have 

been  seized  by  public  authorities  in  New  York  ?     Your  answer  is  important 

to  us  and  New  York.     Answer  at  once." 

This  insolent  demand  of  a  private  citizen — one  who  had  lately  boasted, 
in  his  place  in  the  National  Senate,  that  he  was  a  rebel  and  a  traitor  (and 
who,  no  one  doubted,  wanted  these  very  arms  for  treasonable  purposes),  was 
obsequiously  complied  with.  The  Mayor  (Fernando  Wood)  expressed  his 
regret,  but  disclaimed  for  the  city  of  New  York  any  "responsibility  for  the 
outrage,"  as  he  called  it.  "  As  Mayor,"  he  said,  "  I  have  no  authority  over 
the  police.  If  I  had  the  power,  I  should  summarily  punish  the  authors  of 
this  illegal  and  unjustifiable  seizure  of  private  property." 

Toombs  determined  to  retaliate.  The  Governor,  who  seems  to  have  been 
a  plastic  servant  of  this  conspirator,  had  asked  the  Legislature  for  power  to 
retaliate,  should  there  be  an  occasion,  but  his  request  had  not  been  granted. 
Toombs  advised  him  to  act  without  law,  and  he  did  so.  By  his  order,  ships 


SLIDELL   AND   HIS   PREDICTIONS.  231 

of  several  Northern  owners  were  seized  at  Savannah  and  held  as  hostages. 
This  act  produced  great  excitement  throughout  the  country.  The  more 
cautious  leaders  of  the  insurgents  advise^,  the  release  of  the  vessels.  In  the 
mean  time  a  larger  portion  of  the  arms  seized  at  New  York  had  been  given 
up,  and  the  little  tempest  of  passion  was  soon  allayed.  Investigations  caused 
by  this  transaction  revealed  the  fact  that  the  insurgents  were  largely  armed, 
through  the  cupidity  of  Northern  merchants  and  manufacturers,  who  had 
made  very  extensive  sales  to  the  agents  of  the  conspirators  during  the  months 
of  December,  1860,  and  January,  February,  and  March,  1861. 

On  the  4th  of  February,  John  Slidell l  and  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  of 
Louisiana,  withdrew  from  the  National  Senate  they  were  so  dishonoring. 
Slidell  made  a  speech  which  was  marked  by  a  cool  insolence  of  manner,  an 
insulting  exhibition  of  contempt  for  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States,  and 
a  consciousness  of  power  to  do  all  that, 
in  smooth  rhetoric,  he  threatened.  lie 
spoke  as  if  there  would  be  a  peaceable 
separation,  and  sketched  a  line  of  policy 
which  the  new  u  Confederacy "  would 
pursue.  But,  he  said,  in  the  event  of  an 
attempt  of  the  Government  to  enforce 
its  laws  in  so-called  seceded  States,  "you 
will  find  us  ready  to  meet  you  with  the 
outstretched  hand  of  fellowship  or  in  the 
mailed  panoply  of  war,  as  you  may  will 
it.  Elect  between  these  alternatives." 
lie  then  sneeringly  referred  to  the  utter 
failure  which  the  Government  would 
experience  in  any  attempt  to  assert  its 
authority  over  the  "  seceders."  u  You 

may,"  he  said,  "  under  color  of  enforcing  your  laws  or  collecting  your 
revenue,  blockade  our  ports.  This  will  be  war,  and  we  shall  meet  it  with 
different  but  equally  efficient  weapons.  We  will  not  permit  the  introduction 
or  consumption  of  any  of  your  manufactures.  Every  sea  will  swarm  with 
our  volunteer  militia  of  the  ocean,  with  the  striped  bunting  floating  over 
their  heads,  for  we  do  not  mean  to  give  up  that  flag  without  a  bloody 
struggle — it  is  ours  as  much  as  yours-;  and  although  for  a  time  more  stars 
may  shine  on  your  banner,  our  children,  if  not  we,  will  rally  under  a  constel 
lation  more  numerous  and  more  resplendent  than  yours.  You  may  smile  at 
this  as  an  impotent  boast,  at  least  for  the  present,  if  not  for  the  future;  but," 
he  said,  with  well-pointed  irony,  "if  we  need  ships  and  men  for  privateering, 
we  shall  be  amply  supplied  from  the  same  sources  as  now,  almost  exclusively, 
furnish  the  means  for  carrying  on  with  unexampled  vigor  the  African  Slave- 
trade — New  York  and  New  England.  Your  mercantile  marine,"  he  added, 
"  must  either  sail  under  foreign  flags  or  rot  at  your  wharves." 

With  the  blind  spirit  of  false  prophecy  which  had  taken  possession  of  the 


1  See  page  61. 

3  The  Louisiana  conspirators,  as  we  have  observed,  adopted  as  a  device  for  their  flag  thirteen  stripes, 
alternate  red,  white,  and  blue,  and  a  single  yellow  star  on  a  red  ground  in  one  corner.  The  blue  stripe  soiled 
the  purity  of  appearance  of  the  old  flag.  It  was,  indeed,  dishonored. 


232  SENATOR   BENJAMIN'S   FAREWELL. 

conspirators,  Slidell  pointed  to  the  inevitable  hostility,  as  he  conceived,  of 
the  European  naval  powers,  when  commerce  and  the  supply  of  cotton  should 
be  interfered  with  by  "•mere  paper  blockades,"  and  asked :  "  What  will  you 
be  when,  not  only  emasculated  by  the  withdrawal  of  fifteen  States,  but 
warred  upon  by  them  with  active  and  inveterate  hostility  ?"  This  significant 
question  was  answered  four  years  afterward,  when  the  naval  powers  of 
Europe  had  been  so  offended  without  committing  acts  of  resentment,  and  the 
threatened  civil  war  had  raged  inveterately,  by  the  fact  that  the  Republic 
was  stronger,  wealthier,  and  more  thoroughly  respected  by  foreign  powers 
than  ever.  The  crowning  infamy  of  this  farewell  speech  of  Slidell  was  the 
utterance  of  the  libel  upon  the  people  of  Louisiana,  in  his  declaration  that  the 
secession  movement  was  theirs,  and  not  of  political  leaders  ! 

Benjamin  followed  Slidell  in  a  temperate  and  argumentative  speech  on 
the  right  of  secession.  He  bade  the  Senators  from  the  Slave-labor  States 
farewell,  with  the  expectation  of  a  speedy  reunion ;  and  he  eulogized  those 

Representatives  from  the  Free  labor 
States  who  sympathized  with  himself 
and  fellow-traitors  in  their  rebellious 
movements,  predicting  that  they  would 
be  honored  above  all  others.  "When 
in  after  days  the  story  of  the  present 
shall  be  Avritten,"  he  said,  "  and  when 
your  children  shall  hear  repeated  the 
familiar  tale,  it  will  be  with  glowing 
cheek  and  kindling  eye;  their  very  souls 
will  stand  a-tiptoe  as  their  sires  are 
named,  and  they  will  glory  in  their 
lineage  from  men  of  spirit  as  generous, 
and  of  patriotism  as  high-hearted,  as 

P.  BENJAMIN.  ever  illustrated  or  adorned  the  Ameri 

can  Senate." 

This  peroration  was  quite  different  in  language  and  in  its  reception  from 
that  of  his   speech  delivered  on   the  same  spot  a  month  before,* 
ece™g0er  81'  when,  with  insinuations  which  only  his   own  malignant   nature 
could  conceive,  concerning  the  intentions  of  the  supporters   of 
the  Government,  and  with  the  usual  bravado  of  his  class,  he  said  : — u  The 
fortunes  of  war  may  be  adverse  to  our  arms ;  you  may  carry  desolation  into 
our  peaceful  land;  and  with  torch  and  fire  you  may  set  our  cities  in  flames;1 
you  may  even  emulate  the  atrocities  of  those  who,  in  the  war  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  hounded  on  the  bloodthirsty  savage  to  attacks  upon   the  defenseless 
frontier;  you  may,  under  the  protection  of  your  advancing  armies,  give  shelter 
to  the  furious  fanatics  who  desire,  and  profess  to  desire,  nothing  more  than 
to  add  all  the  horrors  of  a  servile  insurrection  to  the  calamities  of  civil  war ; 
you  may  do  all  this — and  more  too,  if  more  there  be — but  you  never  can 
subjugate  us ;  you  never  can  convert  the  free  sons  of  the  soil  into  vassals, 

1  Benjamin  was  afterward  convicted  by  testimony  in  open  court,  at  the  trial  of  the  assassins  of  President 
Lincoln,  of  having  been  one  of  the  chief  plotters  at  liiehmond,  while  he  was  the  so-called  "  Secretary  of  State  " 
of  Jefferson  Davis,  of  schemes  for  burning  the  cities,  steamboats,  hospitals,  &c.,  and  poisoning  the  public 
fountains  of  water  in  the  Free-labor  States. 


ACTION   IX   THE   HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES.  233 

paying  tribute  to  your  power;  and  you  never,  never  can  degrade  them  to  the 
level  of  an  inferior  and  servile  race — never,  never,  NEVER  I"1  The  galleries 
of  the  Senate  Chamber  were  crowded  with  Benjamin's  sympathizers,  who 
then  filled  the  public  offices  and  society  at  large  in  Washington.  They 
greeted  the  closing  sentences  of  this  speech  with  the  wildest  shouts  and 
other  vehement  demonstrations,  which  Breckinridge,  the  presiding  officer, 
did  not  restrain.  The  tumult  was  so  disgraceful  that  even  Senator  Mason, 
of  Virginia,  was  ashamed  of  it,  and  he  proposed,  by  a  motion,  to  clear  the 
galleries. 

The  House  of  Representatives  were  spared  the  infliction  of  farewell 
speeches  overflowing  with  treasonable  sentiments.  The  members  from  the 
"  seceding  States,"  with  a  single  exception,  sent  up  to  the  Speaker  brief 
notices  of  their  withdrawal.  These  were  laid  silently  upon  the  table  when 
read,  and  were  no  further  noticed.  Almost  imperceptibly  those  traitors 
disappeared  from  the  Legislative  Hall.  The  exception  referred  to  was  Miles 
Taylor,  of  Louisiana,  who  took  the  occasion  to  warn  the  men  of  the  Free- 
labor  States  of  the  peril  of  offending  the  cotton  interest.  He  assured  them  that 
France  and  England  would  break  any  blockade  that  might  be  instituted,  and 
that  all  the  Border  Slave-labor  States  would  join  those  farther  South  in 
making  war  upon  the  National  Government,  if  any  attempt  was  made  to 
"  coerce  a  State,"  as  the  enforcement  of  law  was  falsely  termed.  His 
remarks  became  so  offensive  to  loyal  ears,  that  Representative  Spinner,  from 
the  interior  of  New  York,  interrupted  him,  saying,  "  I  think  it  is  high  time 
to  put  a  stop  to  this  countenancing  treason  in  the  halls  of  legislation."  He 
made  it  a  point  of  order  whether  it  was  competent  for  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  sworn  to  support  the  Constitution  and  laws,  to  openly  advocate 
treason  against  the  Republic,  and  justify  the  seizure  of  forts  and  arsenals 
belonging  to  it  by  armed  insurgents.  The  Speaker  allowed 
Taylor  to  proceed ;  and  he  finished  his  harangue  by  a  formal 
withdrawal  from  his  seat  in  the  House." 

Thus  ended  the  open  utterances  of  treason  in  the  Halls  of  Congress.  The 
National  Legislature  was  purged  of  its  more  disloyal  elements,  and  thence 
forth,  during  the  remaining  month  of  the  session,  its  legitimate  business 
was  attended  to.  Then-  were  turbulent  and  disloyal  spirits  left  in  that 
body,  but  they  were  less  demonstrative,  and  were  shorn  of  their  power  to 
do  serious  mischief.  The  Union  men  were  now  in  the  majority  in  the  Lower 
House,  and  they  controlled  the  Senate.  Before  the  session  closed,  acts  were 
passed  for  the  organization  of  three  new  Territories,  namely,  Colorado, 
Nevada,  and  Dakotah.  Not  a  word  was  said  about  Slavery  in  those  Terri 
tories.  The  subject  was  left  for  decision  to  the  people,  when  they  should 
make  a  State  Constitution.  This  silence  was  expressive  of  the  honest  deter 
mination  of  the  party  just  rising  into  power,  not  to  meddle  with  Slavery  by 
means  of  the  National  Government,  but  leave  it,  as  it  always  had  been  left, 
a  subject  for  municipal  law  alone.  In  this  behavior  "the  South"  might  have 
seen,  if  they  had  not  been  blinded  by  passion  and  misled  by  false  teachers, 
an  exhibition  of  justice  full  of  promise  for  the  future.  They  had  been 
repeatedly  assured  of  this  during  the  progress  of  the  session.  So  early  as 

1  Congressional  Globe,  December  31,  I860. 


234  THE   DETERMINATION"  OF   THE   CONSPIRATORS. 

the  27th  of  December,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  a  distinguished  citizen  of 
Massachusetts,  whose  people  were  the  chief  offenders  of  the  Oligarchy,  of 
fered  in  the  House  Committee  of  Thirty-three -a  resolution,  "That  it  is 
expedient  to  propose  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  to  the  effect  that 
no  future  amendments  of  it  in  regard  to  Slavery  shall  be  made  unless  pro 
posed  by  a  Slave  State,  and  ratified  by  all  the  States."  It  was  passed 
with  only  three  dissenting  voices  in  the  Committee.1  It  offered  a  broad  and 
sufficient  basis  for  a  perfect  reconciliation  of  feeling  concerning  the  Slavery 
question,  and  would  have  been  accepted  as  such,  had  not  that  Slavery  ques 
tion  been  the  mere  pretext  of  the  conspirators,  who  had  resolved  that  no 
terms  of  pacification  should  be  agreed  upon.  They  were  bent  on  revolution, 
and  utterly  discarded  the  counsels  of  Honor,  Justice,  and  even  Prudence. 
The  legend  on  their  shield  in  political  warfare  was  "  Rule  or  Ruin."2 

1  This  resolution  was  adopted  by  the-  House  of  Eepresentatives  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-three 
against  sixty-five,  or  more  than  two-thirds  in  its  favor.     The  Senate  passed  it  by  a  vote  of  twenty-four  against 
twelve. 

2  In  an  able  speech  in  the  Senate  on  the  21st  of  February,   Henry  Wilson   said : — "  What  a  saddening, 
humiliating,  and  appalling  spectacle  does  America  now  present  to  the  gaze  of  mankind !     Conspiracies  in  the 
Cabinet  and  in  the  halls  of  legislation;  conspiracies  in  the  Capital  and  in  the  States;  conspiracies  in  the  Army 
and  in  the  Navy;  conspiracies  everywhere  to  break  the  unity  of  the  Eepublic  ;  to  destroy  the  grandest  fabric  of 
free  government  the  human  understanding  ever  conceived,  or  the  hand  of  man  ever  reared.     States  are  rushing 
madly  from  their  spheres  in  (he  constellation  of  the  Union,  raising  the  banners  of  revolt,  defying  the  Federal 
authority,  arming  men,  planting  frowning  batteries,  arming  fortresses,  dishonoring  the  National  flag,  clutching 
the  public  property,  arms,  and  moneys,  and  inaugurating  the  reisrn  of  disloyal  factions.  .     .  .  This  conspiracy 
against  the  unity  of  the  Eepublic,  which,  in  its  development,  startles  and  amazes  the  world  by  its  extent  and 
power,  is  not  the  work  of  a  day;  it  is  the  labor  of  a  generation.  .  .  .  This  wicked  plot  for  the  dismemberment 
of  the  Confederacy,  which  has  now  assumed  such  fearful  proportions,  was  known  to  some  of  our  elder  states 
men.     Thomas  H.  Benton  ever  raised  his  warning  voice  against  the  conspirators.     I  can  never  forget  the  terrible 
energy  of  his  denunciations  of  the  policy  and  acts  of  the  nulliflers  and  secessionists.     During  the  great  Lecomp- 
ton  struggle,  in  the  Avinter  of  1S5S,  his  house  was  the  place  of  resort  of  several  members  of  Congress,  who  sought 
his  counsels,  and  delighted  to  listen  to  his  opinions.     In  the  last  conversation  I  had  with  him,  but  a  few  days 
before  he  was  prostrated  by  mortal  disease,  he  declared  that  'the  disunionistshad  prostituted  the  Democratic 
party1 — that  they  'had  complete  control  of  the  Administration;1  that  'these  conspirators  would  have  broken  up 
the  Union,  if  Colonel  Fremont  had  been  elected;'  that  'the  reason  he  opposed  Fremont's  election  [he  was  his 
son-in-law]  was,  that  he  knew  these  men  intended  to  destroy  the  Government,  and  he  did  not  wish  it  to  go 
in  pieces  in  the  hands  of  a  member  of  his  family.'    I  expressed  some  doubt  of  the  extent  and  power  of  such  a 
conspiracy  to  dismember  the  Union  or  to  seize  the   Government;  to  which  he  replied,  that  'he  knew  their 
purposes  to  be  a  Southern  Confederacy,  for  efforts  were  early  made  to  enlist  him  in  the  wicked  scheme ;'  that 
'so  long  as  the  people  of  the  North  should  be  content  to  attend  to  commerce  and  manufactures,  and  accept  the 
policy  and  rule  of  the  disunionists,  they  would  condescend  to  remain  in  the  Union ;  but  should  the  Northern 
people  attempt  to  exercise  their  just  influence  in  the  nation,  they  would  attempt  to  seize  the  Government,  or 
disrupt  the  Union ;  but,'  said  he,  with  terrible  emphasis,  '  God  and  their  oicn  crimes  will  put  them  in  th« 
hands  of  the  people'.""1    How  solemnly  that  prophecy  of  the  great  leader  of  the  Democratic  party  in  its  days 
of  genuine  strength  has  been  fulfilled! 


ASSEMBLING  OF  A  PEACE   CONVENTION". 


235 


CHAPTER    X. 

PEACE   MOVEMENTS.— CONVENTION   OF   CONSPIRATORS   AT  MONTGOMERY. 

N  Monday,  the  4th  of  February,  1861,  the  day  on  which 
Slidell  and  Benjamin  left  the  Senate,  a  Convention  known 
as  the  Peace  Congress,  or  Conference,  assembled  in  Wil 
lard's  Hall,  in  Washington  City,  a  large  room  in  a  building 
originally  erected  as  a  church  edifice  on  F  Street,  and  then 
attached  to  Willard's  Hotel. 

This  Convention,  as  we  have  observed,1  was  proposed 
by  resolutions  of  the  Virginia  Legislature,  passed  on  the 
19th  of  January,"  and  highly  approved  by  the  President  of  the 
Republic.  The  proposition  mt't  with  favorable  consideration 
throughout  the  country.  Omens  of  impending  war  were  becoming  more 
numerous  every  day;  and  at  the  time  this  proposition  was  made,  it  was 
evident  that  no  plan  for  the  adjustment  of  existing  difficultie?  could  be  agreed 
upon  by  the  National  Legislature.  It  was  thought  that  a  convention  of  con 
servative  men,  fresh  from  the  people,  might  devise  some  salutary  measures 
that  should  go  before  Congress  with  such  weight  of  popular  authority  as  to 
induce  acquiescence,  and  lead  to  action  that  would  secure  pacification,  the 
great  object  sought. 

The  Legislatures  of  most  of  the  States  were  in  session  when  the  proposi 
tion  went  forth,  and  the  response  was  so  general  and  so  prompt,  that 
delegates  from  twenty-one  States — fourteen  of  them  Free-labor  and  seven  of 
them  Slave-labor  States — appeared  in  the  Convention.''  When  they  were  not 


1  See  page  194. 

a  Some  of  the  delegates  were  then  members  of  Congress,  both  of  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives.  The  following  arc  the  names  of  the  delegates: — 

Maine.— William  P.  Fessenden,  Lott  M.  Morrill,  Daniel  E.  Somes,  John  J.  Perry,  Ezra  B.  French,  Freeman 
II.  Morse,  Stephen  Coburn,  Stephen  C.  Foster. 

Iff  ic  /famjixfn're. — Amos  Tuck,  Levi  Chamberlain,  Asa  Fowler. 

l'eniioHt.—lU\ain\  Hall,  Lucius  E.  Chittenden,  Levi  Underwood.  II.  Henry  Baxter,  B.  D.  Harris. 

MasKacfnmett*.— John  Z.  Goodrich,  Charles  Allen,  George  S.  Boutwell,  Theophilus  P.  Chandler,  Francis  B. 
Crowninshield.  John  M.  Forbes,  Richard  P.  Waters. 

Rhode  Inland.— Samuel  Ames,  Alexander  Duncan,  William  W.  Hoppin,  George  II.  Browne,  Samuel  G. 
Arnold. 

Connecticut. — Roger  S.  Baldwin,  Chauncey  F.  Cleveland,  Charles  J.  McCurdy,  James  T.  Pratt,  Robins  Bat- 
tell,  Amos  S.  Treat. 

New  York. — David  Dudley  Field,  William  Curtis  Noyes,  James  S.  Wadsworth,  James  C.  Smith,  Amaziah 
B.  James,  Erastus  Corning,  Francis  Granger,  Greene  C.  Bronson,  William  E.  Dodge,  John  A.  King,  John  E. 
Wool. 

New  Jemey.— Charles  S.  Olden,  Peter  D.  Vroom,  Robert  F.  Stockton,  Benjamin  Williamson.  Joseph  F. 
Randolph,  Frederick  T.  Frelinghuysen,  Rodman  M.  Price.  William  C.  Alexander.  Thomas  J.  Stryker. 

Penn*ylrtiHiti.—Jiuni'S  Pollock,  William  II.  Meredith.  David  Wilmot,  A.  W.  Loom  is,  Thomas  E.  Franklin, 
William  McKennan,  Thomas  White. 

Delaware. — Ooome  B.  Rodney,  Daniel  M.  Bates,  Henry  Ridgley,  John  W.  Houston,  William  Cannon. 

Afarylt inif.  —John  F.  Dent,  Reverdy  Johnson,  John  W.  Crisfleld,  Augustus  W.  Bradford,  William  T.  Golds- 
borough,  J.  Dixon  Roman,  Benjamin  C.  Howard. 


236 


DELEGATES   IN   THE   PEACE   CONVENTION. 


appointed  by  Legislatures,  they  were  chosen  by  the  Governors.  Many  of 
these  delegates  were  instructed,  either  by  formal  resolutions  of  the  appointing 
power  or  by  informal  expressions  of  opinion.  Much  caution  was  exercised, 
because  there  were  well-grounded  suspicions  that  the  Virginia  politicians, 
who  had  proposed  the  Convention,  were  adroitly  playing  into  the  hands  of 
the  conspirators.  One  of  the  resolutions  that  accompanied  their  invitation  to 
a  conference  declared  that  the  Crittenden  Compromise,  so  modified  as  to 
apply  to  all  the  territory  of  the  Republic  south  of  latitude  36°  30',  and  to 
provide  that  "  Slavery  of  the  African  race  "  should  be  "  effectually  protected 
as  property  therein  during  the  existence  of  the  Territorial  government;"  also, 
to  secure  to  the  holders  of  slaves  the  right  of  transit  with  this  property, 
"between  and  through  the  non-slaveholding  States  and  Territories,"  con 
stituted  a  basis  of  adjustment  that  would  be  acceptable  to  Virginia.  This 
avowal  of  their  demands  at  the  outset  was  candid,  if  not  modest  and  con 
ciliatory. 

Massachusetts  instructed  its  delegates  to  confer  with  the  General  Gov 
ernment,  or  with  the  separate  States,  or  with  any  association  of  delegates 
from  such  States,  and  to  report  to  the  Legislature.  Rhode  Island  said  :— 

"Agree,  if  prac 
ticable,  upon 
some  amicable 
adjustment  of 
present  difficul 
ties,  upon  the 
basis  and  spirit 
of  the  National 
Constitution." 

New  York 
wished  it  not 
to  be  under 
stood  that,  in 
acceding  to  the 
request  of  Vir- 

WILLARD  8    HALL.  .   \ 

ginia,  it  ap 
proved  of  Virginia's  desires,  as  expressed  in  the  resolutions  of  its 
Legislature.  It  was  willing  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  bring  about  an 
honorable  settlement  of  the  national  difficulties.  New  Jersey  earnestly 


Virginia. — John  Tyler,  Wm.  C.  Rives,  John  W.  Brockenbrough,  George  W.  Summers,  James  A.  Seddon. 

North  Carolina. — George  Davis,  Thomas  Ruffin,  David  S.  Reid,  D.  M.  Barringer,  J.  M.  Morehead. 

Tennessee. — Samuel  Milligan,  Josiah  M.  Anderson,  Robert  L.  Caruthers,  Thomas  Martin,  Isaac  R.  Hawkins, 
A.  W.  O.  Totten,  R.  J.  McKinney,  Alvin  Cullum,  William  P.  Hickerson,  George  W.  Jones,  F.  R.  Zollicoffer, 
William  H.  Stephens. 

Kentucky.— William  O.  Butler,  James  B.  Clay,  Joshua  F.  Bell,  Charles  S.  Morehead,  James  Guthrie, 
Charles  A.  Wickliffe. 

Missouri.— John  D.  Coalter,  Alexander  W.  Doniphan,  Waldo  P.  Johnson,  Aylett  H.  Buckner,  Harrison 
Hough. 

Ohio.— Salmon  P.  Chase,  John  C.  Wright,  William  S.  Groesbeck,  Franklin  T.  Backus,  Reuben  Hitchcock, 
Thomas  Ewing,  V.  B.  Horton,  C.  P.  Wolcott. 

Indiana.— Caleb  B.  Smith,  Pleasant  A.  Hackleman,  Godlove  S.  Orth,  E.  W.  II.  Ellis,  Thomas  C.  Slaughter 

Illinois. — John  Wood.  Stephen  T.  Logan,  John  M.  Palmer,  Burton  C.  Cook,  Thomas  J.  Turner. 

Imca.— James  Harlan,  James  W.  Grimes,  Samuel  H.  Curtis,  William  Vandever. 

Kansas.— Thomas  Ewing,  Jr.,  J.  C.  Stone,  II.  J.  Adams.  M.  F.  Conway. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  PEACE  CONVENTION.       237 

urged  the  adoption  of  the  Crittenden  Compromise.  Pennsylvania  declared 
its  willingness  to  make  any  honorable  concession  for  the  sake  of  peace,  but 
did  not  desire  any  amendment  or  alteration  of  the  Constitution.  It  was 
ready  to  fulfill  every  duty  prescribed  to  it  by  that  Constitution,  even  to  the 
full  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act.  Delaware  simply  declared  its 
devotion  to  the  Union,  and  instructed  its  delegates  to  do  all  in  their  power 
for  its  preservation.  Ohio  was  willing  to  meet  its  fellow  States  in  conven 
tion,  br.t  felt  satisfied  with  the  Constitution  as  it  was ;  while  Indiana 
instructed  its  delegates  not  to  commit  that  State  to  any  action  until  nineteen 
of  the  States  should  be  represented,  and  until  they  had  communicated  with 
the  General  Assembly  of  their  State,  and  received  permission  to  commit  it  to 
proposed  measures.  Illinois  wished  it  to  be  understood  that  its  willingness 
to  confer  was  not  a  committal  of  the  State  to  any  proposed  policy.  It  was 
anxious  for  conciliation,  but  saw  no  reason  for  amending  the  Constitution  for 
the  purpose.  Kentucky  would  be  satisfied  with  the  Crittenden  Compromise, 
according  to  the  Virginia  model.  Tennessee  was  willing  to  adjust  all 
difficulties  by  the  same  process,  but  with  enlarged  franchises  for  the  slave 
holders ;  while  Missouri  instructed  its  delegates  to  endeavor  to  agree  upon 
some  plan  for  the  preservation  or  reconstruction  of  the  Union.  Its  delegates 
were  always  to  be  subordinate  to  the  General  Assembly  or  the  State  Con 
vention  of  Missouri. 

The   Convention  was  permanently  organized   by  the  appoint 
ment  of  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia  (once  President  of  the  Republic)," 
as  the  presiding  officer,  and  Crafts  J.  Wright,  of  Ohio,  son  of  one  of  the 
delegates  from  that  State,  as  secretary.     Mr.  Tyler  delivered  a  short  address 
on  taking  the  chair,  in  which  he  said: — 
"The  eyes  of  the  whole  country    are 
turned   to    this  assembly,   in  expecta 
tion  and  hope.     I  trust  that  you  may 
prove  yourselves  worthy  of  the  great 
occasion.      Our     ancestors     probably 
committed   a    blunder  in    not    having 
fixed   upon   every   fifth    decade    for  a 
call  of  a  general  convention  to  amend 
and  reform  the  Constitution.     On  the 
contrary,  they    have    made    the    diffi 
culties    next     to    insurmountable     to 
accomplish  amendments   to  an  instru 
ment    which   was  perfect  for  five  mil 
lions    of   people,  but    not    wholly    so 
for  thirty  millions.     Your   patriotism 

will  surmount  the  difficulties,  however  great,  if  you  will  but  accomplish 
one  triumph  in  advance,  and  that  is  a  triumph  over  ]H/rty.  And  what  is 
party,  when  compared  to  the  work  of  rescuing  one's  country  from  danger? 
Do  this,  and  one  long,  loud  shout  of  joy  and  gladness  will  resound  throughout 
the  land."  At  the  conclusion  of  this  address,  Mr.  Wicklifte,  of  Kentucky, 
offered  a  resolution  that  the  Convention  should  be  opened  with  prayer.  It 
was  agreed  to,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  P.  1).  Gurley  officiated. 

The  regular  business  of  the  Convention  was  opened  by  Mr.  Guthrie,  of 


JOHN  TVI.KK. 


238  AMENDMENTS   TO   THE   CONSTITUTION  PROPOSED. 

Kentucky,  who  offered  a  resolution  that  a  committee  of  one  from  each  State 
be  appointed  by  the  delegates  thereof,  to  be  nominated  to  the  President  of 
the  Convention,  and  to  be  appointed  by  him,  to  whom  should  be  referred 
the  resolutions  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  the  other  States  represented,  and 
all  propositions  for  the  adjustment  of  existing  difficulties  between  the  States ; 
the  committee  to  have  authority  to  report  what  it  might  deem  right,  neces 
sary,  and  proper,  to  restore  harmony  and  preserve  the  Union.  The  resolu 
tion  was  adopted  ;  the  committee  was  appointed,1  and  the  subjects  laid 
before  it  were  duly  discussed,  sometimes  with  warmth,  but  always  with 
courtesy.  On  the  15th,  Mr.  Guthrie,  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  made  a 
report,  in  which  several  amendments  to  the  Constitution  were  offered.  It 
was  proposed — 

First,  To  re-establish  the  parallel  of  36°  30'  north  latitude  as  a  line,  in 
the  territory  north  of  which  Slavery  should  be  prohibited  ;  but  in  all 
territory  south  of  it  Slavery  might  live,  without  interference  from  any 
power,  while  a  territorial  government  existed.  It  also  proposed  that  when 
any  Territory  north  or  south  of  that  line  should  contain  the  requisite  number 
of  inhabitants  to  form  a  State,  it  should,2  if  its  form  of  government  should 
be  republican,  be  admitted  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States,  either  with  or  without  Slavery,  as  the  constitution  of  the 
new  State  might  determine. 

Second^  That  territory  should  not  be  acquired  by  the  United  States, 
unless  by  treaty;  nor,  except  for  naval  and  commercial  stations,  unless 
such  treaty  should  be  ratified  by  four-fifths  of  all  the  members  of  the 
Senate. 

Third)  That  the  Constitution  nor  any  amendment  thereof  should  be  con 
strued  to  give  Congress  power  to  interfere  with  Slavery  in  any  of  the 
States  of  the  Union,  nor  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  without  the  consent  of 
Maryland  and  the  slaveholders  concerned ;  and,  in  case  of  the  abolition  of 
Slavery,  making  compensation  to  those  who  refused  to  consent ;  nor  to  pro 
hibit  representatives  and  others  from  taking  their  slaves  to  and  from 
Washington  ;  nor  to  interfere  with  Slavery  in  places  under  the  exclusive 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  such  as  arsenals  and  navy-yards,  in  States 
where  it  was  recognized ;  nor  to  interfere  with  the  transportation  of  slaves 
from  one  Slave-labor  State  to  another ;  nor  to  authorize  any  higher  rate  of 
taxation  on  slaves  than  on  land. 

Fourth^  That  the  clause  in  the  Constitution  relating  to  the  rendition  of 
fugitive  slaves  should  not  be  construed  to  prevent  any  of  the  States,  by 
appropriate  legislation,  and  through  the  action  of  their  judicial  and  minis 
terial  officers,  from  enforcing  the  delivery  of  fugitives  from  labor  to  the 
person  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  should  be  due. 

1  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  delegates  who  composed  the  Committee : — Maine,  Lott  M.  Morrill ; 
New  Hampshire,  Asa  Fowler;  Vermont,  Ililand  Hall;  Massachusetts,  Francis  B.  Crowninshield :  Rhode  Island 
Samuel  Ames  ;  Connecticut,  Roger  S.  Baldwin ;  New  York,  David  Dudley  Field;  New  Jersey,  Peter  D.  Vroom 
Pennsylvania.  Thomas  White;  Ohio,  Thomas  Ewing;  Indiana,  Caleb  B.  Smith  ;  Illinois,  Stephen  F.  Logan 
Iowa,  James  Harlan ;  Delaware,  Daniel  M.  Bates;  North  Carolina,  Thomas  Baffin;  Virginia,  James  A.  Seddon 
Kentucky,  James  Guthrie;    Maryland,   Reverdy  Johnson;    Tennessee,  F.   R.   Zollicoffer;    Missouri,  A.   W, 
Donipban. 

2  The  National  Constitution  says: — "New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this  Union."    The 
proposed  amendment  said,  any  new  State  "ahull,  if  its  form  of  government  be  republican,  be  admitted  into  the 
Union."     The  importance  of  this  difference  in  phraseology,  as  well  as  its  intent,  is  obvious. 


MINORITY   REPORTS.  239 

^  That  the  foreign  Slave-trade  should  be  forever  prohibited. 

Sixth,  That  the  first,  second,  third,  and  fifth  of  the  foregoing  propo 
sitions,  when  in  the  form  of  ratified  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  and 
the  clause  relating  to  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  should  not  be  amended 
or  abolished  without  the  consent  of  all  the  States. 

Seventh^  That  Congress  should  provide  by  law  that  the  United  States 
should  pay  to  the  owner  the  full  value  of  his  fugitive  from  labor,  in  all  cases 
where  the  law-officer,  whose  duty  it  was  to  arrest  such  fugitive,  should  be 
prevented  from  doing  so  by  violence  or  intimidation,  or  when  such  fugitive 
should  be  rescued  after  arrest,  and  the  claimant  thereby  should  lose  his 
property. 

Two  members  of  the  Committee  (Baldwin,  of  Connecticut,  and  Seddon, 
of  Virginia)  each  presented  a  minority  report.  Baldwin  proposed  a  general 
Convention  of  all  the  States,1  to  consider  amendments  to  the  Constitution; 
and  Seddon,  afterward  the  so-called  "  Secretary  of  Warn  oj[  the  confederated 
traitors,  affirming  that  the  majority  report  would  not  be  acceptable  to  Vir 
ginia,  because  it  conceded  less  than  the  Crittenden  Compromise,  whereas 
Virginia  wanted  all  that  and  ;m>/v,  proposed,  in  addition  to  an  absolute 
guaranty  of  Slavery  south  of  36°  30',  an  amendment  that  should  not  only 
give  the  slaveholder  a  right  to  take  his  slaves  through  Free-labor  States, 
but  allow  him  protection'  for  his  slaves,  as  property,  while  on  the  sea  on 
such  journey.  He  also  proposed  an  amendment  that  should  forever  exclude 
from  the  ballot-box  and  public  office,  "  persons  who  are  in  whole  or  in  part 
of  the  African  race."  He  also  proposed  another  that  should  recogmze  the 
right  of  peaceable  secession.  He  oflTered  his  propositions  as  a  substitute  for 
the  majority  report,  well  knowing  that  they  would  not  be  adopted  by  the 
Convention. 

In  the  open  Convention,  Charles  A.  Wickliffe,  01  Kentucky,  proposed 
that  that  body  should  request  the  several  States  which  had  passed  ob 
noxious  Personal  Liberty  Acts  to  repeal  them,  and  to  allow  slaves  to  cross 
their  territory  when  being  taken  from  one  Slave-labor  State  to  another. 
On  the  18th,  Amos  Tuck,  of  New  Hampshire,  submitted  an  address  and 
resolutions.  In  the  former,  the  distractions  of  the  country  were  deplored 
and  the  right  of  secession  denied;  in  the  latter,  it  was  proposed  that  the 
Convention  should  recognize  the  fact  that  the  National  Constitution  gives 
no  power  to  Congress,  nor  any  other  branch  of  the  General  Government, 
to  interfere  with  Slavery  in  any  of  the  States,  and  that  neither  of  the  great 
political  organizations  of  the  country  contemplated  a  violation  of  the  spirit 
of  the  Constitution  ;  that  the  Constitution  was  established  for  the  good 
of  the  whole  people,  and  that  when  the  rights  of  any  portion  of  them 
are  disregarded,  redress  can  and  ought  to  be  provided ;  and  that  a 
convention  of  all  the  States  to  propose  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
be  recommended.  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  proposed  that  the  Convention 
should  adjourn  to  the  4th  of  April,  to  enable  all  of  the  States  to  be  repre 
sented  in  it. 

These  various  propositions  and  others  were  earnestly  discussed  for  several 

1  The  Legislature  of  Kentucky  had  made  application  to  Consrress  to  call  n  convention  of  all  the  States  to 
consider  unu-ndmcnts  to  the  Constitution,  and  Mr.  Baldwin  proposed  that  the  several  Suites  should  join  Ken 
tucky  in  this  request. 


240  ADOPTION  OF  GUTHRLE'S  REPORT. 

days,  and  votes  were  taken  upon  several  proposed  amendments  to  the  Consti 
tution.     These  votes  were  by  States,  each  State  having  one  vote.1 
'  Feb™^26'   Finally,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  the  session,"  David  Dudley 
Field,  of  New  York,  moved  to  amend  the  majority  report  by 
striking  out  the  seventh  section  and  inserting  the  words :  "  ]STo  State  shall 
withdraw  from  the  Union  without  the  consent  of  all  the  States  convened,  in 
pursuance  of  an  act  passed  by  two-thirds  of  each  House  of  Congress/'    This 
proposition  was  rejected  by  eleven  States  agairist  ten.2 

On  the  same  day,  Mr.  Guthrie's  majority  report  was  taken  up  for  final 
action,  when  Mr.  Baldwin  offered  his  proposition  as  a  substitute,  and  it  was 
rejected  by  a  vote  of  thirteen  States  against  eight.3  Mr.  Seddon  then  offered 
his  substitute.  It  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  sixteen  States  against  four.4 
James  B.  Clay  then  offered  as  a  substitute  Mr.  Crittenden's  Compromise 
plan,  "  pure  and  undefiled,  without  the  crossing  of  a  '  t '  or  the  dotting  of 
an  '  i.'  "  It  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  fourteen  States  against  five.5  Mr. 
Tuck  then  offered  his  resolutions  as  a  substitute,  and  they  were  rejected  by 
a  vote  of  eleven  States  against  nine.6 

When  these  substitutes  were  thus  disposed  of,  Mr.  Guthrie's  report  was 
taken  up,  considered  by  sections,  and,  after  some  modifications,  was  adopted. 
Then  T.  E.  Franklin  of  Pennsylvania,  moved,  as  the  sense  of  the  Conven 
tion,  that  the  highest  political  duty  of  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  is 
his  allegiance  to  the  Federal  Government,  created  ly  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  that,  no  State  of  this  Union  has  any  constitutional  right 
to  secede  therefrom,  or  to  absolve  the  citizens  of  such  State  from  their 
allegiance  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  This  was  indefinitely 
postponed  by  a  vote  of  ten  States  against  seven.  Mr.  Seddon  proposed  as  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  that  the  assent  of  the  majority  of  the  Sena 
tors  from  the  Slaveholding  States,  and  a  like  majority  of  Senators  from  non- 
slaveholding  States,  should  be  required  to  give  validity  to  any  act  of  the 
Senate  ;  as  also  recognizing  and  legalizing  State  secession  from  the  Union. 
This  was  laid  on  the  table.  Mr.  Guthrie  then  offered  a  preamble  to  the 
propositions  agreed  to,  which  was  adopted;7  and  President  Tyler  was 
requested  to  present  that  plan  of  adjustment  and  pacification  to  the  Con- 


•  The  eighteenth  rule  for  the  action  of  the  conference  prescribed  this,  and  added: — "The  yeas  and  nays  of 
the  members  shah  not  be  given  or  published — only  the  decision  by  States." 

2  Ayes — Connecticut,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa.  Maine,  Massachusetts,  New  York,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Kansas — 10.     Noex — Delaware,  Kentucky,  Maryland,  Missouri,  New  Jersey,  North  Carolina,  Ohio.  Pennsylvania, 
Rhode  Island,  Tennessee,  Virginia — 11. 

3  Ayes—  Connecticut,   Illinois.   Iowa,  Maine,  Massachusetts,  New  York,   New   Hampshire,   Vermont— 8. 
Noes — Delaware,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Maryland,  Missouri,  New  Jersey,  North  Carolina.  Ohio,  Pennsylvania 
Rhode  Island,  Tennessee,  Virginia.  Kansas — 13. 

4  The  four  States  that  voted  lor  Seddon's  resolution  were  Kentucky,  Missouri,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia. 
6  The  five  that  voted  for  it  were  Kentucky,  Missouri.  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Virginia. 

6  Ayex — Connecticut,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Maine,  Massachusetts,  New  York,  New  Hampshire,  and  Ver 
mont— 9.    Noes— Delaware,  Kentucky,  Maryland,  Missouri,  New  Jersey,  North  Carolina,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania 
Rhode  Island,  Tennessee,  Virginia — 11. 

7  The  following  is  Mr.  Outline's  plan,  as  adopted,  with  the  preamble: — 

"  To  the  Congress  oj  the  United  States  : — The  Convention  assembled  upon  the  invitation  of  the  State  of 
Virginia,  to  adjust  the  unhappy  differences  which  now  disturb  the  peace  of  the  Union  and  threaten  its  con 
tinuance,  make  known  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  that  their  body  convened  in  the  city  of  Washington 
on  the  4th  instant,  and  continued  in  session  until  the  27th. 

"There  were  in  the  body,  when  action  was  taken  upon  that  which  is  here  submitted,  one  hundred  and 
thirty-three  commissioners,  representing  the  following  States: — Maine,  New  Hampshire.  Vermont.  Massachu 
setts.  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Nortfc 


rtliwith.  Thus  c-n< 
i,  of  Maryland,  OIK 

ion  a  re*olntkm  i 
•f  the  politii  inns  ii 
j;rowin<4  Slat'-",  A\ 


242  ACTION   OF   CONGRESS   ON   COMPROMISES. 

to  incalculable  ills ;"  and  for  this  reason  it  earnestly  invoked  "  abstinence  from 
all  counsels  and  measures  of  compulsion  toward  them."1 

After  voting  thanks  to  the  proprietors  of  the  Hall,  who  made  no  charge 
for  its  use;  to  the  municipal  authorities  of  Washington  City,  who  agreed  to 
pay  all  of  the  expenses  of  the  Convention  incurred  for  printing  and  station 
ery ;  and  to  the  president,  "for  the  dignified  and  impartial  manner"  in  which 
he  had  presided  over  their  deliberations,  the  delegates  listened  to  a  brief 
farewell  address  from  Mr.  Tyler,  and  then  adjourned."  On  the  following 
day,  one  hundred  guns  were  fired  in  Washington  in  honor  of  the  "  Convention 
Compromise." 

The  President  of  the  Convention  immediately  sent  a  copy  of  the  proposed 

amendments  to  the  Constitution,  adopted  by  that  body,  to  Vice-President 

Breckinridge,   who  laid  the  matter  before  the  Senate."     It  was 

*Jg™h  2'  referred  to  a  Committee  of  Five,  consisting  of  Senators  Critten- 
den,  Bigler,  Thomson,  Seward,  and  Trumbull,  with  instructions 
to  report  the  next  day.  Mr.  Crittenden  reported  the  propositions  of  the 
Convention,  when  Mr.  Seward,  for  himself  and  Mr.  Trumbull,  presented 
as  a  substitute  a  joint  resolution,  that  whereas  the  Legislatures  of  the 
States  of  Kentucky,  New  Jersey,  and  Illinois  had  applied  to  Congress  to 
call  a  convention  of  the  States,  for  the  purpose  of  proposing  amendments 
to  the  Constitution,  the  Legislatures  of  the  other  States  should  be  invited 
to  consider  and  express  their  will  on  the  subject,  in  pursuance  of  the  fifth 
Article  of  the  Constitution.  A  long  debate  ensued ;  and,  finally,  on  motion 
of  Senator  Douglas,  it  was  decided,  by  a  vote  of  twenty-five  to  eleven,  to 
postpone  the  consideration  of  the  "  Guthrie  plan  "  in  favor  of  a  proposition 
of  amendment  adopted  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  provided 
that  "  no  amendment  shall  be  made  to  the  Constitution  which  will  authorize 
or  give  to  Congress  the  power  to  interfere  within  any  State  with  the  domes 
tic  institutions  thereof."  In  this  the  Senate  concurred,  when  the  CrJttenden 
Compromise,  as  we  have  observed,3  was  called  up  and  rejected. 

Thus  ended  the  vain  attempts  to  conciliate  the  Slave  interest  by  Congres- 

etrued  to  prevent  any  of  the  States,  by  appropriate  legislation,  and  through  the  action  of  their  judicial  and 
ministerial  officers,  from  enforcing  the  delivery  of  fugitives  from  labor  to  the  persons  to  whom  such  service  or 
labor  is  due. — [Adopted  by  a  vote  of  fifteen  States  against  four.] 

§  5.  The  foreign  Slave-trade  is  hereby  forever  prohibited  ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  Congress  to  pass  laws 
to  prevent  the  importation  of  slaves,  coolies,  or  persons  held  to  service  or  labor,  into  the  United  States  and  the 
Territories,  from  places  from  beyond  the  limits  thereof. — [Adopted  by  a  vote  of  sixteen  States  against  five.] 

§  6.  The  first,  third,  and  fifth  sections,  together  with  this  section  of  these  amendments,  and  the  third 
paragraph  of  the  second  section  of  the  first  Article  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  third  paragraph  of  the  second 
section  of  the  fourth  Article  thereof,  shall  not  be  amended  or  abolished,  without  the  consent  of  all  the  States. — 
[Adopted  by  a  vote  of  eleven  States  against  nine.] 

§  7.  Congress  shall  provide  by  law  that  the  United  States  shall  pay  to  the  owner  the  full  value  of  his 
fugitive  from  labor,  in  all  cases  where  the  marshal  or  other  officer,  whose  duty  it  was  to  arrest  such  fugitive, 
was  prevented  from  so  doing  by  violence  or  intimidation  from  mobs  or  riotous  assemblages,  or  when,  after 
arrest,  such  fugitive  was  rescued  by  like  violence  or  intimidation,  and  the  owner  thereby  deprived  of  the  same  ; 
and  the  acceptance  of  such  payment  shall  preclude  the  owner  from  further  claim  to  such  fugitive.  Congress 
shall  provide  by  law  for  securing  to  the  citizens  of  each  State  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the 
several  States. — [Adopted  by  a  vote  of  twelve  States  against  ten.] 

1  See  Report  of  the  Debates  and  Proceeding*  of  the  Secret  Sessions  of  the  Conference  Convention  for 
proposing  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  by  Lucius  E.  Chittenden,  one  of  the  dele 
gates,  for  a  full  account  of  all  the  proceedings  of  this  remarkable  Congress. 

2  During  the  session,  a  delegate  from  Ohio,  the  venerable  John  0.  Wright,  then  seventy-seven  years  of 
age,  and  nearly  blind,  died  quite  suddenly.     His   death   occurred  on  the  13th,  when  his  son,  who  hud  been 
appointed  Secretary  to  the  Convention,  returned  to  Ohio  with  the  remains  of  his  father,  and  J.  H.  Puleston 
served  the  Convention  as  Secretary  during  the  remainder  of  the  session. 

3  See  page  228. 


THE   ACTION   OF   THE   VIRGINIANS   CONSIDERED.  243 

sional  action.  They  had  demanded  changes  in  the  Constitution  so  as  to 
nationalize  Slavery,  and  would  not  recede  a  line  from  the  position  they  had 
assumed,  while  the  true  men  of  the  nation,  determined  not  only  to  defend 
and  preserve  the  Union,  but  to  defend  and  preserve  the  Constitution  from 
abasement,  were  willing  to  meet  them  more  than  half  way  in  efforts  to 
compromise  and  pacify.  The  Virginians,  in  particular,  were  supercilious, 
dictatorial,  and  exacting,  as  usual.  They  assumed  an  air  of  injured  inno 
cence  when  they  saw  the  precautions  taken  by  the  Secretary  of  War  and 
General  Scott  to  preserve  the  peace  and  secure  the  safety  of  the  National 
Capital  by  increasing  the  military  force  there;  and  Tyler  seems  to  have 
gone  so  far  as  to  have  given  President  Buchanan  to  understand  that  the 
appearance  of  National  troops  as  participators  in  the  celebration 
of  Washington's  Birthday,"  would  be  offensive  to  the  Virginians,  "  Feb™ary22, 
and  unfavorable  to  the  harmony  of  the  Peace  Convention.  They 
did  participate  in  the  festivities  of  the  occasion,  for  which  offense  the  Presi 
dent,  not  unaccustomed  to  a  kindly  yielding  to  the  wishes  of  the  Slave 
interest,  wrote  an  apologetic  letter  to  Tyler.1 

The  failure  of  the  Peace  Conference  caused  much  disappointment  through 
out  the  country  among  a  large  cla>s,  who  earnestly  desired  reconciliation,  and 
who  had  hoped  much  from  its  labors ;  while  to  many  of  those  who  went  into 
the  Convention  as  delegates,  and  others  who  had  watched  the  movements  of 
the  Oligarchy  with  care,  the  result  was  not  unexpected.  The  demands 
made  in  the  Virginia  resolutions  foreshadowed  the  spirit  that  was  to  be  met ; 
while  the  lofty  and  confident  tone  of  the  conspirators  in  Congress,  and  the 
energy  with  which  their  friends  were  at  work  in  the  Slave-labor  States, 
promised  nothing  but  failure.  It  was  believed  by  many  then  (and  events 
have  confirmed  the  suspicion)  that  the  proposition  for  the  Conference  was 
made  in  insincerity,  and  that  it  was  a  scheme  to  give  the  conspirators  more 
time,  while  deluding  the  country  with  pretended  desires  for  reconciliation, 
to  perfect  their  plans  for  securing  success  in  the  impending  conflict.  Henry 
A.  Wise,  a  chief  actor  among  the  Virginia  politicians  at  that  time,  had 
declared,  as  we  have  seen,  two  months  before: — u  Our  minds  are  made  up. 
The  South  will  not  wait  until  the  4th  of  March.  Tl^  if  ill  lm  tr<<!l  under  arms 
before  then."*  John  Tyler,  one  of  the  chief  promoters  of  this  Peace  move- 


1  When,  in  1^62,  tho  National  troops  went  up  the  Virginia  Peninsula,  they  took  possession  of  '-Sherwood 
Forest,"  the,  residence  of  Tyler,  near  Charles  City  Court  House,  which  the  owner,  one  of  the  leaders  among 
tho  enemies  of  his  country,  had  abandoned.  There  Assistant  Adjutant-General  W.  II.  Lori?  found  the  letter 
alluded  to.  The  following  is  u  copy  •— 

'•WASHINGTON,  February  22.  1>G1. 

"  MT  DEAR  SIR: — I  found  it  impossible  to  prevent  two  or  three  companies  of  the  Federal  troops  from 
joining  in  the  procession  to-day  with  the  volunteers  of  the  District,  without  giving  serious  oftense  to  the  tens 
of  thousands  of  people  who  have  assembled  to  witness  the  parade. 

"The  day  is  the  anniversary  of  Washington's  birth — a  festive  occasion  throughout  the  land — and  it  has 
been  particularly  marked  by  the  House  of  Representatives. 

"The  troops  everywhere  else  join  such  processions  in  honor  of  the  birthday  of  the  Father  of  our  Country, 
and  it  would  be  hard  to  assign  a  good  reason  why  they  should  be  excluded  from  the  privilege  iu  the  Capital 
founded  by  himself.  They  are  here  simply  as  &f>o«*i>  coinitatnx.  to  aid  the  civil  authorities,  in  case  of  need. 
Besides,  tho  programme  was  published  in  the  Xationnl  InitUigtnctr  of  this  morning  without  my  personal 
knowledge — the  War  Department  bavins:  considered  the  celebration  of  the  National  Anniversary  by  the  military 
arm  of  the  Government  as  a  matter  of  course. 

"From  your  friend,  very  respectfully,  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

*  President  TVLKR." 

3  See  page  43. 


244 


TYLER'S   DUPLICITY.— DISUNION   ACCEPTED. 


ment  in  Virginia,  and  President  of  the  Convention,  was  an  advocate  of  the 
treason  of  the  South  Carolina  politicians  in  1832-'33,  and  is  fully  on  record 
as  a  co-worker  with  Wise  and  others  against  the  life  of  the  Republic  so 
early  as  1856.1  On  the  adjournment  of  the  Peace  Convention  he  hastened 
to  Richmond,  where  he  and  Seddon  (afterward  the  so-called  Secretary  of 
War  of  Jefferson  Davis)  were  serenaded,  and  both  made  speeches.  In  his 
addres^  at  the  close  of  the  Convention  he  had  just  left,  Tyler  said: — "I 
cannot  but  hope  and  believe  that  the  blessing  of  God  will  follow  and  rest 
upon  the  result  of  your  labors,  and  that  such  result  will  bring  to  our  country 
that  quiet  and  peace  which  every  patriotic  heart  so  earnestly  desires.  ...  It 
is  probable  that  the  result  to  which  you  have  arrived  is  the  best  that,  under 
all  the  circumstances,  could  be  expected.  So  far  as  in  me  lies,  therefore,  1 
shall  recommend  its  adoption"  Thirty-six  hours  afterward  he  was  in 
Richmond,  and  in  the  speech  alluded  to  he  cast  off  the  mask,  denounced  the 
Peace  Convention  as  a  worthless  affair,  declared  that  "  the  South "  had 
nothing  to  hope  from  the  Republican  party;2  and  then,  with  all  his  might,  he 

labored  to  precipitate  Virginia  into 
the  vortex  of  revolution,  in  which  its 
people  suffered  terribly. 

There  were  many  persons  of  influ 
ence  extremely  anxious  for  peace,  and 
preferring  a  dissolution  of  the  Union 
(which  they  hoped  would  be  tempo 
rary)  to  war,  who  were  ready  to  con 
sent  to  the  secession  of  the  fifteen 
Slave-labor  States  in  order  to  secure 
this  great  desire  of  their  hearts.  Influen 
tial  Republican  journals  expressed  this 
willingness  ;3  and  Lieutenant-General 
Scott,  who  knew  what  were  the  horrors 
of  war,  seems  to  have  contemplated 
this  alternative  without  dread.  In  a 

letter  addressed  to  Governor  Seward,  on  the  day  preceding  Mr.  Lincoln's 
inauguration,"  he  suggested  a  limitation  of  the  President's  field 
°f  acti°n  ™    tne    premises   to  four   measures,   namely: — 1st,   to 
adopt  the  Crittenden  Compromise  ;  2d,  to   collect  duties  outside 
of  the  ports  of  "  seceding  States,"  or  blockade  them ;  3d,  to  conquer  those 

1  This  fact  was  established  by  letters  found  when  our  army  moved  up  the  Virginia  Peninsula,  in  1862. 

2  Telegraphic  dispatch  from  Richmond,  dated  the  evening  of  "  Thursday,  February  28,  1861,"  quoted  by 
Victor,  in  his  History  of  the  Southern  Rebellion,  page  490. 

3  "  Whenever  a  considerable  section  of  our  Union  shall  deliberately  resolve  to  go  out,  we  shall  resist  all 
coercive  measures  designed  to  keep  it  in.     We  hope  never  to  live  in  a  Republic  whereof  one  section  is  pinned 
to  the  residue  by  bayonets." — New  York   Tribune,  November  7,  I860.     When,  in  June,  1865,  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  applied  to   President  Johnson  for  pardon,  he  alleged   that,  among  other  reasons  for  espousing   the 
cause  of  the  rebellion,  was  the  fact  that  the  utterances  of  the    Tribune,  one  of   the  most  influential  of  the 
supporters  of  the  Republican  party,  made  him  believe  that  the   separation   and  independence  of  the  Slave- 
labor  States  would  be  granted,  and  that  there  could  be  no  war. 

On  the  22d  of  January,  1861,  Wendell  Phillips,  the  great  leader  of  the  radical  wing  of  the  Anti-slavery 
party,  in  an  address  in  Boston,  on  the  "Political  Lessons  of  the  Hour,"  declared  himself  to  be  ua  disunion 
man,"  and  was  glad  to  see  South  Carolina  and  other  Slave-labor  States  had  practically  initiated  a  disunion 
movement.  He  hoped  that  all  the  Slave-labor  States  would  leave  the  Union,  and  not  '•  stand  upon  the  order 
of  their  going,  but  go  at  once."  He  denounced  the  compromise  spirit  manifested  by  Mr.  Seward  and  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  with  much  severity  of  language.— Springfield  (Mass.)  Republican,  January  23,  1861. 


WINFIELD     SCOTT   IN   1S65. 


GENERAL  SCOTTS  SUGGESTIONS.  245 

States  at  the  end  of  a  long,  expensive,  and  desolating  war,  and  to  no  good 
purpose;  and,  4th,  to  "say  to  the  seceded  States,  'Wayward  sisters,  go  in 
peace  ! '" 

Another  earnest  pleader  against  "  coercion,"  which  would  evidently  lead 
to  war,  was  Professor  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  who  gave  intellectual  power  to 
the  electro-magnetic  telegraph.  He  was  a  conspicuous  opponent  of  the 
war  m'easures  of  the  Government  during  the  entire  conflict.  He  was  made 
President,  as  we  have  seen,  of  *'  The  American  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
National  Union,"  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Peace  Conven 
tion  ;2  and  he  worked  zealously  for  the  promotion  of  measures  that  might 
satisfy  the  demands  of  the  slaveholders.  "  Before  that  most  lamentable  and 
pregnant  error  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter  had  been  committed,"  says 
Professor  Morse,  in  a  letter  to  the  author  of  these  pages,"  **  which, 
indeed,  inaugurated  actual  physical  hostilities,  and  while  war  "  j1^2' 
was  confined  to  threatening  and  irritating  words  between  the 
two  sections  of  the  country,  there  seemed  to  me  to  be  two  methods  by 
which  our  sectional  difficulties  might  be  adjusted  without  bloodshed,  which 
methods  I  thus  stated  in  a  paper  drawn  up  at  the  time,  when  the  project  of  a 
Flay  for  the  Southern  section  was  under  discussion  in  the  journals  of  the 
South  :— 

"The  first  and  most  proper  mode  of  adjusting  those  difficulties  is  to  call  a 
National  Convention,  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution ; 
a  Convention  of  the  States,  to  which  body  should  be  referred  the  whole 
subject  of  our  differences ;  and  then,  if  but  a  moiety  of  the  lofty,  unselfish, 


1  This  letter,  written  by  the  General-in-chief  of  the  Armies  of  the  Republic,  on  whoso  advice  and  skill 
the  incoming  President  must  rely  for  the  support  of  the  integrity  of  the  nation  and  the  vindication  of  the 
laws,  at  all  hazards,  i»  BO  n-uiarkable,  under  the  circumstances,  that  its  suggestions  are  given  here  in  full,  as 
follows  :— 

"To  meet  the  extraordinary  exigencies  of  the  times,  it  seems  to  me  that  I  am  guilty  of  no  arrogance  in 
limiting  the  President's  field  of  selection  to  one  of  the  four  plans  of  procedure  subjoined  : — 

"I.  Throw  off  the  old  and  assume  a  ntir  designation — the  I'nion  Party  ;  adopt  the  conciliatory  measures 
proposed  by  Mr.  Crittenden.  or  the  Peace  Convention,  and.  my  life  upon  it,  we  shall  have  no  new  case  of 
secession  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  an  early  return  of  many,  if  not  all  the  States  which  have  already  broken  off 
from  the  Union.  Without  home  equally  benign  measure,  the  remaining  Slnveholding  States  will  probably 
join  the  Montgomery  Confederacy  in  less  than  sixty  days— when  this  city  [Washington],  being  included  in 
a  foreign  country,  would  require  a  permanent  garrison  of  at  least  thirty-live  thousand  troops  to  protect  the 
Government  within  it. 

"  II.  Collect  the  duties  on  foreign  goods  outside  the  ports  of  which  this  Government  has  lost  the  command, 
or  close  such  ports  by  act  of  Congress,  and  blockade  them. 

"III.  Conquer  the  seceded  States  by  invading  armies.  No  doubt  this  intent  be  done  in  two  or  three 
years,  by  a  young  and  able  general— a  Wolfe,  a  Desaix,  or  a  Hochi — with  three  hundred  thousand  disciplined 
men  (kept  up  to  that  number),  estimating  a  third  for  garrisons,  and  the  loss  of  a  yet  greater  number  by 
skirmishes,  sieges,  battles,  and  Southern  fevers.  The  destruction  of  life  and  property  on  the  other  side  would 
be  frightful,  however  perfect  the  moral  discipline  of  the  invaders.  The  conquest  completed,  at  that  enormous 
waste  of  human  life  to  the  North  and  Northwest,  with  at  least  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  added 
thereto,  arid  cut  bonof  Fifteen  desolated  Provinces!  not  to  be  brought  into  harmony  with  their  conquerors, 
to  be  held  for  generations  by  heavy  garrisons,  at  an  expense  quadruple  the  net  duties  or  taxes  which  it  would 
be  possible  to  extort  from  them,  followed  by  a  Protector  or  Emperor. 

"  IV.  Say  to  the  seceded  Suites —  Wayirard  *ixter*,  iltjxtrt  in  pettct  .'" — Scotfn  Autobiography,  ii.  625. 

On  the  solicitation  of  John  Van  Buren,  of  New  York,  General  Scott  gave  him  the  original  draft  of  this 
letter,  as  an  autographic  keepsake  of  a  strictly  private  nature,  supposing  that  he  was  simply  gratifying  the 
wishes  of  an  honorable  man.  His  confidence  was  betrayed,  and  this  private  letter  to  Mr.  Seward  was  read  to 
a  large  public  meeting  of  the  friends  of  Horatio  Seymour,  during  the  canvass  of  that  leader  for  the  office  of 
Governor  of  New  York.  The  letter  was  used  as  an  implied  censure  of  the  policy  of  the  Administration  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  General  Scott,  in  vindication  of  himself,  then  published  a  Report  on  the  public  defenses,  which 
he  had  submitted  to  Mr.  Buchanan  before  he  left  office,  which  occasioned  a  spicy  newspaper  correspondence 
between  these  venerable  men.  See  National  Intelliyencer,  October,  1862. 

a  See  page  207. 


246  PROFESSOR   MORSE'S  PLAN  FOR   CONCILIATION. 

enlarged,  and  kind  disposition  manifested  in  that  noble  Convention  of  1787, 
which  framed  our  Constitution,  be  the  controlling  disposition  of  the  new 
convention,  we  may  hope  for  some  amicable  adjustment.  If  for  any  reason 
this  mode  cannot  be  carried  out,  then  the  second  method  is  one  which 
circumstances  may  unhappily  force  upon  us ;  but  even  this  mode,  so  lament 
able  in  itself  considered,  and  so  extreme — so  repulsive  to  an  American  heart, 
if  judiciously  used,  may  eventuate  in  a  modified  and  even  stronger  Union. 
This  is  the  temporary  yielding  to  the  desire  of  the  South  for  a  separate  con 
federacy  ;  in  other  words,  an  assent  to  negotiations  for  a  temporary  dissolu 
tion  of  the  present  Union.  My  object  in  this  mode  is  to  secure,  in  the  end, 
a  more  permanent  perpetual  Union.  I  well  know  that  this  is  a  startling 
proposition,  and  may  seem  to  involve  a  paradox ;  but  look  at  it  calmly  and 
carefully,  and  understand  what  is  involved  in  such  an  assent.  It  involves,  as 
a  paramount  consideration,  a  total  cessation  on  our  part  of  the  irritating 
process  which  for  thirty  years  has  been  in  operation  against  the  South.  If 
this  system  of  vituperation  cannot  be  quelled  because  we  have  '  freedom  of 
speech ;'  if  we  cannot  refrain  from  the  use  of  exasperating  and  opprobious 
language  toward  our  brethren,  and  from  offensive  intermeddling  with  their 
domestic  affairs,  then,  of  course,  the  plan  fails,  and  so  will  all  others  for  a 
true  union.  '  If  we  cannot  tame  our  tongues,  neither  union  nor  peace  with 
neighbors,  nor  domestic  tranquillity  in  our  homes,  can  be  expected." 

This  earnest  apostle  of  Peace  then  proceeds  to  notice  some  of  the  for 
midable  difficulties  in  the  way,  such  as  fixing  the  boundary-line  between  the 
"  two  confederacies,"  and  the  weighty  necessity  of  maintaining,  in  peaceful 
relations,  a  standing  military  army  and  an  army  of  custom  house  officials. 
These  considerations,  he  believed  (assuming  that  both  parties  should  never 
lose  their  temper),  would  cause  a  perception  of  the  necessity  for  compromise, 
"  which  embodies  a  sentiment  vital  to  the  existence  of  any  society."  There 
then  would  be  the  difficulty  of  an  equitable  distribution  of  the  public 
property,  as  well  as  an  agreement  upon  the  terms  of  a  treaty  "  offensive  and 
defensive  between  the  confederacies.  Coercion,"  he  said,  "  of  one  State  by 
another,  or  of  one  Federated  Union  by  another  Federated  Union,"  was  not 
to  be  thought  of.  "The  idea  is  so  fruitful  of  crime  and  disaster  that  no  man, 
in  his  right  mind,  can  entertain  it  for  a  moment." 

Supposing  all  these  matters  to  be  definitely  settled  to  the  perfect  satis 
faction  of  all  parties,  the  question  naturally  arose  in  the  mind  of  the  writer, 
"  What  is  to  become  of  the  Flay  of  the  Union  ?"  He  answered,  "  The 
Southern  section  is  now  agitating  the  question  of  a  device  for  their  distinc 
tive  flag.  Cannot  this  question  of  flags  be  so  settled  as  to  aid  in  a  future 
Union  ?  I  think  it  can.  If  the  country  can  be  divided,  why  not  the  flag  ? 
The  Stars  and  Stripes  is  the  flag  in  which  we  all  have  a  deep  and  the  self 
same  interest.  It  is  hallowed  by  the  common  victories  of  our  several  wars. 
We  all  have  sacred  associations  clustering  around  it  in  common,  and,  there 
fore,  if  we  must  be  two  nations,  neither  nation  can  lay  exclusive  claim  to  it 
without  manifest  injustice  and  offense  to  the  other.  Neither  will  consent  to 
throw  it  aside  altogether  for  a  new  and  strange  device,  with  no  associations 
of  the  past  to  hallow  it. 

"The  most  obvious  solution  of  the  difficulties  which  spring  up  in  this 
respect  is  to  divide  the  old  flag,  giving  half  to  each.  It  may  be  done,  and 


A  DIVISION   OF  THE   FLAG  PROPOSED. 


247 


in  a  manner  to  have  a  salutary  moral  effect  upon  Loth  parties.  Let  the  blue 
union  be  diagonally  divided,  from  left  to  right  or  right  to  left,  and  the  thir 
teen  stripes  longitudinally,  so  as  to  make  six  and  a  half  stripes  in  the  upper, 


and  six  and  a  half  stripes 
in  the  lower  portion.  Refer 
ring  to  it,  as  on  a  map,  the 
upper  portion  being  North, 
and  the  lower  portion  being 
South,  we  have  the  upper 
diagonal  division  of  the  blue 


'•  NORTHERN  "    KLAO. 


field  and  the  upper  six  and  a 
half  stripes  for  the  Northern 
Flay,  and  the  lower  diagonal 
division  of  the  blue  field  and 
the  lower  six  and  a  half 
stripes  for  the  Southern  Fl<i<j. 
The  portion  of  the  blue 


field   in  each   flag  to  contain  the  stars  to  the  number  of  States  embraced 
in  each  confederacy.     The  reasons  for  such  division  are  obvious.    It  prevents 


all  dispute  on  a  claim  for 
the  old  flag  by  either  con 
federacy.  It  is  distinctive ; 
for  the  two  cannot  be  mis 
taken  for  each  other,  either 
at  sea  or  at  a  distance  on 
land.  Each  flag,  being  a 


moiety  of  the  old  flag,  will 
retain  something,  at  least, 
of  the  sacred  memories  of 
the  past  for  the  sober  reflec 
tion  of  each  confederacy. 
And  then  if  a  war  with  some 
foreign  nation,  or  combina 


tion  of  nations,  should  unhappily  occur  (all  wars  being  unhappy),  under  our 
treaty  of  otfense  ami  defense,  the  two  separate  flags,  by  natural  affinity, 
would  clasp  fittingly  together,  and  the  glorious  old  flag  of  the  Union,  in  its 
entirety,  would  again  be  hoisted,  once  more  embracing  all  the  sister  States.1 


Would  not  this  division  of 
the  old  flag  thus  have  a  salu 
tary  moral  effect  inclining  to 
union?  Will  there  not  also 


RECNITED     XI.Ar.. 


it  not  speak  to  them  of  the 
divisions  which  have  sepa 
rated  members  of  the  same 
household,  and  will  not  the 
ir/i>/  be  forced  from  their 
lips.  Why  is  the  old  flag 
divided?  And  when  once 


be  felt  a  sense  of  shame  when 
either  flag  is  seen  by  citizens 
of  either  confederacy?  Will 
the  old  time-honored  banner,  bequeathed  1"  us  by  our  honored  ancestors  of 
every  State,  shall  be  flung  to  the  breeze  in  its  original  integrity,  as  the 
rallying-point  for  a  common  defense,  will  not  a  shout  of  welcome,  going  up 
from  the  Rio  (Grande  to  Maine,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  rekindle 
in  patriotic  hearts  in  both  confederacies  a  fraternal  yearning  for  the  old 
Union  ?" 

Such  was  the  notable  plan  for  reconciliation  put  forth  by  the  most  distin 
guished  of  the  leaders  of  the  Peace  party,  that  played  an  important  part 
during  the  civil  war.  This  novel  proposition — this  disjunctive  conjunctive 
plan  of  conciliation,  like  the  experiment  of  making  a  delicate  China  vase 
stronger  and  more  beautiful  by  first  breaking  it  into  fragments,  and  cement 
ing  it  by  foreign  agency,  shared  the  fate  of  others  in  Congress  and  in 
the  Peace  Convention.  It  was  rejected  as  insufficient.  The  contpinttor* 
had  resolved  on  absolute,  wide,  and  eternal  separation,  while  the  vast  major 
ity  of  the  people  of  the  Republic  had  as  firmly  resolved  that  there  should  be 
no  division  of  the  flag,  of  the  territory,  or  of  the  "  sacred  associations  of  the 
Past ;"  for  out  of  that  Past  came  the  voice  of  the  Father  of  his  Country, 


1  The  sketches  of  the  divided  Flag  are  from  drawings  madfl  for  -no  by  Professor  Morse. 


248 


CONVENTION   OF   CONSPIRATORS   AT   MONTGOMERY. 


saying :  "  It  is  of  infinite  moment  that  you  should  properly  estimate  the 
immense  value  of  your  National  Union  to  your  collective  and  individual 
happiness ;  that  you  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable 
attachment  to  it ;  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of  it  as  of  the 
palladium  of  your  political  safety  and  prosperity ;  watching  for  its  preserva 
tion  with  jealous  anxiety ;  discountenancing  whatever  may  suggest  even  a 
suspicion  that  it  can,  in  any  event,  be  abandoned;  and  indignantly  frowning 
upon  the  first  dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of  our 
country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  together 
the  various  parts."1 

On  the  same  day  when  the  Peace  Convention  assembled  at  Washington 
to  deliberate  upon  plans  for  preserving  the  Union,  a  band  of  usurpers,  chosen 
by  the  secession  conventions  of  six  States  without  the  consent  or  sanction  of 
the  people,  met  in  the  State  House  at  Montgomery,  in  Alabama  (a  city  of 

sixteen  thousand  in 
habitants,  on  the  Ala 
bama  River,  and  over 
three  hundred  miles 
by  water  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico),  for 
the  purpose  of  per 
fecting  schemes  for 
the  destruction  of  the 
Union.  They  were 
forty-two  in  number, 
and  represented  the 
disloyal  politicians  of 
South  Carolina,  Geor 
gia,  Alabama,  Missis 
sippi,  Louisiana,  and 
Florida.2  For  days 
heavy  rains  had  been 
flooding  the  whole 

region  between  the  Savannah  and  Tombigbee  Rivers,  damaging  railways, 
and  making  traveling  perilous.  The  train  that  conveyed  Stephens,  and 
Toombs,  and  T.  R.  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  and  Chesnut,  and  Withers,  and  Rhett, 
of  South  Carolina,  was  thrown  from  the  track  between  West  Point  and 
Montgomery,  and  badly  broken  up.  Everybody  was  frightened,  but  nobody 
was  hurt ;  and  at  a  late  hour,  on  the  4th,  these  leaders  in  conspiracy  entered 
Montgomery.  Not  long  afterward  the  Convention  assembled  in  the  Legisla 
tive  Hall,  around  which  were  hung,  in  unseemly  intermingling,  the  portraits 


STATH     HOUSE     AT    MONTGOMERY. 


1  Washington's  Farewell  Address  to  his  countrymen. 

2  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  delegates  : — 

South  Carolina.— R.  B.  Rhett,  James  Chesnut,  Jr.,  W.  P.  Miles,  T.  J.  Withers,  E.  W.  Barnwell,  C.  G. 
Memmingcr,  L.  M.  Keitt,  W.  W.  Boyce.  Georgia. — Eobert  Toombs,  Howell  Cobb,  Benjamin  II.  Hill,  Alexan 
der  H.  Stephens,  Francis  Barbour,  Martin  J.  Crawford,  E.  A.  Nisbett,  Augustus  B.  Wright,  Thomas  E.  11. 
Cobb,  Augustus  Keenan.  Alabama. — Richard  W.  Walker,  Robert  H.  Smith,  Colin  J.  McRae,  John  Gill 
Shorter,  S.  F.  Hale.  David  P.  Lewis,  Thomas  Fearn,  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  W.  P.  Chilton.  Mississippi.— Willie  P. 
Harris.  Walker  Brooke,  A.  M.  Clayton.  W.  S.  Barry,  J.  T.  Harrison.  J.  A.  P.  Campbell,  W.  S.  Wilson.  Louisi 
ana.— -John  Perkins,  Jr..  Duncan  F.  Kenna,  C.  M.  Conrad,  E.  Spencer,  Henry  Marshall.  Florida.— Jackson 
Morton,  James  Powers,  W.  B.  Ochiltree. 


ORGANIZATION  OF   THE   MONTGOMERY   CONVENTION.          249 

of  George  Washington  and  John  C.  Calhotm ;  of  Andrew  Jackson  and 
William  L.  Yancey ;  of  General  Marion,  Henry  Clay,  and  the  historian  of 
Alabama,  A.  J.  Pickett.  Robert  W.  Barn  well,  of  South  Carolina,  was  chosen 
temporary  chairman ;  and  the  blessing  of  a  just  God  was  invoked  upon  the 
premeditated  labors  of  these  wrong-doers  by  the  Rev.  Basil  Manly. 

That  assembly  of  conspirators  was  permanently  organized  by  the  appro 
priate  choice  of  Ho  well  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  as  presiding  officer.  Johnson  F. 
Hooper,  of  Montgomery,  was  chosen  clerk.1  On  taking  the  chair,  Cobb 
made  a  short  speech,  in  which  he  said,  truly,  that  their  assemblage  was  of  no 
ordinary  character.  They  met,  he  said,  as  representatives  of  sovereign  and 
independent  States,  who  had  dissolved  the  political  associations  which  con 
nected  them  with  the  United  States.  He  declared  that  the  separation  was  a 
u fixed  and  irrevocable  fact" — that  it  was  "perfect,  complete,  and  perpetual/' 
The  duty  imposed  upon  them  was  to  make  provision  for  the  Government  of 
the  "  seceded  States."  It  was  desirable  to  maintain  the  most  friendly  rela 
tions  with  their  "  late  sister  States,  as  with  the  world,"  and  especially  with 
the  Slave-labor  States.  He  doubted  not  that  he,  and  the  men  before  him, 
would  prove  equal  to  the  task  assigned  them.  He  counseled  them  to 
assume  all  responsibility  necessary  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  work  they 
had  entered  upon.  "  With  a  consciousness  of  the  justice  of  our  cause,"  he 
said,  "and  with  confidence  in  the  guidance  and  blessings  of  a  kind  Provi 
dence,  we  will  this  day  inaugurate  for  the  South  a  new  era  of  peace, 
security,  and  prosperity." 

As  the  delegates  assumed  to  be  representatives  of  "Sovereign  States,"  it 
was  agreed  that  all  votes  should  be  taken  by  States.  Having  adopted  rules 
for  the  guidance  of  the  Convention,  they  at  once  proceeded  to  business  with 
great  diligence.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  perfect  harmony  was  not  to  be 
expected.  There  were  too  many  ambitious  men  in  that  little  assemblage  to 
allow  the  prevalence  of  sweet  concord,  or  serenity  of  thought  and  manner. 
They  were  nearly  all  aspirants  to  high  positions  in  the  inchoate  empire. 
Each  felt  himself,  like  Bottom  the  Weaver,  capable  of  performing  any  part 
in  the  drama  about  opening,  either  as  "  Lion,"  "  Pyramus,"  "  Wall,"  or 
"  Moonshine."  The  South  Carolinians  were  specially  ambitious  for  distinc 
tion.  They  longed  for  the  most  lofty  honors  and  the  most  prodigal  emolu 
ments.  Had  they  not  been  leaders  in  the  revolutionary  movements?  Had 
they  not  struck  the  first  blow  for  the  destruction  of  the  Republic,  on  whose 
ruins  they  were  about  to  build  the  majestic  fabric  of  "free  government," 
founded  on  Slavery  ?'•  Had  they  not,  therefore,  a  pre-emptive  right  to  the 
best  domain  in  the  new  commonwealth  ?  Judge  Magrath,  who  with 
ludicrous  solemnity  laid  aside  his  judicial  robes  at  Charleston,3  sent  word 
that  he  would  like  to  put  them  on  again  at  Montgomery  as  attorney-general.4 
Robert  Barnwell  Rhett,  the  most  belligerent  of  the  demagogues  of  the 

1  Hooper  was  at  one  time  editor  of  the  Montgomery  Mail,  a  violent  secession  sheet.  He  had  for  assistant 
clerks  Robert  S.  Dixnn  and  A.  K.  Lamar.  Hooper  died  in  great  poverty  in  Richmond,  some  time  in  the  year 
1S62. 

*  See  picture  of  banner,  pace  106.  3  See  page  4^. 

4  b  Memrainger  mentioned  to  the  delegates  that  he  was  requested  by  Judge  McGrath  to  say  to  them,  that 
he  would  be  glad  to  be  appointed  attorney-general  by  the  President  of  the  Confederacy.  There  will  be  solici 
tations  enouirh  from  South  Carolina  for  offices.  But  keep  this  to  yourself/' — Autograjsh,  Letter  (fit.  B.  Rhttt 
to  his  Son,  February  11,  1S61. 


250     CHARACTER  OF  THE  MONTGOMERY  CONVENTION. 

"  Palmetto  State " — the  perfect  representative  of  the  disloyal  politicians  of 
South  Carolina — thought  himself  peculiarly  fitted  for  a  secretary  of  war,  and 
evinced  special  sensitiveness  because  his  claims  to  distinction  were  overlooked. 
Of  this  he  wrote  complaining  letters  to  his  son,  the  editor  of  the  Charleston 
Mercury.  Some  of  these  are  before  me,  and  are  rich  revelations  of  dis 
appointed  ambition.1  Memminger  aspired  to  be  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
and  James  Chesnut,  Jr.,  who  had  "patriotically"  made  a  sacrifice  of  his  seat 
in  the  National  Senate,2  was  spoken  of  as  a  fitting  head  of  the  new  nation. 

The  policy  advocated  by  Rhett  and  his  class,  and  the  Mercury,  their 
organ,  had  been  that  of  violence  from  the  beginning.  From  the  hour  when, 
Anderson  entered  Sumter,3  they  had  counseled  its  seizure.  In  the  Conven 
tion  at  Montgomery,  Rhett  urged  that  policy  with  vehemence,  and  tried  to 
infuse  his  own  spirit  of  violence  into  that  assembly.  He  was  met  by  calm 
and  steady  opposition,  under  which  he  chafed ;  and  privately  he  denounced 
his  associates  there  as  cowards  and  imbeciles.4  Men  like  Stephens,  and  Hill, 
and  Brooke,  and  Perkins,  controlled  the  fiery  spirits  in  that  Convention,  and 
it  soon  assumed  a  dignity  suited  to  the  gravity  of  the  occasion. 

The  sessions  of  the  Montgomery  Convention  were  generally  held  in 
secret.5  That  body  might  properly  be  called  a  conclave — a  conclave  of  con 
spirators.  On  the  second  day  of  the  session,  Mr.  Memminger,  of  South 
Carolina,  offered  a  series  of  three  resolutions,  declaring  that  it  was  expedient 
forthwith  to  form  a  confederacy  of  "  seceded  States,"  and  that  a  committee  be 
appointed  to  report  a  plan  for  a  provisional  government,  on  the  basis  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  that  the  committee  consist  of  thirteen 
members  ;  and  that  all  propositions  in  reference  to  a  provisional  government 
be  referred  to  that  committee.  Alexander  H.  Stephens  then  moved  that  the 
word  "Congress"  be  used  instead  of  "  Convention,"  when  applied  to  the 
body  then  in  session,  which  was  agreed  to. 

On  the  following  day,a  commissioners  from  Xorth  Carolina  ap-* 

^iseT7  6    peared,  and  were  invited  to  seats  in  the  Convention.6     They  came 

only  as  commissioners  from  a  State  yet  "  a  part  of  the  Federal 

Union,"  and  had  no  right  to  appear  as  delegates.     Their  object  was,  according 

to  instructions,7  to  effect  an  "  honorable  and  amicable  adjustment  of  all  the 


1  "  That  they  have  not  put  mo  forward  for  office,'1  said  Ehett,  "  is  true.     I  have  two  enemies  in  the  [South 
Carolina]  delegation.     One  friend,  who,  I  believe,  wants  no  office  himself,  and  will  probably  act  on  the  same 
principle  for  his  friend — and  the  rest,  personally,  are  indifferent  to  me,  whilst  some  of  them  are  not  indifferent 
to  themselves.     There  is  no  little  jealousy  of  me,  by  a  part  of  them,  and  they  never  will  agree  to  recommend 
me  to  any  position  whatever  under  the  Confederacy.     I  expect  nothing,  therefore,  from   the  delegation  lifting 
me  to  position.  .  .  .  Good-by,  my  dear  son.     I  have  never  been  wise  in  pushing  myself  forward  to  office  or 
power,  and,  I  suppose,  never  will  be.     I  cannot  change.    Prepare  for  disappointment." — Autograph  Letter, 
February  11,  1861. 

2  See  page  51.  3  See  page  129. 

4  "  If  the  people  of  Charleston,''  he  said,  "  should  burn  the  whole  crew  in  effigy,  I  should  not  be  surprised. 
No  reasoning  on  earth  can  satisfy  the  people  of  the  South,  that  within  two  months  a  whole  State  oould  not  take 
a  fort  defended  by  but  seventy  men.  The  thing  is  absurd.  We  must  be  disgraced." — Autograph  Letter,  Feb 
ruary  11,  1861. 

The  Alabamians  seem  to  have  been  special  objects  of  Rhett's  dislike.  "  Alabama,"  he  said,  "  has  the 
meanest  delegation  in  this  body.  There  is  not  a  statesman  amongst  them  ;  and  they  are  always  ready  for  all 
the  hasty  projects  of  fear.  Our  policy  has  but  little  chance  in  this  body." — Autograph  Letter,  February  18, 
1861. 

8  On  one  or  two  occasions,  propositions  were  made  to  employ  two  stenographers  to  take  down  the  debates. 
These  propositions  were  voted  down,  and  no  reporters  were  allowed.  They  had  open  as  well  as  secret  sessions. 
Their  open  sessions  they  called  the  "Congress,"  and  their  secret  sessions  they  called  the  "Convention." 

6  The  Commissioners  were  David  L.  Swain,  M.  W.  Hansom,  and  John  L.  Bridges.  7  See  page  198. 


THE   PliOVISIONAL   CONSTITUTION".  251 

difficulties  that  distract  the  country,  upon  the  basis  of  the  Crittenden  Reso 
lutions,  as  modified  by  the  Virginia  Legislature."  They  soon  perceived  that 
their  mission  would  be  fruitless,  and  they  returned  to  their  homes. 

On  the  7th  a  resolution  was  received  by  the  Convention,  from  the 
Alabama  Legislature,  placing  at  the  disposal  of  the  "  Provisional  Govern 
ment  of  the  Confederacy  of  the  Seceding  States"  the  sum  of  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  as  a  loan,  for  the  purpose  of  setting  the  machinery  of  the 
new  government  in  motion.  It  was  accepted  with  thanks.  The  prelimi 
nary  measures  for  the  formation  of  that  provisional  government  had  been 
taken.  Mr.  Memminger,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  to  report  a  plan,  had 
submitted  one.1  It  was  discussed  that  day  and  a  part  of  the  next,  in 
secret  session,  when  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  some 
important  modifications,  was  adopted  as  a  form  of  government  for  the  new 
"  Confederacy,"  which  was  afterward  known  by  the  false  title  of  "  CONFED 
ERATE  STATES  OF  AMERICA."  It  was  a  false  title,  because  no  States,  as 
States,  were  parties  to  the  unholy  league.  The  "  government,"  so  called, 
was  composed  only  of  a  band  of  confederated  traitors,  who  had  usurped  the 
powers  and  trampled  upon  the  rights  of  the  people,  who  constitute  the  State, 
and  were  about  to  make  war  upon  the  Republic  to  the  hurt  of  that  people. 

The  Provisional  Constitution  declared  that  the  Convention  at  Montgomery 
was  a  "Congress,"  vested  with  all  the  legislative  powers  of  that  of  the  United 
States.  It  provided  that  the  Provisional  President  should  hold  his  office  for 
one  year,  unless  superseded  by  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  government; 
that  each  State  should  be  a  judicial  district,  and  that  the  several  district 
judges  should  compose  the  supreme  court  of  the  Confederacy;  that  the  word 
'*  Confederacy"  should  be  substituted  for  "  Union,"  as  used  in  the  National 
Constitution  ;  that  the  President  might  veto  a  separate  appropriation  without 
affecting  a  whole  bill;  that  the  African  Slave-trade  should  be  prohibited; 
that  the  Congress  should  be  empowered  to  prohibit  the  introduction  of  slaves 
from  any  State  not  a  member  of  the  Confederacy ;'  that  all  appropriations 
should  be  made  upon  demands  of  the  President  or  heads  of  departments ; 
and  that  members  of  the  Congress  might  hold  offices  of  honor  and  emolument 
under  the  Provisional  Government.  No  mention  was  made  of  taxes,  excepting 
those  in  the  form  of  a  tariff  for  revenue  ;  nor  the  keeping  of  troops  and  ships 
of  war  by  the  States  ;  nor  for  any  ratification  of  the  Constitution,  it  being  only 
provisional.  The  word  "  slave  "  was  used  where,  in  the  National  Constitu 
tion,  it  is  avoided.  The  Provisional  Government  was  required  to  take 
immediate  steps  for  a  settlement  of  all  matters  concerning  property,  between 
the  United  States  and  the  "  Confederacy."  All  legislative  powers  were 
vested  in  the  "Congress"  then  assembled,  until  otherwise  ordained.  Ojily 
in  the  above-named  features  did  the  Provisional  Constitution  adopted  by  the 
Convention  differ  essentially  from  the  National  Constitution. 

Notwithstanding  the  Provisional  Constitution  received  the  unanimous 
vote  of  the  Convention,  it  did  not  satisfy  all  the  members.  The  violent 

1  The  original  draft  of  the  Provisional  Constitution  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Memminger.  It  is  among 
the  archives  of  the  "  Confederate  Government,"  at  Washington  City. 

3  This  would  bear  most  injuriously  upon  Virginia,  whose  annual  income  from  the  sale  of  slaves  to  the 
cotton  planters  now  included  in  the  "Confederacy."  was  counted  by  millions  of  dollars.  This  prohibition  was 
calculated  to  make  Virginia  hasten  to  join  the  Southern  league  against  the  Republic.  See  page  94. 


252 


SEDITIOUS   CONDUCT   OF  A   DELEGATE. 


Rhett  fulminated  anathemas  against  it  through  the  Charleston  Mercury^ 
'especially  on  account  of  its  tariff  clause,  the  prohibition  of  the  African 
Slave-trade,  and  the  adoption  of  the  three-fifths  rule  of  representation  for 
slaves,  in  the  National  Constitution.1  "Let  your  people,"  he  said,  "prepare 
their  minds  for  a  failure  in  the  future  permanent  Southern  Constitution,  for 
South  Carolina  is  about  to  be  saddled  with  almost  every  grievance,  except 
Abolition,  for  which  she  long  struggled,  and  has  just  withdrawn  from  the 
United  States  Government.  Surely  McDuffie  lived  in  vain,  and  Calhoun 
taught  for  naught,  if  we  are  again  to  be  plundered,  and  our  commerce 
crippled,  destroyed  by  tariffs — even  discriminating  tariffs.  Yet  this  is  the 
inevitable  prospect.  The  fruit  of  the  labors  of  thirty  odd  long  years,  in 
strife  and  bitterness,  is  about  to  slip  through  our  fingers."  Of  the  three- 
fifths  rule,  he  said : — "  It  most  unfairly  dwarfs  the  power  of  some  of  the 
States  in  any  Federal  representation."  He  called  that  rule,  which  was  really 
a  compromise  in  favor  of  the  slaveholders,  "  one  of  the  many  Yankee 
swindles  put  upon  us,  in  the  formation  of  the  old  Constitution."  As  the 
slave  population  of  South  Carolina  was  the  majority,  he  complained  that 
two-fifths  or  more  of  the  people  were  unrepresented.  "  South  Carolina,"  he 
said,  "  is  small  enough  without  again  flinging  away  what  legitimate  power 
she  possesses.  That  flower  is  in  her  slaves — socially,  politically,  economi 
cally"  He  complained  of  the  prohibition  of  the  Slave-trade.  "  A  stigma," 
he  said,  "  is  thus  broadly  stamped  upon  the  whole  institution,  before  the 
whole  world,  and  sealed  by  ourselves.  It  is  an  infamous  slur  upon  the  whole 

institution — the  lives  and  the  property 
of  every  slaveholder  in  the  land." 
Rhett  and  his  fellows  were  restive 
in  view  of  the  restraints  to  which  the 
"sovereignty"  of  South  Carolina  would 
be  subjected  as  a  member  of  a  Con 
federacy,  and  seemed  inclined,  at  one 
time,  to  reject  all  leagues,  and  have 
their  "  gallant  State  "  stand  alone  as  an 
independent  nation.2 

On  the  sixth  day  of  the 

°Feis67y9'  session>a  the  President  of 
the  Convention  and  all  of 
the  members  took  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  Provisional  Constitution,  and  at 
noon  the  doors  of  the  hall  were  thrown 
open  to  the  public,  and  the  Convention  proceeded  to  the  election  of  a  Presi 
dent  and  Vice-President  of  the  "  Confederacy."  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mis 
sissippi,  received  six  votes  (the  whole  number)  for  President,  and  Alexander 
H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  the  same  number,  for  Vice-President.  The 
announcement  of  the  result  was  received  with  the  most  vehement  applause 


JEFFERSON    DAVIS. 


1  See  third  clause,  second  section  of  the  first  Article  of  the  Constitution. 

2  The  arrogance  of  the  South  Carolina  politicians  was  sometimes  gently  rebuked  by  their  friends.     The 
Mobile,  Mercury,  at  this  time,  said  :— "They  will  have  to  learn  to  be  a  little  more  conforming  to  the  opinions 
of  others,  before  they  can  expect  to  associate  comfortably  with  even  the   Cotton  States,  under  a  federative 
Government.'' 


STEPHENS'S  ACCEPTANCE  OF  OFFICE.  253 

by  the  vast  multitude  that  thronged  the  building,  inside  and  out ;  and  a 
salute  of  one  hundred  guns,  in  honor  of  the  event,  was  immediately  given. 
That  evening,  Stephens  was  serenaded.  He  made  a  brief  speech  to  the 
crowd,  in  which  he  spoke  of  the  new  government  as  one  which,  while  it 
surrendered  none  of  their  ancient  rights  and  liberties,  would  secure  them 
more  perfectly.  He  predicted  for  the  "Confederacy"  a  glorious  career,  if  it 
should  be  supported  by  "  the  virtue,  intelligence,  and  patriotism  of  the 
people."  With  institutions,  he  said,  so  far  as  regarded  their  organic  and 
social  policy,  "  in  strict  conformity  to  nature  and  the  laws  of  the  Creator, 
whether  read  in  the  Book  of  Inspiration  or  the  great  Book  of  Manifesta 
tions  around  us,  we  have  all  the  natural  elements  essential  to  attainment  in 
the  highest  degree  of  power  and  glory.  These  institutions  have  been  much 
assailed,  and  it  is  our  mission  to  vindicate  the  great  truth  on  which  they 
rest,  and  with  them  exhibit  the  highest  type  of  civilization  which  it  is 
possible  for  human  society  to  reach."  He  was  followed  by  Keitt,  and 
Chesnut,  and  Conrad,  who  all  made  predictions  of  the  future  grandeur 
of  the  nation  they  were  then  attempting  to  create. 

On  the  following  day,  Stephens  formally  accepted  the  office  to  which  he 
had  been  chosen,  and  made  a  speech  to  the  Convention,  acknowledging  with 
gratitude  the  expression  of  their  confidence  in  calling  him  to  that  high  station. 
He  was  in  an  embarrassing  position.  His  Union  speeches  in  November  and 
January1  were  yet  ringing  in  the  ears  of  the  people,  and  his  present  attitude 
needed  explanation.  lie  thought  it  prudent  not  \o  attempt  any  explanation, 
and  simply  remarked  :  "  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  say,  that  it  may  be  deemed 
questionable  if  any  good  citi/en  can  refuse  to  discharge  any  duty  which 
may  be  assigned  him  by  his  country  in  her  hour  of  need."  At  Milled^e- 
ville,  in  November,2  Mr.  Stephens's  vision  of  his  u  country  "  embraced  the 
whole  Republic,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  and  from  the  region 
of  ice  to  the  region  of  perpetual  bloom,  with  a  population  of  more  than 
thirty  millions.  At  Montgomery,  in  February — ninety  days  later — he  saw 
his  "  country"  dwarfed  to  the  insignificant  area  of  six  Cotton-producing 
States  on  the  coast,  with  a  population  of  four  millions  five  hundred  thousand, 
nearly  one-half  of  whom  were  bond-slaves,  and  a  seventh  (Texas)  just  march 
ing  up  to  join  the  sad  assemblage  of  recusants. 

After  the  election  of  Davis  and  Stephens,  the  Convention  directed  its 
chairman  to  appoint  Committees  on  Foreign  Relations,  Postal  Affairs,  Finance, 
Commerce,  Military  and  Naval  Affairs,  Judiciary,  Patents  and  Copy-rights,3 
and  Printing.4  All  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  not  incompatible  with 


•  See  pages  54  to  57.  inclusive.  a  See  page  54. 

1  The  first  application  to  the  "Confederate  Government"  for  a  patent  was  made  on  the  16th  of  February, 
when  J.  M.  Waldron.  of  Georgia,  asked  leave  to  file  a  caveat  and  drawings,  setting  forth  an  improvement  he 
had  made  in  railroad  switches. 

4  The  most  important  committees  were  constructed  as  follows: — 

Foreign  Affairs. — Messrs.  Khett,  Nisbett,  Perkins,  Walker,  and  Keitt. 

Finance. — Messrs.  Toornbs,  Barnwell,  Kenner,  Harry,  and  Mcliae. 

Commercial  Affair*. — Messrs.  Mrmmintrer,  Crawford,  Martin,  furry,  and  De  Clouet. 

Judiciary.— Messrs.  Clayton,  Withers,  Hale,  T.  K.  Cobb.  and  Harris. 

Xaval  Affair*. — Messrs.  Conrad,  Chesnut,  Smith,  Wriirht.  and  Owens. 

Military  Affair*.— Messrs.  Bartow,  Miles,  Sparrow,  Keenan,  and  Anderson. 

Portal  Affairs.— Chilton,  Hill,  Boyce,  Harrison,  and  Curry. 

Mr.  Brooke,  of  Mississippi,  was  made  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Patents  and  Copyrights— an  almost 
useless  oflice. 


254  A  FLAG  FOR   THE   CONFEDERACY  CONSIDERED. 

the  new  order  of  things,  were  continued  in  force,  temporarily.  The  Finance 
Committee,  in  the 'face  of  the  solemn  promises  of  the  conspirators  to  the 
people  and  to  foreign  governments  to  the  contrary,  were  instructed  to 
report  a  tariff  bill ;  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  report  a  -Constitution 
of  Permanent  Government  for  the  "  Confederacy."  The  committee  con 
sisted  of  twelve,  or  two  from  each  State ;  and  nothing  was  now  wanting  but 
the  presence  of  the  President  elect  to  make  perfect  that  powerful  legislative 
and  executive  engine,  of  which  Davis  became  chief  manager,  that  waged  a 
desolating  war  for  four  years  against  the  Government  of  the  Republic. 

While  the  Committee  had  the  matter  of  a  permanent  government  under 
consideration,  the  Convention  discussed  the  important  subject  of  a  national 
flag,  during  which  much  warmth  of  feeling  was  exhibited.  Several  models 
had  been  offered.  Two  of  these  were  presented  by  Mr.  Memminger.  One 
of  them  was  from  some  young  women  of  Charleston,  and  was  composed  of  a 
blue  cross  on  a  red  field,  with  seven  stars ;  the  other  was  from  a  gentleman 
of  the  same  city.  It  was  a  cross  with  fifteen  stars.  On  presenting  them, 
Mr.  Memminger  said  : — 

"Now,  Mr.  President,  the  idea  of  Union,  no  doubt,  was  suggested  to  the 
imagination  of  the  young  ladies  by  the  beauteous  constellation  of  the 
Southern  cross,  which  the  Great  Creator  has  placed  in  the  Southern  heavens, 
by  way  of  compensation  for  the  glorious  constellation  at  the  north  pole. 
The  imagination  of  the  young  ladies  was,  no  doubt,  inspired  by  the  genius 
of  Dante  and  the  scientific  skill  of  Humboldt.  But,  Sir,  I  have  no  doubt 
that  there  was  another  idea  associated  with  it  in  the  minds  of  the  young 
ladies — a  religious  one — and  although  we  have  not  seen  in  the  heavens  the 
'  In  hoc  Sir/no  vincesj  written  upon  the  Labarum  of  Constantine,  yet  the 
same  sign  has  been  manifested  to  us  upon  the  tablets  of  the  earth ;  for 
we  all  know  that  it  has  been  by  the  aid  of  revealed  religion  we  have 
achieved  over  fanaticism  the  victory  which  we  this  day  witness ;  and  it  is 
becoming,  on  this  occasion,  that  the  debt  of  the  South  to  the  Cross  should  be 
thus  recognized.  I  have  also,  Mr.  President,  another  commission  from  a 
gentleman  of  taste  and  skill  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  who  offers  another 
model,  which  embraces  the  same  idea  of  a  cross,  but  upon  a  different  ground. 
The  gentleman  who  offers  this  model  appears  to  be  more  hopeful  than  the 
young  ladies.  They  offer  one  with  seven  stars — six  for  the  States  already 
represented  in  this  Congress,  and  the  seventh  for  Texas,  whose  deputies  we 
hope  will  soon  be  on  their  way  to  join  us.  He  offers  a  flag  which  embraces 
the  whole  fifteen  States.  God  grant  that  his  hope  may  be  realized,  and  that 
we  may  soon  welcome  their  stars  to  the  glorious  constellation  of  our 
Southern  Confederacy." 

These  remarks  were  highly  applauded,  and  a  committee,  consisting  of 
one  delegate  from  each  State,  was  appointed  to  report  upon  a  device  for  a 
national  flag  and  seal.1  Mr.  Brooke,  of  Mississippi,  offered  a  resolution  to 
instruct  the  Committee  to  report  a  design  for  a  flag  as  similar  as  possible 
to  that  of  the  United  States,  making  only  such  changes  as  should  give 
them  distinction.  In  his  speech  he  talked  with  the  fervor  of  a  patriot  of 
the  associations  which  clustered  around  the  old  ensign — associations  which 

1  The  Committee  consisted  of  Messrs.  Shorter,  Morton,  Bartow,  Sparrow,  Harris,  and  Miles. 


A   FLAG   FOR   THE   CONFEDERACY.  255 

could  never  be  effaced.     "Sir,"  he  said,  "let  us  preserve  it  as  far  as  we  can. 
Let  us  continue  to  hallow  it  in  our  memory,  and  still  pray  that — 

"  '  Long  may  it  wave, 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave.'  " 

His  eulogy  of  the  old  flag,  which  the  leading  traitors  now  affected  to 
despise,  was  so  full  of  Union  sentiment  that  it  was  regarded  as  almost 
treasonable,  and  Brooke  was  severely  rebuked.  William  Porcher  Miles,  of 
South  Carolina,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  protested  against  the  reso 
lution  and  the  utterances  of  the  mover.  He  gloried  more  a  thousand  times 
in  the  Palmetto  flag  of  his  State.  He  had  regarded,  "  from  his  youth,  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  as  the  emblem  of  oppression  and  tyranny."  This  bold 
conspirator  was  so  warmly  applauded,  that  menaced  Brooke,  "  at  the  sugges 
tion  of  a  friend,"  withdrew  his  motion. 

W.  W.  Boyce,  of  South  Carolina,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the 
National  Congress  for  seven  years,  presented  a  model  for  a  flag,  which  he 
had  received,  with  a  letter,  from  a  woman  of  his  State  (Mrs.  C.  Ladd,  of 
Winnsboro'),  who  described  it  as  "  tri-colored,  with  a  red  union,  seven  stars, 
and  the  crescent  moon."  She  offered  her  three  boys  to  her  "  country  ;"  and 
suggested  "Washington  Republic"  as  the  name  of  the  new  nation.1  In 
presenting  the  flag  and  letter,  Boyce  indulged  in  the  usual  turgid  oratory  of 
his  class,  saying: — "I  will  take  the  liberty  of  reading  her  letter  to  the  Con 
gress.  It  is  full  of  authentic  tire.  It  is  worthy  of  Rome  in  her  best  days, 
and  might  well  have  been  read  in  the  Roman  Senate  on  that  disastrous 
day  when  the  victorious  banuer  of  the  great  Carthaginian  was  visible  from 
Mont  Aventine.  And  I  may  add,  Sir,  that  as  long  as  our  women  are  im 
pelled  by  these  sublime  sentiments,  and  our  mountains  yield  the  metals  out 
of  which  weapons  are  forged,  the  lustrous  stars  of  our  unyielding  Confederacy 
will  never  pale  their  glorious  tires,  though  baffled  oppression  may  threaten 
with  its  impotent  sword,  or,  more  dangerous  still,  seek  to  beguile  with 
the  siren  song  of  conciliation." 

Chilton,  Toombs,  Stephens,  and  others,  also  presented  devices  for  flags.2 
They  were  sent  in  almost  daily  from  various  parts  of  the  Cotton-growing 
States,  a  great  many  of  them  showing  attachment  to  the  old  banner,  yet 
accompanied  by  the  most  fervid  expressions  of  sympathy  with  the  "Southern 
cause."5  The  Committee  finally  made  an  elaborate  report  on  the  subject, 
in  which  they  confessed  that  they  did  not  share  in  the  sentiment  of  attach 
ment  to  the  "Stars  and  Stripes"  too  often  repeated  in  communications. 


1  Many  members  liked  the  suggestion,  but  the  more  radical  men.  like  Khett  and  Toombs,  opposed   it, 
probably  because  it  might  have  such  strong  associations   with  the  old  Government  as  to  cause  a  desire  for 
'•reconstruction."   So  powerful  became  the  feelinsr  in  the  Convention  in  favor  of  the  name  of  "  Washington 
Republic,"1  that  it  was  voted  down  by  only  one  majority. 

2  Two  young  women,  Rebecca  C.  Fenruson  and  Mollie,  A.  D.  Sinclair,  in  the  Art  Department  of  the  "Tus- 
cogeo  Female  Colleire,"  sent  in  seven  desi-rns.      In  their  accompanying  letter  they  said,  that  "amidst  all  their 
efforts  at  originality,  tin-re  ever  danced  before  them   visions  of  the  star-ffemrned  flag,  with  its  parti-colored 
stripes,  that  floated  so  proudly  over  the  late  United  States.  .  .  .  Let  us  snatch  from  the  eagle  of  the  cliff  our 
idea  of  independence,  and  cull  from  the  earth  diamonds,  and  gems  from  the  heavens,  to  deck  the  flag  of  th» 
Southern  Confederacy.     With  Cotton  for  King,  there  are  seven  States  bound  by  a  chain  of  sisterly  love  that 
•will  strengthen  by  time,  as  onward,  right  onward,  they  move  up  the  glorious  path  of  Southern  independence." 
In  the  seven  devices  offered,  the  principal  members  were  an  eagle,  stars,  and  a  cotton-bale.      These  devices 
were  presented  with  highly  commendatory  words  by  Mr.  Chilton,  of  Alabama. 

8  These  drawings  are  among  the  archives  of  the  "Confederate  Government."  at  Washington  City. 


256  FIRST   ASSUMPTION   OF   SOVEREIGNTY. 

They  thought  there  was  no  propriety  in  retaining  the  emblems  of  a  Govern 
ment  which  had  become  so  oppressive  and  injurious  to  their  interests  as  to 
require  a  separation  from  it.  Yet  they  did  pay  deference  to  that  sentiment  in 
others,  by  recommending  a  flag  that  had  a  certain  resemblance  to  the  one 
they  were  deserting.  It  was  to  consist  of  "  a  red  field  with  a  white  space 
extending  horizontally  through  the  center,  and  equal  in  width  to  one-third 

the  width  of  the  flag" — in  other  words,  three 
stripes,  two  of  them  red,  and  one  white  :  the 
union,  blue,  extending  down  through  the  white 
space,  and  stopping  at  the  lower  red  space.  In 
the  center  of  the  union  a  circle  of  white  stars, 
corresponding  in  number  with  the  States  of  the 
"  Confederacy."  This  was  the  flag  under  which  the 
maddened  hosts  of  that  "  Confederacy  "  rushed  to 
THE  CONSPIRATORS1  FLAG.  battle,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  that  ensued. 
It  was  first  displayed  in  public  on  the  4th  of 
March,  when  it  was  unfurled  over  the  State  House  at  Montgomery. 

The  first  assumption  of  sovereignty  on  the  part  of  the  Convention  was  on 
the  12th,°  when  it  was  resolved  that  the  new  Government  should 
isoi*"7'    take  under  its  charge  all  questions  and  difficulties  then  existing 
"  between  the  Sovereign  States  of  this  Confederacy  and  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States,"  relating  to  the  occupation  of  forts,  arsenals, 
navy  yards,  and  other  public  establishments.     The  President  of  the  Conven 
tion  was  requested  to  communicate  this  resolution  to  the  Governors  of  the 
several  States.    This  was  extremely  offensive  to  the  South  Carolinians.    They 
saw  in  it  dark  visions  of  the  passing  away  of  the  "sovereignty"  of  their  State. 
That  Commonwealth,  so  lately  proclaimed  a  "  nation,"  was  thereby  shorn  of 
its  greatness,  and  placed  on  a  common  level  with  "  sister  States."     The  Mer 
cury,    speaking   for   the  Hotspurs  of  the   coast  region,    at    once  preached 
>Februar  14   rekellion   against   the   usurpers   at   Montgomery.      It   declared6 
that  Fort  Sumter  belonged  to  South  Carolina  alone.      It  was  the 
pet  victim  of  the  Palmettoese,  and  no  other  wolf  should  seize  it.      "  After 
two  efforts,"    said  the  Mercury,  "  to  obtain  peaceable  possession   of  Fort 
Sumter,  and  a  submission,  for  two  months,  to  the  insolent  military  domina 
tion  in  our  bay  of  a  handful  of  men,  the  honor  of  the  State  requires  that 
no  further  intervention,  from  any  quarter,  should  be  tolerated,  and  that  this 
fort  should  be  taken,  and  taken  by  South  Carolina  alone.     By  any  other 
course,  it  appears  to  us,  unless  all  the  positions  of  the  Governor  are  false,  the 
State  must  be  disgraced"     The  South  Carolinians  were  pacified  by  promises, 
and,  as  we  shall  observe,  wrere  gratified  in  their  belligerent  desires. 

On  the  13th,  John  Gregg,  one  of  the  delegates  from  Texas,  appeared1  and 
took  a  seat  in  the  Convention,  although  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  adopted 
in  that  State  had  not  been  ratified  by  the  people,  according  to  legal  require 
ment.  The  rest  of  the  delegation  w^ere  on  their  way.  In  this  act,  as  in  all 
others,  the  conspirators  utterly  disregarded  the  will  of  the  people.  On  the 
•same  day,  the  Convention  commenced  preparations  for  war,  by  instructing 


1  The  delegation  was  composed  of  Louis  T.  Wigfali,  J.  II.  Reagan,  J.  Ilemphill,  T.  N.  Waul,  John  Gregg, 
W.  8.  Oldham,  and  W.  B.  Ochiltree. 


RECEPTION   OF  JEFFERSON   DAYTS.  257 

the  Military  and  Xaval  Committees  to  report  plans  for  the  organization  of 
an  army  and  navy,  and  to  make  provision  for  the  officers  ia  each  service  who 
had  deserted  their  flag  and  were  seeking  employment  from  the  Confederates 
at  Montgomery. 

Preparations    were    now"  made    for  the  reception  and  inauguration  of 
Davis.     He  was    at  his  home  near  Vicksburg  when  apprised  of 
his  election,  and  he  hastened  to  Montgomery  on  the  circuitous  "  Fe^™y  15' 
railway  route  by  the  way  of  Jackson,  Grand  Junction,  Chatta 
nooga,  and  West  Point.     His  journey  was  a  continuous  ovation.     He  made 
twenty-live  speeches  on  the  way,  all  breathing  treason  to  the  Government 
by  whose  bounty  he  had  been  educated  and  fed,  and  whose  laws  he  had 
frequently  sworn  to  uphold.     A  committee  of  the  Convention  and  the  public 
authorities  of  Montgomery  met  him  eight  miles  from  the  city." 
At  Opelika,  two  companies  from  Columbus,  Georgia,  joined  the 
escort.     He  reached   his  destination  at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  where  he  was 
received  with  unbounded  enthusiasm.     Cannon  thundered  a  welcome,  and 
the  shouts  of  a  vast  multitude  tilled  his  ears.     At  the  railway  station  he  was 
formally  received,  and  made  a  speech,  in  which  he  briefly  reviewed  the  then 
position  of  the  South,  and  said  the  time  for  compromises  had  passed.     "We 
are  now  determined,"  he  said,  "  to  maintain  our  position,  and  make  all  who 
oppose   us  smell  SoutJtcrn  prnrj,r   <nt<t  fed  8<  nit  hern  steel"     He  had   no 
doubts  of  the  result,  if  coercion  should  be  persisted  in.     "We  will  maintain 
our  rights  and  our  government,"  he  said,  "  at  all  hazards.     We  ask  nothing  ; 
we  want  nothing ;  and  will  have  no  complications.     If  the  other  States  join 
our  Confederacy,  they  can  freely  come   in    on  our  terms.     Our  separation 
from  the  old  Union  is  complete,  and  no  compromise,  no  reconstruction  can 
now  be  entertained." 

Davis  was  conducted  from  the  station  to  the  Exchange  Hotel,  where  a 
large  crowd,  many  of  them  women,  awaited  his  arrival.  He  made  a  speech 
from  the  balcony  or  gallery  to  the  assembled  populace,  while  on  each  side 
of  him  stood  a  negro,  with  a  candle,  that  the  people  might  see  his  face.  He 
addressed  them  as  "  Brethren  of  the  Confederated  States  of  America."  He 
expressed  un doubting  confidence  in  the  success  of  the  revolution  they  had 
just  inaugurated.  They  had  nothing  to  fear  at  home,  for  they  were  united 
as  one  people ;  and  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  abroad,  for  if  war  should 
come,  their  valor  would  be  suflicient  for  any  occasion. 

The  inaugural  ceremonies  took  place  at  noon  on  the  1 8th, e  upon  a  plat 
form  erected  in  front  of  the  portico  of  the  State  House.     Davis 
and    Stephens,   with    the    Rev.   Dr.   Manly,  riding    in    an    open 
barouche,  and  followed  by  a  large  concourse  of  State  officials  and  citizens, 
moved  from  the  Exchange  Hotel  to  the  Capitol,  while  cannon  were  thunder 
ing.     The  eminence  on  which  the  Capitol  stands  was  crowded  at  an  early 
hour.     It  is  said  that  so  grand  a  spectacle  had  not  been  seen  in  the  Slave- 
labor  States  since  the  ovation  given  in  Xew  Orleans  to  the  victorious  General 
Jackson,  in  January,  1815. 

At  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  after  a  prayer  by  Dr.  Manly,  Davis  com 
menced  pronouncing   his   Inaugural  Address.      He  defended    the    right   of 
secession ;  and  he  declared  that,  "  moved  by  no  interest  or  passion  to  invade 
the  rights  of  others,  and  anxious  to  cultivate  peace  and  commerce  with  the 
YOL.  I.— 17 


258 


INAUGURATION   OF  JEFFERSON   DAVIS. 


nations,"  if  they  could  not  hope  to  avoid  war,  they  might  at  least  expect 
that  posterity  would  acquit  them  of  having  needlessly  engaged  in  it. 
"Doubly  justified,"  he  said,  "by  the  absence  of  wrong  on  their  part,  and  by 
wnnton  aggression  on  the  part  of  others,"  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  success. 
The  world  must  have  their  "agricultural  productions"  (meaning  cotton), 
and  mutual  interest  would  invite  good-will  and  kind  offices,  especially  from 
the  manufacturing  and  navigating  States  of  the  Union.  "  If,  however,"  he 
said,  "  passion  or  lust  of  dominion  should  cloud  the  judgment  or  inflame  the 
ambition  of  those  States,  we  must  prepare  to  meet  the  emergency,  and 
maintain,  by  the  final  arbitrament  of  the  sword,  that  position  which  we  have 
assumed  among  the  nations  of  the  earth."  He  declared  that  they  had 
separated  from  the  old  Union  from  necessity,  and  not  from  choice.  Having 
done  so,  they  must  prepare  to  stand  alone ;  and  he  recommended  the 
immediate  organization  of  an  army  and  navy.  He  suggested  privateering 
or  piracy  as  an  arm  of  strength  for  them.  "  Besides  the  ordinary  remedies," 
he  said,  "  the  well-known  resources  for  retaliation  upon  the  commerce  of  an 
enemy  will  remain  to  us."  He  closed  by  invoking  the  protection  of  the 
Almighty,  while  they  should  be  performing  the  work  of  destroying  the 
noble  fabric  of  free  institutions  erected  by  the  fathers.  At  the  close  of  the 
address,  the  oath  of  office  was  administered  to  Davis  by  Howell  Cobb,  the 
President  of  the  Convention. 

In  the  evening,  after  the  inauguration,  Davis,  in  imitation  of  the  custom 

at  the  National  Capital, 
held  a  levee  at  Estelle 
Hall ;  and  Montgomery 
was  brilliantly  lighted  up 
by  bonfires  and  illumina 
tions.  A  spacious  mansion 
was  soon  afterward  pro 
vided  for  Davis  and  his 
family,  and  it  became  dis 
tinguished  as  the  "  White 
House  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy."1 

Davis  chose,  from 
among  the  most  active 
of  his  fellow-conspirators, 
fitting  agents  to  assist 
him  in  his  nefarious  work, 
and  ostentatiously  titled 
them  in  imitation  of  the  National  Government.  He  called  Robert  Toombs 
to  act  as  "  Secretary  of  State  ;"  Charles  G.  Memminger,  as  "  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury;"  Le  Roy  Pope  Walker,  as  "Secretary  of  War;"  Stephen  R. 
Mallory,  as  "Secretary  of  the  Navy,"  and  John  H.  Reagan,  as  "Postmaster- 
General."  Afterward,  Judah  P.  Benjamin  was  appointed  to  be  "Attorney- 
General."  William  M.  Browne,  late  editor  of  the  Washington  Constitution, 


THE    "WHITB    HOUSE"    AT   MONTGOMERY. 


«  The  official  residence  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  at  Washington  City,  being  white,  has  always 
been  better  known  by  the  title  of  "The  White  House"  than  by  any  other. 


DAVIS   AND   HIS   CHIEF   COUNSELORS.  259 

President  Buchanan's  official  organ,  was  appointed  "Assistant  Secretary  of 
State,"  and  Philip  Clayton,  of  Georgia,  "  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury."      lie    offered   John   Slidell   a   seat   in   his  "  cabinet,"  but   that    con 
spirator  preferred  a  safer  sphere  of  action, 
as  minister  to  some  foreign  court.     He  was 
gratified  ;    and  Davis's  leading  associates  in 
crime  were  all  soon  supplied  with  places  of 
honor  and  profit. 

Jefferson  Davis  was  about  fifty-four  years 
of  age  at  the  time  we  are  considering.  His 
person  was  sinewy  and  light,  a  little  above 
the  middle  hight,  and  erect  in  posture.  His 
features  were  regular  and  well-de.^ned ;  his 
face  was  thin  and  much  wrinkled ;  one  eye 
was  sightless,  and  the  other  was  dark  and 
piercing.  He  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and 
was  taken  to  reside  in  Mississippi  in  early 
boyhood.  He  was  educated  at  the  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point,  on  the  Hudson 

River ;  served  under  his  father-in-law,  General  Taylor,  in  the  war  with 
Mexico;  occupied  a  seat  in  the  National  Senate,  and  was  a  member  of 
President  Pierce's  Cabinet,  as  Secretary  of  War.  He  was  a  man  of  much 
ability,  and  considerable  refinement  of  manner  when  in  good  society.  As 
a  politician,  lie  was  utterly  unscrupulous.  In  public  life,  he  was  untruth 
ful  and  treacherous.  He  was  not  a  statesman,  nor  a  high-toned  partisan. 
He  was  calm,  audacious,  reticent,  polished,  cold,  sagacious,  rich  in  experi 
ence  of  State  affairs,  possessed  of  great  concent  ration  of  purpose,  an 
imperious  will,  abounding  pride,  and  remarkable  executive  ability.  lie  was  a 
relentless  foe,  and  was  well  fitted  to  be  the  leader  in  the  commission  of  a 
crime  greater  in  magnitude  than  any  recorded  in  the  annals  of  mankind. 

Alexander  II.  Stephens,  the  lieutenant  of  the  chief  of  the  conspirators, 
was  a  few  years  the  junior  of  Davis,  having  been  born  in  Georgia  in  1812. 
lie  had  climbed  to  distinction  from  obscurity  by  the  force  of  his  own  genius. 
Sickness  had  kept  his  frame  weak  from  boyhood,  and  he  never  weighed  a 
hundred  pounds  avoirdupois.  His  voice  was  effeminate,  yet,  when  it  was 
used  in  glowing  oratory,  of  which  he  was  often  a  charming  master,  it  became, 
at  times,  quite  sonorous.  He  was  for  several  years  an  able  representative  of 
his  State  in  the  National  Congress.  More  conservative  and  honest,  and  less 
courageous  than  Davis,  he  performed  a  comparatively  passive  part  in  the 
great  drama  of  crime  in  which  he  was  an  actor.  Three  of  the  members  of 
Davis's  privy  council,  namelv,  Toombs,  Mallory,  and  Benjamin,  had  lately 
left  their  seats  in  the  National  Senate.  Their  previous  career  we  shall  here 
after  consider.  Memminger  was  a  man  of  fine  culture,  and  eminent  as  a 
lawyer.  So  also  was  Walker,  whose  social  and  professional  position  in 
northern  Alabama  was  inferior  to  but  few.  Reagan  was  a  lawyer  of  ability, 
and  was  a  judge  in  Texas  when  he  rebelled  against  his  Government. 

The  Confederates,  having  assumed  for  their  league  a  national  character, 
at  once  presented  their  claims  to  recognition  as  such  by  the  powers  of  the 
earth.  They  sent  commissioners  to  Europe  to  secure  formal  recognition  by, 


260          THE   CONSPIRATORS'   REPRESENTATIVES  IN  EUROPE. 

and  make  commercial  arrangements  with,  the  leading  governments  there. 
These  Commissioners  were  William  L.  Yancey,  of  Alabama ;  P.  A.  Rost,  of 
Louisiana ;  A.  Dudley  Mann,  of  Virginia ;  and  T.  Butler  King,  of  Georgia. 
Yancey  was  to  operate  in  England,  Rost  in  France,  and  Mann  in  Holland  and 
Belgium.  King  seems  to  have  had  a  sort  of  roving  commission.  Yancey 
had  more  real  ability  and  force  of  character  than  either  of  the  others.  He 
was  not  a  statesman,  but  a  demagogue,  and  lacked  almost  every  requisite  for 
a  diplomatist.  He  could  fill  with  wild  passion  an  excitable  populace  at  home, 
but  he  utterly  failed  to  impress  the  more  sober  English  mind  with  a  sense  of 
his  wisdom  or  the  justice  of  his  cause.  Rost  was  a  Frenchman,  who  emi 
grated  to  Louisiana  in  early  life,  married  a  woman  of  fortune,  and  finally 
reached  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State.  Mann  was 
a  dull  statistician  of  very  moderate  ability;  and  King  was  an  extensive 
farmer  and  slaveholder.  These  men  so  fitly  represented  their  bad  cause  in 
Europe,  that  confidence  in  the  justice  or  the  ultimate  success  of  that  cause 
was  speedily  so  impaired,  that  they  went  wandering  about,  seeking  in  vain 
for  willing  listeners  among  men  of  character  in  diplomatic  circles;  and, 
finally,  they  abandoned  their  missions  in  disgust,  to  the  relief  of  statesmen 
who  were  wearied  with  their  importunities  and  offended  by  their  duplicity. 

Mr.  Stephens  assumed  the  office  of  expounder  of  the  principles  upon 
which  the  new  government  was  founded  and  was  to  be  established.  He 
made  the  occasion  of  a  speech  to  the  citizens  of  Savannah, 
"  ^mi  21'  Georgia,"  tne  opportunity  for  giving  that  exposition  to  the  world. 
He  declared  that  the  immediate  cause  of  the  rebellion  was  African 
Slavery  existing  in  the  United  States  ;  and  said  that  Jefferson,  in  his  forecast, 
had  anticipated  this  as  the  "rock  on  which  the  Union  would  split."  He 
doubted  whether  Jefferson  understood  the  truth  on  which  that  rock  stood. 
He,  and  "  most  of  the  leaders  at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  old  Consti 
tution,"  entertained  the  erroneous  idea  that  "the  enslavement  of  the  African 
was  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature ;  that  it  was  wrong  in  principle, 
socially,  morally,  and  politically."  They  erroneously  believed  "that  in 
the  order  of  Providence  the  institution  would  be  evanescent  and  pass 
away."  That,  he  said,  was  "  the  prevailing  idea  of  the  fathers,"  who 
rested  upon  the  false  assumption  put  forth  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence,  that  "  all  men  are  created  equal." l 

"  Our  new  government,"  said  the  Expounder,  "  is  founded  upon  exactly 
the  opposite  idea;  its  foundations  are  laid,  its  corner-stone  rests  upon  the 
great  truth,  that  the  negro  is  not  equal  to  the  white  man /  that  Slavery — 
subordination  to  the  superior  race — is  his  natural  and  normal  condition. 
This,  our  new  government,  is  the  first,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  based 
upon  this  great  physical  and  moral  truth.  This  truth  has  been  slow  in  the 
process  of  its  development,  like  all  other  truths  in  the  various  departments  of 
science.  It  has  been  so,  even  among  us.  Many  who  hear  me,  perhaps,  can 
recollect  well  that  this  truth  was  not  generally  admitted  even  within  their 
day.  The  errors  of  the  past  generation  still  clung  to  many  as  late  as  twenty 


l  This  was  in  flat  contradiction  of  the  extra-judicial  opinion  of  the  late  Chief-Justice  Taney,  who  said  that 
the  "prevailing  opinion  of  the  time  "  was,  that  the  negroes  were  "  so  far  inferior  that  they  had  no  rights  which 
th6  white  man  was  bound  to  respect."  See  his  decision  in  the  Dred  Scott  case. 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT.    261 

years  ago.1  ...  In  the  conflict,  thus  far,  success  has  been,  on  our  side,  com 
plete  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Confederate  States.  It  is 
upon  t/iitt,  </*  I  have  stated,  our  actual  fabric  is  firndy  planted  ;  and  I  cannot 
permit  myself  to  doubt  the  ultimate  success  of  a  full  recognition  of  this 
principle  throughout  the  civilized  and  enlightened  world."  After  reiter 
ating  the  assurance  that  SLAVERY  was  the  special,  strong,  and  commend 
able  foundation  of  the  new  "government,"  he  blasphemously  used  the  sub 
stance  of  the  words  which  the  Apostle  applied  to  Christ,  saying : — "  This 
stone,  which  was  rejected  by  the  first  builders,  '  is  become  the  chief  stone 
of  the  corner'  in  our  new  edifice." 

By  these  frauk  avowals  of  one  of  the  chief  men  in  the  Confederacy,  that 
SLAVERY  was  the  corner-stone  of  their  government,  so  called — that  it  was 
founded  upon  the  principle  that  a  superior  race  has  a  divine  right  to  enslave 
an  inferior  race — that  its  ethics  were  those  of  the  savage,  who  insists  that 
"  Might  makes  Right ;"  and  the  explicit  avowal  of  the  chief  leader,  that  "all 
who  oppose  us  shall  smell  Southern  powder  and  feel  Southern  steel,"2  man 
kind  were  plainly  notified  that  an  outlaw  against  the  principles  of  Christianity, 
of  Civilization,  and  of  the  Age  was  abroad,  heavily  mailed  in  political  and 
social  prejudices,  brandishing  a  gleaming  dagger,  poison-tipped,  and  defying 
the  authority  of  God  and  Man.  How  that  outlaw  was  sheltered,  and  fed, 
and  caressed,  and  strengthened,  until  more  than  half  a  million  of  precious 
lives  had  been  sacrificed  by  his  u  stee.,'  we  shall  observe  hereafter. 


1  See  note  on  pace  S<\ 

Davis*  3  speech  at  Montgomery.    See  paj:e  267. 


262  FOLLY  OF  THE  CONSPIKATORS. 


CHAPTEE    XI. 

THE  MONTGOMERY  CONTENTION.— TREASON  OF  GENERAL  TWIGGS.— LINCOLN  AND 
BUCHANAN  AT  THE  CAPITAL. 

HE  arrogance  and  folly  of  the  conspirators,  especially  of  the 
madmen  of  South  Carolina,  often  took  the  most  ludicrous  forms 
and  expression.  They  were  so  intent  upon  obliterating  every 
trace  of  connection  with  the  "Yankees,"  as  they  derisively 
called  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States,  and  upon  showing  to 
the  world  that  South  Carolina  was  an  "  independent  nation,"  that 

so  early  as  the  first  of  January,"  when  that  "nation" 
a  1861.  was  just  nine  days  old — a  "  nine  days'  wonder  " — it 

was  proposed  to  adopt  for  it  a  new  system  of  civil 
time.1  Whether  it  was  to  be  that  of  Julius  Caesar,  in  whose 
calendar  the  year  began  in  March  ;  or  of  the  French  Jacobins, 
whose  year  began  in  September,  and  had  five  sacred  days  called 
Sansculottides;  or  of  the  Eastern  satrap 


"  Who  counted  his  years  from  the  hour  when  he  smote 

His  best  friend  to  the  earth,  and  usurped  his  control; 
And  measured  his  days  and  his  weeks  by  false  oaths, 
And  his  months  by  the  scars  of  black  crimes  on  his  soul," 

is  not  recorded.  Three  days  after  the  Montgomery  Convention  had  formed 
a  so-called  government,  by  the  adoption  of  a  Provisional  Constitution,  and 
the  election  of  Jefferson  Davis  to  be  the  chief  standard-bearer  in  the  revolt, 
one  of  the  organs  of  the  conspirators  said,  in  view  of  the  dreamed-of  power 
and  grandeur  of  the  new  Empire  : — "  The  South  might,  under  the  new  Con 
federacy,  treat  the  disorganized  and  demoralized  Northern  States  as  insur 
gents,  and  deny  them  recognition.  But  if  peaceful  division  ensues,  the 
South,  after  taking  the  Federal  Capital  and  archives,  and  being  recognized 
by  all  foreign  powers  as  the  Government  de  facto,  can,  if  they  see  proper, 
recognize  the  Northern  Confederacy  or  Confederacies,  and  enter  into  treaty 
stipulations  with  them.  Were  this  not  done,  it  would  be  difficult  for  the 
Northern  States  to  take  a  place  among  nations,  and  their  flag  would  not  be 
respected  or  recognized."2 


1  Charleston  Correspondence  of  the  Associated  Press,  January  1,  1861. 

2  Charleston  Courier,  February  12, 1861.     Only  a  week  earlier  than  this  (February  5th),  the  late  Senator 
Hammond,  one  of  the  South  Carolina  conspirators,  in  a  letter  to  a  kinswoman  in  Schenectady,  New  York,  after 
recommending  her  to  read  the  sermon  of  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  in  Brooklyn,  named  Van  Dyke,  preached  04 
the  9th  of  December,  1860,  for  proofs  that  the  buying  and  selling  of  men,  women,  and  children  was  no  sin,  said: 
"We  dissolve  the  Union — and  it  is  forever  dissolved,  be  assured — to  get  clear  of  Yankee  meddlesomeness  and 
Puritanical  bigotry.    I  say  this,  being  half  a  Yankee  and  half  a  Puritan."1     His  father  was  a  New  England 


PERMANENT   CONSTITUTION   ADOPTED. 


263 


Notwithstanding  this  arrogance  and  childish  folly  of  the  politicians — 
notwithstanding  the  tone  of  feeling  among  the  leading  insurgents  at  Mont 
gomery  was  equally  proud  and  defiant,  they  were  compelled  to  yield  to  the 
inexorable  laws  of  necessity,  and  make  a  compromise  with  expediency.  It 
would  not  do  to  give  mortal  offense  to  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri, 
b\r  obstructing  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River ;'  so,  on  the  22d  of 
February,  the  Convention  declared  the  absolute  freedom  of  the  navigation 
of  that  stream.  Money  was  necessary  to  carry  on  the  machinery  of  govern 
ment,  and  equip  and  feed  an  army  ;  so,  abandoning  the  delightful  dreams  of 
free-trade,  which  was  to  bring  the  luxuries  of  the  world  to  their  doors,  they 
proposed  tariff  laws  ;  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  propose  an  export  duty  on 
the  great  staple  of  the  Gulf  States,  relying  upon  the  potential  arm  of  "  King 
Cotton"  for  support  in  the  measure.  "  I  apprehend,"  said  Ilowell  Cobb, 
who  proposed  it,  "•  that  we  are  conscious  of  the  power  we  hold  in  our  hands, 
by  reason  of  our  producing  that  staple  so  necessary  to  the  world.  I  doubt 
not  that  power  will  exert  an  influence  mightier  than  armies  or  navies.  We 
know  that  by  an  embargo  we  could  soon  place  not  only  the  United  States, 
but  many  of  the  European  powers,  under  the  necessity  of  electing  between 
such  a  recognition  of  our  independence  as  we  require,  or  domestic  convul 
sions  at  home."  Such  were  the  shallow  conclusions  of  one  of  the  leading 
"Southern  statesmen,"  of  whose  superior  wisdom  the  newspapers  in  the 
interest  of  the  Oligarchy  were  always  boasting. 

The  Convention  authorized  Davis  to  accept  one  hundred  thousand  volun 


teers  for  twelve  months,  and 
to  borrow  fifteen  millions  of 
dollars,  at  the  rate  of  eight 
per  cent,  interest  a  year. 
Provision  was  also  made  for 
the  establishment  of  a  small 
naval  force  for  coast  defense. 
Laws  were  passed  for  carry 
ing  on 


The  franking  privilege  was 
disallowed,  excepting  for  the 
Post-office  Department.  The 
rates  of  postage  were  fixed, 
and  stamps  for  two,  five,  and 
ten  cents  were  soon  issued, 
bearing  the  portrait  of  .Tetter 
son  Davis.  A  variety  of 
laws,  necessary  for  the  opera 
tions  of  a  legitimate  government,  were  made  ;  and  on  the  llth  of  March,  a 
permanent  Constitution  was  adopted.  Its  preamble  fully  recognized  the 
doctrine  of  State  Supremacy,  and  was  in  the  following  words: — u  We, 
the  people  of  the  Confederate  States,  each  State  acting  in  its  sovereign 
and  independent  character,  in  order  to  form  a  permanent  Federal  Govern 
ment,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  and  insure  the  blessings 


u COVFKDKRATB 

I'ORTAtiK    STAMP 


school-teacher.  k>  We  absolve  you  by  thi*"  he  continued,  "from  <>U  the  *in*  of  St<t rery.  <nnf  take  ><]><>n 
our*etre*  <tll  it*  futjijioxrd  nin  and  frit,  oj>e»fi/  before  the  icorht.  and  in  the  ft  i  {/fit  of  frW."1  With  a  similar 
spirit,  the  revilcrs  of  the  great  Preacher  of  Kighteonsness  cried  :  ••  Crucify  him  !  Crucify  him  !  Hi*  !>/<«»/  1-f  on 
its,  <niil  on  our  children  /"  In  the  judgments  which  speedily  fell  upon  the  presumptuous  Jew  and  the  Slave 
holder,  do  we  not  see  a  remarkable  "  historical  parallel  ?" 

The  conspirator  continued :— "Let  us  alone.  Let  me  tell  you.  my  dear  cousin,  that  if  there  is  any  attempt 
at  war  on  the  part  of  the  North,  we  can  soundly  thrash  them  on  any  field  of  battle  ;  and  not  only  that,  we  can 
give  them  over  to  Jean  Jaques,  and  leave  them  to  manage  that.  We  know  our  strens-th.  Why.  we  export 
over  two  hundred  millions  of  produce,  which  the  world  eagerly  necks  and  cannot  do  without.  A  six  months' 
failure  of  our  exports  to  Europe  would  revolutioni/e  every  existing  government  there,  as  well  as  at  the  North. 
All  know  it.  The  North  exports  some  sixty  millions,  in  ,;>n>j»'fftio,i  with  the  European  producers.  Why 
the  North,  without  our  custom  for  manufactures,  and  our  produce  for  its  commerce  and  exchanges,  is,  neither 
more  nor  less,  the  poorest  portion  of  the  civilized  world.  To  that  it  has  come  on  an  infideland.  abstract  idea."— 
Letter  of  Ja».  U.  Hammond  to  J/r*.  /'.  //.  Pratt,  published  in  the  Albany  Statesman. 

1  See  page  104. 


264  ASSUMPTION   OF   SUPREME   AUTHOPJTY. 

of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  to  our  posterity — invoking  the  favor  and  guidance 
of  Almighty  God1 — do  order  and  ordain  this  Constitution  for  the  Confeder 
ate  States  of  America." 

This  Constitution  was  that  of  the  United  States,  with  the  alterations  and 
omissions  seen  in  the  Provisional  Constitution,2  and  others  made  by  the 
Committee.  It  prohibited  the  giving  of  bounties  from  the  Treasury,  or  the 
laying  of  duties  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  any  branch  of  industry.  It 
made  the  Post-office  Department  rely  wholly  upon  its  own  revenue  to  pay 
its  expenses  ;  it  attempted  to  prevent  fraudulent  legislation  by  prohibiting 
the  introduction  of  more  than  one  subject  in  any  act ;  it  fixed  the  term  of 
service  of  the  "President  and  Vice-President"  at  six  years,  and  made  the 
former  ineligible  to  re-election  ;  it  provided  for  the  government  of  new 
Territories,  and  prohibited  the  enactment  of  any  law  "  denying  or  impairing 
the  right  of  property  in  negro  slaves."  There  were  several  provisions  for 
securing  an  economical  expenditure  of  money.  The  delegates  from  South 
Carolina  and  Florida  voted  against  the  clause  prohibiting  the  African  Slave- 
trade. 

Davis  had  already  been  authorized  by  the  Convention"  to  assume  control 
of  "  all  military  operations  between  the   Confederate  States,"  or 
any  °f  tnemj  and  powers  foreign  to  them  ;  and  he  was  also  author 
ized  to  receive  from  them  the  arms  and  munitions  of  war  "acquired 
from    the    United    States."      At    the    middle 
of  March,  it  recommended  the  several   States 
to  cede  to  the  "  Confederate  States"  the  forts, 
arsenals,   dock-yards,  and  other   public  estab 
lishments  within  their  respective  limits.     These 
recommendations  were  cheerfully  responded  to 
by  all  except  the  South  Carolinians,  who  were 
tardy   in   relinquishing   the    means    for    main 
taining  their  "  sovereignty."      Already   P.   G. 
T.   Beauregard,  a  Louisiana  Creole,  who  had 
abandoned  the  flag  of  his  country,  and  sought 
employment    among    its    enemies,    had    been 
appointed   bri^adier-ffeneral,6     and 

o  March  3.         ™          ,       .  AT  ^   i 

ordered  from  New  Orleans  to 
Charleston,  to  take  charge  of  all  the  insurgent 
forces  there.  Already  John  Forsyth,  Martin  J.  Crawford,  and  A.  B.  Roman 
had  been  appointed  Commissioners  to  proceed  to  Washington,  and  make  a 
settlement  of  all  questions  at  issue  between  the  United  States  and  the 
conspirators;  and  Memminger  had  made  preparations  for  establishing 
Custom  Houses  along  the  frontier  "  between  the  two  confederacies."  After 

1  This  expression  called  forth  much  debate.     Some  opposed  the  introduction  of  the  sentiment  in  any  form. 
Chilton  wished  it  stronger,  by  adding,  "who  is  the  God  of  the  Bible  and  the  rightful  source  of  all  government.1" 
As  the  word  "  Bible"  would  include  the  New  Testament,  this  suffix  was  opposed  because  it  might  offend  Mr. 
Benjamin,  who  was  a  Jew,  and  did  not  admit  the  divinity  of  Jesus.     It  was  voted  down.     One  of  the  Cobbs 
proposed  to  introduce  in  the  Constitution  a  clause  recognizing  the  Christian  Sabbath,  in  the  following  form  : — 
"No  man   shall  be  compelled  to  do  civil  duty  on  Sunday."     This  was  voted  down,  partly  out  of  deference 
to  Mr.  Benjamin,  the  Jew,  and  partly  because  Perkins,  of  Louisiana,  declared  that  the  people  of   that   State 
would  not  accept  of  such  a  provision.    Delegates  from  Texas  made  the  same  declaration  concerning  the  people 
of  their  State. 

2  See  page  251 


TREASON   OF   GENERAL  TWIGGS.  265 

agreeing,  by  resolution,  to  share  in  the  crime  of  plundering  the  National 
Government  by  accepting  a  portion  of  the  money  which  the  Louisiana 
politicians  had  stolen  from  the  Mint  and  Custom  House  at  Xew  Orleans,1 
the  Convention  adjourned.2  At  that  time  vigorous  preparations  for  war 
were  seen  on  every  hand.  Volunteers,  even  from  Tennessee,  offered  their 
services.  In  many  places  in  the  Gulf  States  enlistments  went  rapidly  on; 
and  by  the  first  of  April,  probably  twenty  thousand  names  were  on  the  rolls 
of  the  growing  insurgent  army. 

The  conspirators  of  Texas,  we  have  observed,  were  represented  in  the 
Convention  at  Montgomery.     The  people  of  that  State  had  lately  suffered 
the  most  flagrant  wrongs  at  the  hands  of  disloyal  men  ;  and  that  Common* 
wealth  had  been   the  theater  of  an  act 
of    treachery    of   the    vilest    and    most 
injurious  nature,  performed  by  the  vet 
eran  soldier,  General  David  E.  Twiggs, 
of  Georgia,  who  was  next    in  rank  to 
Lieutenant-General  Scott,  in   the  Army 
of  the  Republic. 

We  have  observed  that  the  conspir 
ators  and  disloyal  politicians  of  Texas 
had  placed  the  people  of  that  State, 
who,  by  an  overwhelming  majority, 
were  for  the  Union,  in  an  attitude  of 
rebellion  before  the  close  of  February, 
and  that  the  Revolutionary  Committee3 
had  appointed  Messrs.  Devine  and  I>AVID  E.  TWIGGS. 

Maverick,  Commissioners  to  treat  with 

General  Twiggs,  the  Commander  of  the  Department,  for  the  surrender  into 
their  hands  of  all  the  property  of  the  National  Government  under  his 
control.  Twiggs  was  a  favorite  of  the  Administration,  and  his  conduct 
denotes  that  he  was  in  complicity  with  the  conspirators  at  Washington. 


1  Sec  page  Is"). 

8  The  proceedings  of  this  Convention,  sun!  of  the  "  Provisional  Government  of  the  Confederate  States,"  have 
never  been  printed.  The  original  manuscripts  were  discovered  by  some  of  General  Wilson's  command  at 
Athens,  in  Georgia,  after  the  downfall  of  the  rebellion.  They  were  in  three  boxes,  in  one  of  the  recitation-rooms 
of  the  University  of  Georgia.  A  correspondent  of  the  Xtic  York  Herald,  writing  from  Athens,  on  the  19th  of 
June,  1SG5,  gives  the  following  interesting  history  of  these  papers,  which  consist  of  journals,  correspondence, 
et  cvfttni : — 

"As  the  Provisional  Congress  was  about  to  expire,  a  proposition  was  made  that  the  journals  should  be 
published.  This  was  objected  to,  on  the  ground  of  furnishing  much  valuable  information,  and  a  law  was  passed 
authorizing  and  requiring  the  President  of  the  Congress,  Howell  Cobb,  to  have  three  copies  made  of  all  the 
journals.  lie  was  at  that  time  in  the  Army,  commanding  the  Sixteenth  Georgia  Regiment,  and  down  on  the 
Peninsula,  below  Richmond.  He  at  once  engaged  .1.  I).  Hooper,  former  clerk,  to  undertake  the  job.  Whatever 
were  his  hinderances  it  is  not  known;  but  he  did  very  little,  and  after  having  them  on  hand  for  a  longtime, 
died.  The}'  were  then  shipped  to  a  gentleman  in  Georgia,  with  a  request  to  complete  the  work.  Papers  were 
missing,  requiring  months  to  find  ;  materials  hard  to  get,  and  the  work,  therefore,  never  was  completed.  They 
were  at  one  time  held  in  Atlanta,  but  the  Unionists  coming  too  near,  were  hurried  off  to  West  Point,  Georgia. 
There  a  strong  rumor  of  a  raid  springing  up,  they  were  carried  to  Tallapoosa  County,  Alabama,  on  a  plantation. 
In  marching  from  Ihideville  to  Loachapoka,  General  Rousseau  passed  within  four  miles  of  the  house  where 
they  were  ;  and  when  his  men  were  destroying  the  railroad  at.  Notasulga,  and  were  having  the  little  tight  near 
Chehaw,  the  boxes  were  hid  out  in  the  woods,  two  miles  off.  and  were  watched  by  two  negro  men.  They 
were  then  removed  to  Augusta.  Georgia,  and  thence,  when  Sherman  came,  tearing  down  through  Georgia  like  a 
wild  horse,  they  were  pushed  along  into  the  upper  part  of  South  Carolina.  Thence  in  the  spring  they  were 
brought  over  to  this  place."  These  journals  are  among  the  archives  of  the  "  Confederate  Government,"  at 
"Washington  City.  »  See  page  1S3. 


266 


TWIGGS   SUSPECTED    AND    SUPERSEDED. 


He  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Department  of  Texas  only  a  few  weeks 
before  he  committed  the  treasonable  act  we  are  about  to  record.  For 
forty  years  he  had  served  his  Government  acceptably,  and  was  honored 
with  its  confidence ;  but  the  virus  that  poisoned  so  many  noble  characters, 
destroyed  the  life  of  his  patriotism.  Not  content  with  deserting  his  flag 
himself,  he  tried  to  seduce  his  officers  from  their  allegiance.  He  began  by 
talking  gloomily  of  the  future,  and  expressing  doubts  of  the  ability  of  the 
Government  to  maintain  its  authority.  He  soon  spoke  disparagingly  of  that 
Government;  and  finally  he  said  to  his  officers  : — "  The  Union  will  be  at  an 
end  in  less  than  sixty  days,  and  if  you  have  any  pay  due  you,  you  had  better 
get  it  at  once,  for  it  is  the  last  you  will  ever  get." 

Intimations  of  Twiggs's  disloyalty  had  reached  the  Secretary  of  War, 
Holt,  and  on  the  18th  of  January,  in  a  general  order,  the  veteran  was 
relieved  from  the  command  of  the  Department  of  Texas,  and  it  was  turned 
over  to  Colonel  Carlos  A.  Waite,  of  the  First  Regiment  of  Infantry.  But 
the  anticipated  mischief  was  accomplished  before  the  order  could  perform  its 
intended  work.  When  the  Commissioners  were  informed  of  its  arrival  at 
Twiggs's  head-quarters,  at  the  Alamo,  in  the  city  of  San  Antonio,  they  took 

measures   to   prevent    its 


reaching  Colonel  Waite, 
whose  regimental  head 
quarters  was  at  the  least 
sixty  miles  distant,  on  the 
Verde  Creek,  a  branch  of 
the  Guadaloupe  River. 
But  the  vigilance  and 
activity  of  the  patriotic 
Colonel  Nichols,  Twiggs's 
Assistant  Adjutant-Gen 
eral,  who  watched  his 
chief  with  the  keen  eye 
of  full  suspicion,  foiled 
them.  He  duplicated  the 
orders,  and  sent  two  cou 
riers  by  different  routes.  One  of  them  was  captured  and  taken  back  to 
San  Antonio,  and  the  other  reached  Waite,  with  the  order,  on  the  17th  of 
February. 

Twiggs  was  cautious  and  had  adroitly  avoided  committing  himself  to 
treason  in  writing.  He  always  said  to  the  impatient  Commissioners  : — "  I 
will  give  up  every  thing/'  But  the  time  had  now  arrived  when  temporizing 
must  end.  He  was  ready  to  act;  but  he  must  have  a  decent  excuse  for  his 
surrendering  the  force  under  his  immediate  command,  which  consisted  of  only 
two  skeleton  companies  under  Captains  King  and  Smith.  Other  troops  had 
been  ordered  away  from  San  Antonio  by  Twiggs  when  the  danger  of  revolu 
tion  became  pressing,  and  they  might  be  called  to  put  down  insurrection. 

1  JThis  is  a  very  old  building.  It  was  a  church,  erected  by  the  Spaniards,  and  was  afterward  converted  into 
a  fortress.  There,  during  the  war  for  the  independence  of  Texas,  many  Americans,  who  had  joined  the  Texans 
in  the  struggle,  were  massacred  by  the  Mexicans.  Among  those  who  fell  were  Colonel  David  Crockett,  and 
Colonel  Bowie,  the  inventor  of  the  famous  bowie-knife,  so  much  used  by  desperadoes  in  the  Southwest. 


THE    ALAMO.1 


SURRENDER    OF   NATIONAL   FORCES   TO   INSURGENTS.          267 

The  excuse  for  Twiggs  was  readily  found.  Ben.  McCulloch,  the  famous 
Texan  Ranger,  was  stationed  at  Seguiu,  not  far  off.  The  Commissioners 
employed  him  to  prepare  arid  lead  a  sufficient  military  force  to  capture  the 
National  troops  in  San  Antonio.  He 
received  directions  to  that 
effect  on  the  9th,"  and  he  at  "  F^™ary' 
once  pushed  forward  toward 
the  city  with  almost  a  thousand  men. 
He  was  joined,  near  the  town,  by  two 
hundred  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle, 
who  went  out  well  armed  and  equipped, 
each  having  forty  rounds  of  ammuni 
tion. 

At  two  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning, 
the  16th,  two  hundred  mounted  men, 
led  by  McCulloch,  rushed  into  the  city, 
breaking  the  slumbers  of  the  inhabi 
tants  with  unearthly  yells.  These 
were  soon  followed  by  about  five 

hundred  more.  They  took  possession  of  the  Main  Plaza,  a  large  vacant 
square  in  the  center  of  the  city,  and  placed  guards  over  the  Arsenal,  the  park 
of  artillery,  and  the  Government  buildings.  A  traitor  in  the  Quartermaster's 
Department,  named  Edgar,  had,  at  the  tirst  dash  into  the  city,  taken  posses 
sion  of  the  Alamo.1 

General  Twiggs  and  Colonel  Nichols  met  McCulloch  in  the  Main  Plaza, 
where  terms  of  surrender  were  soon  agreed  to;  and  there,  at 
noon,*  was  fully  consummated  the  treasonable  act  which  Twiggs  *  K-1J™;Jr-v 
had  commenced  by  negotiation  so  early  as  the  7th.5  He  sur 
rendered  all  the  National  forces  in  Texas,  numbering  about  two  thousand  five 
hundred,  and  composed  of  thirty-seven  companies.  Fifteen  companies  ol 
infantry  and  five  of  artillery  were  on  the  line  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  the  other 
seventeen  were  in  tlit*  interior.  With  the  troops  Twiggs  surrendered  public 
stores  and  munitions  of  war,  valued,  at  their  cost,  at  one  million  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars.3  Beside  these,  he  surrendered  all  the  forts,  arsenals,  and 
other  military  posts  within  tin*  limits  of  his  command,  including  Fort  Davis, 
in  the  great  canon  of  the  Lympia  Mountains,  on  the  San  Antonio  and  San 
Diego  mail-route,  five  hundred  miles  from  the  former  city.  It  was  then  the 
head-quarters  of  the  Eighth  Regiment  of  Infantry,  and,  because  of  its  situa 
tion  in  the  midst  of  the  country  of  the  plundering  Mescularo  Apaches,  and 
in  the  path  of  the  marauding  Comauches  into  Mexico,  it  was  a  post  of  great 
importance. 

1  Galrffton  y«ic*,  February  22,  1S61.     Sketch  of  Sect*»ion  Time*  in  Texax:  by  J.  P.  Newcomb,  editor  of 
the  Alamo  Efpre#s,  page  11.    Tetras,  and  it*  Latt  Military  Occupation  and  Evacuation  :  by  an  Officer  of  the 
Army. 

2  On  that  day,  Twiggs  issued  an  order  to  his  troops,  informing  them  that  the  "Secession  Act  had  passed  the 
Convention"  of  the  Suite,  to  take  effect  on  the  2d  day  of  March;  but  that  he  could  not  say  what  disposition 
would  be  made  of  the  troops.     He  promised  to  remain  with  them  until  something  was  done,  and  make  them  as 
comfortable  as  possible.     He  seems  to  have  made  up  his  mind,  as  soon  as  the  Secession  Ordinance  was  passed,  to 
betray  his  troops  and  the  public  property  into  the  hands  <>f  the  public  enemy. 

3  "Their  value  in  Texas  is  much  greater,  and  worth  to  the  State  at  least  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars."-" 
San  Antonio  Herald,  February  23. 


268 


DISPOSAL   OF   TROOPS   IN   TEXAS. 


By  this  act  Twiggs  deprived  his  Government  of  the  most  effective  portion 
of  its  Regular  Army,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  plans  of  his   employers, 
Davis  and  Floyd.     When  the  Government  was  informed  of  his 
actual  treason,  an  order  was  issued,"  directing  him  to  be  "dis 
missed  from  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  for  treachery  to  the 
flag  of  his  country."  *    Earlier  than  this,  "  Charity  Lodge  "  of  the  "  Knights  of 
Malta,"  in  New  Orleans,  who  had  heard  of  his  infamy,  expelled 
him  from  their  order6  by  unanimous  vote.     On  the  4th  of  March 
the  Secession  Convention  of  Louisiana,  that  had  assembled  that  day,  resolved 
to  unite  with  the  citizens  of  New  Orleans  in  honoring  Twiggs  with  a  public 
reception.     That  honor  was  conferred  eight  days  after  he  was  dismissed  from 
the  service  of  his  country  for  a  high  crime. 

On  the  18th,c  Twiggs  issued  a  general  order,  in  which  he  announced 
the  fact  of  the  surrender  of  his  forces,  and  directed  the  garrisons 
of  all  the  posts,  after  they  should  be  handed  over  to  agents  of  the 
insurgents,  to  make  their  way  to  the  sea- coast  as  speedily  as  possible,  where, 


February. 


FORT  DAVIS. 


according  to  the  terms  made  with  the  Commissioners,  they  would  be  allowed 
to  leave  the  State,  taking  with  them  their  arms,  clothing,  and  necessary 
stores.  With  this  order  went  out  a  circular  from  the  Commissioners,  in  the 
name  of  the  State  of  Texas,  whose  authority  they  had  usurped,  in  which  they 
solemnly  agreed  that  the  troops  should  have  every  assistance,  in  the  way  of 
transportation  and  otherwise,  for  leaving  the  State,  for,  they  said,  "  they  are 
our  friends,  who  have  hitherto  afforded  us  all  the  protection  in  their  power ; 
and  it  is  our  duty  to  see  that  no  insult  or  indignity  is  offered  them."  It  is 
apparent  that  at  that  very  time  the  conspirators  had  determined  to  cast  every 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  betrayed  men  on  their  way  to  the  coast,  and  their 
departure  from  it,  with  the  hope  of  persuading  a  portion  of  them  to  join  the 
insurgents.  In  this  they  were  mistaken.  In  all  the  vicissitudes  to  which 


1  The  Charleston  Courier,  on  the  18th  of  May,  1861,  published  a  letter  written  by  General  Twiggs  to 
President  Buchanan,  threatening  to  visit  Lancaster,  and  call  him  to  a  personal  account  for  branding  him  as  a 
traitor.  "This  was  personal,"1  he  said,  "and  I  shall  treat  it  as  such — not  through  the  papers — but  in  person." 


A   SAD   DAY   AT  SAX   ANTONIO.  269 

they  were  afterward  exposed,  the  private  soldiers  and  most  of  the  officers 
remained  true  to  the  old  flag.  The  writer  saw  some  of  them  at  midsummer 
in  Fort  Hamilton,  at  the  entrance  to  New  York  Bay  ;  and  never  was  a  curse 
by  "  bell,  book,  and  candle,"  more  sincerely  uttered,  than  were  those  that 
fell  from  the  compressed  lips  of  these  betrayed  soldiers.  These  troops  were 
the  first  who  left  Texas.  They  came  from  posts  on  the  line  of  the  Rio 


POINT  ISABEL,  TEXAS,   IN   1S61. 

Grande,  and  embarked  in  the  Dnnid  W'-lmt'-r  at  Point  Isabel,  a  place  of 
much  note  in  the  history  of  the  war  with  Mexico.4     They  arrived 

a  1S46-1S4S 

at  Fort  Hamilton  on  the  30th  of  March,  1801. 

At  five   o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  16th,6  the  little  band  of  National 
troops  in  San  Antonio  marched  sullenly  out  of  the  city,  to  the 
tune  of  "  The  Red,  White,  and  Blue,"  and  encamped  at  San  Pedro 
Springs,   two  miles  from  the  Plaza,  there  to  remain   until   the 
arrival  of  Colonel  Waite.     They  were  followed  by  a  crowd  of  sorrowing 
citizens.      The  tears  of  strong   men  were    mingled  with   those  of  delicate 
women,  when  they  saw  the  old  flag  disappear;  and  sullen  gloom  hung  over 
the  town  that   night,  and  for  many  days.1     San  Antonio  was  full  of  loyal 
men,  and  so   was   the    State.      There   was   wide-spread    sorrow   when    the 
calamity  of  Twiggs's  treason  became  known.     It  was  a  calamity  for  the  nation, 
and  it  was  a  special  calamity  for  the  Texans,  for  these  troops,  now  about  to 
leave  them,  had  been  their  protectors  against  the  incursions  of  the  savage 
Indian  tribes,  that  were  hanging,  like  a  portentous  cloud,  along  their  frontier. 
The  surrendered  forts  were  to  be  garrisoned  by  Texas  militia,  but  in  these 
the  people  had  little  confidence. 

Colonel  Waite,  who  started  for  San  Antonio,  with  an  escort  of  fifteen 
cavalry,  immediately  after  receiving  his  order  from  the  War  Department, 
arrived  there  early  in  the  afternoon  of  the  18th.  J^lcCulloch  had  stationed 
troops  on  the  regular  route  to  intercept  him.  By  taking  by-paths  he  eluded 
them.  But  he  was  a  few  hours  too  late.  Twiggs  had  consummated  his 
treason,  and  Texan  soldiers  occupied  the  post.  Waite  was  compelled  to 
recognize  the  capitulation.  Sadly  he  rode  out  to  San  Pedro  Springs,  joined 
the  little  handful  of  National  troops  there,  and.  on  the  following 

,  ,  °  '  February  19. 

day,'    assumed    the    command    of    the    department.       Already 

Twiggs's  order  for  the  evacuation  of  the  posts  in  Texas  had  been  sent,  but 


1  Secession  Time*  in  Texuti,  i»ago  11 


270 


FORTS   SURRENDERED   BY   TWIGGS. 


some  of  these  were  so  distant  and  isolated,  and  the  traveling  so  difficult  at 
that  season  of  the  year,  that  it  was  several  weeks  before  the  order  reached 
them.  One  of  these  is  Fort  Arbuckle,  in  Franklin  County,  situated  west 


FORT  ARBUCKLE. 


from  Arkansas,  on  the  False  Wachita  River.  It  protects  the  northern 
frontiers  of  the  State  from  the  forays  of  the  wild  Comanches.  At  the  time 
we  are  considering,  it  was  garrisoned  by  detachments  from  the  First  Cavalry 
and  one  company  of  the  First  Infantry  Regiment.  Another  was  Fort 


FORT   WACHITA. 


Wachita,  sixty  miles  southeasterly  from  Fort  Arbuckle,  and,  like  it,  on  the 
Indian  Reserve.  It  was  garrisoned  by  two  companies  of  the  First  Cavalry 
Regiment.  Xear  this  post,  in  the  autumn  of  1858,  Major  Earle  Van  Dorn, 
a  gallant  officer  of  the  National  Army,  who  appears  for  the  first  time,  in 


FORT  LANCASTER. 


connection  with  Twiggs's  treason,  as  an  enemy  of  his  country,  had  a  suc 
cessful  battle  with  a  band  of  warlike  Comanches.  Another  important  post 
was  Fort  Lancaster,  on  the  mail-route  between  San  Antonio  to  San  Diego, 


FAITHLESSNESS   AND   PATRIOTISM.  271 

In  the  midst  of  the  remarkable  table-lands  near  the  junction  of  Live  Oak 
Creek  and  the  Pecos  River.  It  is  a  place  of  much  importance,  for  it  pro 
tects  the  great  ford  of  the  Pecos,  where  nearly  all  the  trains  from  Texns 
cross  it,  on  their  way  to  California.  These  are  really  mere  military  posts 
rather  than  forts,  quite  sufficient  in  strength,  however,  for  the  uses  of  the 
service  in  that  region.  The  military  power  under  Twiggs's  control  was 
ample,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  Union  citizens,  to  hold  the  State  firmly 
in  a  position  of  loyalty  to  the  National  Government,  and  to  defy  the  Arch- 
Conspirator  at  Montgomery,  who,  before  Texas  had  become  a  member  of 
the  "  Confederacy,"  wrote,  through  his  so-called  Secretary  of  War,  to  the 
Texas  Convention,  that  if,  after  a  reasonable  time,  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  should  refuse  to  withdraw  the  troops,  "all  the  powers  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy  should  be  used  to  expel  them."1 

Colonel  Waite  found  himself  at  once  entangled  in  most  serious  embarrass 
ments.  In  violation  of  the  terms  of  Twiggs's  treaty  for  surrender,  adequate 
means  of  transportation  for  the  troops  in  the  interior  were  withheld ;  and 
officers  born  in  Slave-labor  States,  such  as  Lieutenant  Thornton  Washington, 
Major  Larkin  Smith,  and  others,  in  whom  he  confided,  betrayed  their  trusts 
in  a  most  shameful  manner,  and  joined  the  insurgents. 

Captain  Hill,  who  commanded  Fort  Brown,  on  the  Rio  Grande,  opposite 


Matamoras,  refused  to  obey  the  order  of  Twiggs  to  evacuate  it,  and  prepared 
to  defend  it.  He  soon  found  that  he  could  not  hold  it  with  the  small  force 
under  his  command,  and  he  was  compelled  to  yield.  The  troops  along  the 
line  of  the  Rio  Grande  soon  left  the  country,  but  those  in  the  interior,  who 
made  their  way  slowly  toward  the  coast,  became  involved  in  great  difficulties. 
Toward  the  middle  of  April,  Major  Enrle  Van  Porn,  who  was  a  favorite 
in  the  army  of  that  department,  appeared  in  Texas  with  the  commission  of  a 
colonel,  from  Jefferson  Pavis.  He  was  a  native  of  Mississippi.  lie  had 
abandoned  his  flag,  and  was  now  in  the  employment  of  its  enemies.  lie  was 
there  to  secure  for  the  use  of  the  insurgent  army,  by  persuasion  and  glowing 
promises  of  great  good  to  themselves,  the  remnant  of  the  betrayed  forces  of 
the  Republic,  or  to  make  them  useless  to  their  Government.  Simultaneously 
with  his  appearance,  the  newspapers  in  the  interest  of  the  conspirators  teemed 
with  arguments  to  show  that  the  National  soldiers  were  absolved  from  their 
allegiance,  because  the  "  Union  was  dissolved ;"  and  Van  Porn  held  out 
brilliant  temptations  to  win  them  to  his  standard.  His  labor  was  vain. 

1  Letter  of  L.  Pope  Walker  to  the  Texas  Convention,  February  20,  1S61. 


272  CAPTURE  OF   MAJOR   SIBLEY'S   TROOPS. 

They  were  too  patriotic  to  be  seduced,  or  even  to  listen  patiently  to  his 
wicked  overtures. 

At  about  the  time  when  Van  Dorn  appeared,  seven  companies  of  National 
troops,  under  Major  Sibley,  were  at  Indianola,  on  Matagorda  Bay,  preparing 
to  embark  on  the  Star  of  the  West,  which  had  been  ruthlessly  expelled  from 
Charleston  harbor  in  January.  This  vessel  had  been  sent,  with  twenty 
thousand  rations  and  other  supplies,  under  convoy  of  the  gunboat  Jlfohawk, 
to  bear  away  the  troops.  Supposing  the  vessel  to  be  at  the  mouth  of  the 
harbor,  Sibley  embarked  the  troops  on  two  small  steam  lighters,  and  proceeded 
down  the  bay.  He  had  suspected  treasonable  designs  concerning  his  com 
mand.  His  suspicions  were  confirmed  by  the  absence  of  the  Star  of  the 
West  and  its  convoy,  and  he  resolved  to  go  on  in  the  lighters  to  Tampico,  in 
Mexico.  A  lack  of  provisions  and  coal  compelled  him  to  turn  back.  His 
troops  were  disembarked,  and,  on  the  following  day,  Lieutenant  Whipplo 
gave  him  proof  of  hostile  designs  against  his  troops,  by  reporting  the  exist 
ence  of  a  small  battery  at  Saluria,  some  distance  down  the  bay.  Whipple 
was  ordered  to  capture  it,  but  when  he  and  his  little  party  approached  the 
place,  the  cannon  were  not  there. 

As  speedily  as  possible,  Major  Sibley  re-embarked  his  troops  on  two 
schooners,  and  these,  towed  by  the  steam  lighters,  proceeded  toward  the 
Gulf.  Heavy  easterly  winds  were  sweeping  the  sea,  and  no  pilots  were  to  be 
seen.  Darkness  came  on  before  they  reached  the  entrance  to  the  bay,  and 
they  anchored  within  it.  There  they  lay  a  greater  part  of  two  days  and  two 
nights,  anxiously  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  Star  of  the  West  and  Mohawk. 
At  ten  o'clock,  when  the  darkness  was  profound,  and  the  storm  heavy,  thick 
volumes  of  smoke  were  discerned  above  the  schooners.  At  daylight  three 
steamers  lay  near,  with  side-barricades  of  cotton-bales ;  and,  a  little  later,  a 
larger  steamship  than  either  of  these,  armed  with  heavy  cannon,  came  over 
the  bar  and  anchored  near  the  schooners.  The  four  vessels  bore  about  fifteen 
hundred  well-armed  Texans,  under  Van  Dorn.  He  sent  commissioners  to 
demand  the  surrender  of  the  troops  on  the  schooners.  Sibley  called  a 
council  of  war.  It  was  unanimously  agreed  that  resistance  to  such  a  heavy 
and  active  force  would  be  madness,  and  Sibley  surrendered."  The 
SP°^S»  besides  the  seven  companies  made  prisoners  of  war,  four 
hundred  and  fifty  in  number,  were  over  three  hundred  fine  rifles 
and  the  camp  equipage  of  the  whole  party  of  captured  troops.  Many  of 
these  men  wept  because  they  had  not  an  opportunity  to  fight,  and  threw 
their  arms  overboard.  At  about  the  same  time,  a  party  of  volunteers  from 
Galveston  boarded  the  Star  of  the  West  off  Indianola,  and  cap- 
* April  "•  tured  her,  with  all  her  stores.6 

On  the  day  preceding  this  surrender  near  Saluria,  Colonel  Waite,  with 

his  staff  and  all  of  the  officers  on  duty  at  San  Antonio,  were  made  prisoners,' 

under  most  aggravating  circumstances.     When  Colonel  Waite 

pointed   to    the    plighted   faith    of  the    self-constituted    Texan 

authorities  with  whom  Twiggs  had  treated,  and  argued  that  the  present  act 

was  in  violation  of  a  solemn  covenant,  he  was  given  to  understand  that  no 

arguments  would  be  heard — that  he  and  his  oificers  were  prisoners,  and,  if 

they  were  not  quiet,  physical  force  would  be  used  to  compel  them  to  keep 

silence.     One  of  the  most  insolent  of  these  representatives  of  "authority" 


SURRENDER   OF   REESE'S  TROOPS.  273 

was  a  Major  Maclin,  of  Arl^insas,  who  until  a  short  time  before  had  held  the 
office  of  paymaster  in  the  Regular  Army. 

At  this  time,  seven  companies  of  the  Eighth  Regiment,  three  hundred 
and  thirty-six  strong,  under  Colonel  Reese,  were  making  their  way  from  the 
interior,  slowly  and  wearily,  toward  the  coast,  along  El  Paso  Road.  On 
reaching  Middle  Texas,  Colonel  Reese  found  all  the  supplies  necessary  for 
the  subsistence  of  his  .troops  in  the  hands  of  the  insurgents;  and  at  the 
ranche  of  Mr.  Adams,  near  San  Lucas  Springs,  twenty  miles  west  from  San 
Antonio,  on  the  Castroville  Road,  he  was  confronted  by  Van  Dorn,  who  had 
full  fifteen  hundred  men  and  two  splendid  batteries  of  12-pounders,  one  of 
them  under  Captain  Edgar,  the  traitor  who  seized  the  Alamo.1  Van  Dorn 
sent  Captains  Wilcox  and  Major  to  demand  an  unconditional  surrender. 
Reese  refused,  until  he  should  be  convinced  that  Van  Dorn  had  a  sufficient 
force  to  sustain  his  demand.  Van  Dorn  allowed  him  to  send  an  officer 
(Lieutenant  Bliss)  to  observe  the  insurgent  strength.  The  report  convinced 
Reese  that  his  force  was  greatly  outnumbered,  and  he  surrendered 
unconditionally,*1  giving  his  word  of  honor  that  he  would  report 
at  Van  Dorn's  camp,  on  the  Leon,  at  six  o'clock  that  evening. 

The  little  column  of  Colonel  Reese  comprised  all  of  the  National  troops 
remaining  in  Texas,  and  these  were  held  close  prisoners  at  San  Antonio, 
whilst  Colonel  Waite  and  his  fellow-captives,  ami  Major  Sibley's  command, 
were  paroled.  The  men  were  compelled  to  take  an  oath  that  they  would 
not  bear  arms  against  the  insurgents.  Embarking  soon  afterward,  they 
reached  New  York  in  safety,  after  a  voyage  of  thirty  days.  Texas  was 
now  completely  prostrated  beneath  the  heel  of  that  grinding  and  infernal 
despotism  whose  central  force  was  »t  Montgomery  ;  and  that  commonwealth, 
as  we  have  already  observed,  soon  became  an  important  member  of  the 
revolutionary  league  called  THE  CONFEDERATE  STATES  OF  AMERICA. - 

After  the  adoption  of  the  permanent  Constitution  at  Montgomery,  and 
the  establishment  of  the  so-called  u  Confederation,"  or  plan  of  "permanent 
Federal  Government,"  that  Constitution  was  submitted  to  the  revolutionary 
conventions  of  the  several  States  named  in  the  league,  for  ratification  or 
rejection.  The  Convention  of  Alabamians,  who  reassembled  on  the  4th  of 
March,  ratified  it  on  the  13th,  by  a  vote  of  eighty-seven  against  five.  That 
of  Georgians  reassembled  on  the  7th  of  March,  and  on  the  10th  ratified  it 
by  unanimous  vote,  saying  that  the  State  of  Georgia  acted  u  in  its  sovereign 
and  independent  character."  That  of  Louisianians,  which  reassembled  on 
the  4th  of  March,  ratified  the  Constitution  on  the  21st  of  the  same  month, 
by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  seven  against  seven.  The  South  Carolina 
politicians  reassembled  their  Convention  on  the  26th  of  March,  and  on  the 
3d  day  of  April  that  assembly  relinquished  the  boasted  sovereignty  of  the 
State,  by  giving  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  forty  against  twenty-nine  for  the 
Constitution  of  the  new  "  Confederacy.''3  The  Convention  of  Mississippians 

1  Sec  page  207. 

2  Sec  the  closing  pages  of  Chapter  VII. 

3  11.  Harnwell  Ilhett  made  strenuous  opposition  to  the  Constitution.     On  the  27th  of  March,  he  submitted 
an  ordinance  for  consideration,  which  provided  for  the  calling  a  Convention  in  South  Carolina,  In  tho  event  of  a 
Free-labor  State  being  admitted  into  the  new  Confederacy.     And  on  the  2d  of  April,  he  offered  a  resolution 
that  the   Convention  should  expressly  declare  "  that  in  ratifying  and  adopting  the  above  Constitution,  they 
suppose  that  it  establishes  a  Confederacy  of  Slaveholding  States ;  and  this  State  does  not  consider  herself  bound 

VOL.  I.— 18 


274  HOW   THE    "CONFEDERACY"    WAS   ESTABLISHED. 

reassembled  on  the  25th  of  March.  There  were»able  men  among  them,  who 
contended  that  the  people  and  not  that  Convention  should  decide  whether  or 
not  the  new  Constitution  should  be  the  supreme 'law  of  their  land.  These 
democratic  ideas  were  scouted  as  heterodox,  and  the  Convention  proceeded 
to  act  as  the  embodied  sovereignty  of  the  State,  by  adopting  the 
"  M*g[lj 26)  new  plan  of  government  by  a  vote  of  seventy-eight  against  seven/ 
Such  was  the  method  by  which  a  few  arrogant  politicians  in 
seven  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  usurping  the  rights  and  powers  of  the 
people,  formed  a  league  against  the  rightful  and  beneficent  Government  of 
that  people,  and  in  their  name  plunged  their  peaceful  and  highly  prosperous 
country  into  a  civil  war  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  mankind  in  its  extent, 
energy,  and  waste  of  life  and  treasure.  The  confiding,  misled,  and  betrayed 
people  had  given  them  leave  to  meet  in  conventions,  only  to  consider  alleged 
grievances,  and  to  deliberate  upon  the  subject  of  their  relations  to  the 
Union.  From  that  time,  the  politicians  acted  as  if  there  were  no  people  to 
consult  or  to  serve — as  if  they,  and  they  alone,  constituted  the  State.  Their 
constituents  were  never  allowed  to  express  their  opinions  by  vote  concerning 
the  Ordinances  of  Secession,  excepting  in  Texas,  and  the  proceedings  there 
were  fraudulent  and  outrageous.  And  when  seven  of  the  revolutionary 
conventions,  transcending  the  powers  delegated  to  them  by  the  people, 
appointed  from  among  themselves  commissioners  to  meet  in  General  Con 
vention  at  Montgomery,  and  that  Convention  assumed  the  right  to  found  a 
new  empire,  the  people  were  not  only  not  consulted,  and  not  allowed  to 
express  their  views,  by  ballot,  on  a  subject  of  such  infinite  gravity  to  them 
selves  and  their  posterity,  but,  under  the  reign  of  a  terrible  military  despot 
ism,  unequaled  in  rigor,  lawlessness,  ami  barbarity,  they  were  not  allowed 
to  utter  a  dissenting  word  ever  so  privately,  without  danger  of  being 
relentlessly  persecuted.  Davis,  the  head  of  that  despotism,  had  said  (and 
his  words  applied  equally  to  the  people  of  the  South,  the  North,  and  the 
world) : — "  Whoever  opposes  us,  shall  smell  Southern  powder  and  feel 
Southern  steel." 

While  Jefferson  Davis  was  on  his  way  from  his  home  in  Mississippi  to 
the  city  of  Montgomery,  near  the  Southern  extremity  of  the  Republic,  there 
to  be  inaugurated  leader  of  a  band  of  conspirators  and  the  chief  minister  of 
a  despotism,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  journeying  from  his  home  in  Springfield, 
Illinois,  hundreds  of  miles  farther  north,  on  his  way  toward  the  National 
Capital,  there  to  be  installed  in  office  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  a  nation.  The 
contrast  in  the  characters  and  political  relations  of  the  two  men  was  most 
remarkable.  One  was  a  usurper,  prepared  to  uphold  Wrong  by  violence 
and  the  exercise  of  the  gravest  crimes ;  the  other  was  a  modest  servant  of 
the  people,  appointed  by  them  to  execute  their  will,  and  anxious  to  uphold 
Right  by  the  majesty  and  power  of  law  and  the  exercise  of  virtue  and 
justice. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  eminent  representative  American,  and  in  his  own 
career  illustrated  in  a  most  conspicuous  and  distinguished  manner  the 

to  enter  or  continue  in  confederation  with  any  State  not  tolerating  the  institution  within  its  limits  by  funda 
mental  law."  Rhett  and  his  friends  seemed  fully  determined  on  revolutionary  measures,  if  the  new  Confederacy 
did  not  act  in  accordance  with  their  views.  See  Journal  of  the  Conventions  of  the  People  of  South  Caro 
lina,  pages  199  and  229. 


MR.   LINCOLN'S   DEPARTURE   FOR   WASHINGTON. 


275 


beneficent  and  elevating  operations  of  republican  government  and  repub 
lican  institutions.  He  was  born  in  comparative  obscurity,  in  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  early  in  the  year  1809;  and  when  he  was  inaugurated  President, 
he  had  just  passed  his  fifty-second  birthday.  His  earlier  years  had  been 
spent  in  hard  labor  with  his  hands  on  the  farm,  in  the  forest,  and  on  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi.  His  later  years  had  been  equally  laborious  in  the 
profession  of  the  Taw,  a  knowledge  of  which  he  had  acquired  by  painful 
study,  in  the  midst  of  many  difficulties.  In  that  profession  he  had  advanced 
rapidly  to  distinction,  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  wherein  he  had  settled  with 
his  father  in  the  year  1830.  His  fellow-citizens  discovered  in  him  the  tokens 
of  statesmanship,  and  they  chose  him  to  represent  them  in  the  National 
Congress.  »IIe  served  them  and  his  country  therein  with  great  diligence  and 
ability,  and,  as  we  have  observed,  his  countrymen,  in  the  autumn  of  1860, 
chose  him  to  fill  the  most  exalted  station  in  their  gift.1  How  he  filled  that 
station  during  the  four  terrible  years  of  our  history,  while  the  Republic  was 
ravaged  by  the  dragon  of  civil  war,  will  be  recorded  on  succeeding  pages. 

On  the   llth  of  February,  Mr.   Lincoln  left  his  home  in  Springfield  for 
the  seat  of  the  National  Government,  accompanied  by  a  fe\v  friends.-     At 
the  railway  station,  a  large  concourse  of  his  fellow-townsmen  had  gathered 
to  bid  him  adieu.      He  was  deeply  affected  by  this  exhibition  of  kindness  on 
the  part  of  his  friends  and  neighbors,  and  with  a  sense  of  the  great  respon 
sibilities   he  was  about  to  assume.     "My  friends,"  he  said,    when  he   was 
about  to  leave,  "  no  one  not  in  tfty  position  can  appreciate  the  sadness  I  feel 
at  this  parting.     To 
this  people  I  owe  all 
that  I  am.     Here  I 
have  lived  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury  ;  here  my  chil 
dren  were  born,  and 
here    one    of    them 
lies  buried.    A  duty 
devolves    upon    me 
which     is,    perhaps, 
greater     than     that 
which   has  devolved 
upon  any  other  man  since  the  days  of  Washington.     He  never  would  have 
succeeded,  except  for  the  aid  of  Divine  Providence,  upon   which  he  at   all 
times  relied.     I  feel  that  I  cannot  succeed  without  the  same  Divine  aid  which 
sustained  him,  and  on  the  same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my  reliance  for  sup 
port  ;  and  I  hope  you,  my  friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive  that  Divine 
assistance  without  which  I  cannot  succeed,  but  with  which  success  is  certain. 
Again  I  bid  you  farewell/'3 


MR.    UXrOI.N's    KKSIDKNVK    AT   SI'KINIiFIKLD. 


1  See  page  34: 

8  The  following  persons  accompanied  Mr.  Lincoln  :— J.  G.  Nicolay,  private  secretary  of  the  President 
elect:  John  Hay:  Robert  L.  Lincoln,  Major  Hunter,  United  Suites  Army;  Colonel  Sumner.  United  States 
Army;  Colonel  E.  E.  Ellsworth.  Hon.  John  K.  Dubys.  State  Auditor:  Colonel  W.  II.  Lamon.  Aid  to  Governor 
Tales;  Judge  David  Davis.  Hon.  O.  II.  Browning.  E.  L.  Baker,  editor  of  the  Springfield  Journal;  Robert 
Irwin.  N.  B.  Judd.  and  Geonre  Lotham. 

3  Before  Mr.  Lincoln  left  home,  J.  Young  Scammon,  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  presented  to 


276          MB.  LINCOLN'S  JOURNEY  AND  WORDS. 

We  will  not  follow  the  President  elect  through  the  details  of  his  long 
travel  of  hundreds  of  miles  through  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,   New  York, 
New   Jersey,    Pennsylvania,    Delaware,    and   Maryland.       During    all    that 
journey,   which    occupied    several    days,  he  was   everywhere  greeted    with 
demonstrations    of   the    most   profound    respect ;  and   at   a   few    places  he 
addressed  the  crowds  who  came  out  to  see  him  in  plain  words,  full  of  kind 
ness  and  forbearance  and  tenderness  and  cheerfulness.     "Let  us  believe,"  he 
said,    at   Tolono,   "that  behind  the    cloud  the  sun   is    shining."     Common 
prudence   counseled  him  to  say  but  little  on  the  grave  affairs  of  State,  the 
administration  of  which  he  was  about  to  assume;  yet  here  and  there,  on  the 
way,  a  few  words  responsive  to  friendly  greetings  would  sometimes  well  up 
to  his  lips  from  a  full  heart,  and  give  such  utterances  to  his  thoughts  as  to 
foreshadow  dimly  their  general  scope.     He  often  alluded  to  the  condition  of 
the  country.     "  It  is  my  intention,"  he  said,  "  to  give  this  subject  all  the 
consideration  I  possibly  can  before  specially  deciding  in  regard  to  it,  so  that 
when  I  do  speak,  it  may  be  as  nearly  right  as  possible.     I  hope  I  may  say 
nothing  in  opposition  to    the   spirit   of  the   Constitution,   contrary  to   the 
integrity  of  the  Union,  or  which  will  prove  inimical  to  the  liberties  of  the 
people  or  to  the  peace  of  the  whole  country."1 — "  When  the  time  does  come 
for  me  to  speak,  I  shall  then  take  the  ground  that  I  think  is  right — right  for 
the  North,  for  the  South,  for  the  East,  for  the  West,  for  the  whole  country."2 
It  was  evident  that  the  President  elect  had  no  conception  of  the  depth, 
strength,  and  malignity  of  the  conspiracy  against  the  life  of  the  Republic 
which  he  was  so  soon  afterward  called  upon  to  confront.     He  had  been  too 
long  accustomed  to  the  foolish   threats   of  the   Oligarchy,  whenever  their 
imperious  will  was  opposed,  to  believe  them  more  in  earnest  now  than  they 
ever  had  been,  or  that  their  angry  and  boastful  menaces,  and  the  treasonable* 
conduct  of  their  representatives  in  Congress,  would  ripen  into  more  serious 
action  ;  and  as  he  went  along  from  city  to  city,  talking  familiarly  to  magis 
trates,  and  legislators,  and  crowds  of  citizens,  he  tried  to  soothe  their  troubled 
spirits  and  allay  their  apprehensions  by  honestly  given  assurances  that  there 
was  "  no  crisis  but  an  artificial  one — none  excepting  such  a  one  as  may  be 
gotten  up   at   any  time  by  turbulent  men,  aided  by  designing  politicians. 
Keep  cool,"  he  said.     "If  the  great  American  people  on  both  sides  of  the  line 
will  only  keep  their  temper,  the  troubles  will  come  to  an  end,  just  as  surely 
as  all  other  difficulties  of  a  like  character  which  have  originated  in  this  Gov 
ernment  have  been  adjusted."3 

On  the  20th  of  February  Mr.  Lincoln  was  received  by  the  municipal  au 
thorities  of  New  York,  in  the  City  Hall,  when  the  Mayor,  who,  as  we  have 
observed,  had  recently,  in  an  official  communication,  set  forth  the  peculiar 
advantages  which  that  metropolis  would  secure  by  seceding  from  the  State 


Mr.  Lincoln  a  fine  picture  of  the  flag  of  the  Union,  with  an  inscription  upon  the  folds  of  the  same,  in  Hebrew, 
being  the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  verses  of  the  first  chapter  of  Joshua.  The  verses  are 
those  in  which  Joshua  is  commanded  to  reign  over  the  whole  land.  The  laet  one  is  as  follows  : — "9th.  'Have 
not  I  commanded  thee?  Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage;  be  not  afraid,  neither  be  thou  dismayed:  for  the 
Lord  thy  God  is  with  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest.'"  The  picture  was  surrounded  by  a  gilt  frame,  and 
accompanied  by  a  letter  to  Mr.  Scammon  from  the  donor,  Abr.  Kohn,  City  Clerk  of  Chicago. 

1  Speech  at  Pittsburg.  Pennsylvania,  February  15,  1861. 

8  Speech  at  the  Astor  House,  New  York,  on  the  evening  of  the  19th  of  February. 

s  Speech  at  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  February  15. 


FLAG  RAISED   OVER   INDEPENDENCE   HALL.  277 

and  the  Union,  and  establishing  an  independent  government  as  a  free  city,1 
admonished  him,  "because  New  York  was  deeply  interested  in  the  matter," 
that  his  great  duty  was  to  so  conduct  public  affairs  as  to  preserve  the 
Union.  "  Xew  York,"  said  the  Seceder,  "  is  the  child  of  the  American 
Union.  She  has  grown  up  under  its  maternal  care,  and  been  fostered  by  its 
maternal  bounty,  and  we  fear  that  if  the  Union  dies,  the  present  supremacy 
of  New  York  will  perish  with  it."  The  President  elect  assured  him  that  he 
should  endeavor  to  do  his  duty.  On  the  following  day,"  he 
passed  on  through  New  Jersey  to  Philadelphia,  declaring  at  * Fel]^jr7 21' 
Trenton,  on  the  way,  to  the  assembled  legislators  of  that  State, 
that  he  was  "  exceedingly  anxious  that  the  Union,  the  Constitution,  and  the 
liberties  of  the  people  "  should  be  perpetuated.  "  I  shall  be  most  happj,"  he 
said,  "  if  I  shall  be  an  humble  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty  and 
of  this,  his  most  chosen  people,  as  the  chosen  instrument — also  in  the  hands 
of  the  Almighty — -for  perpetuating  the  object  of  the  great  struggle"  in 
which  Washington  and  his  compatriots  were  engaged. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  in  Philadelphia  on  Washington's  birthday,6  and  with 
his  own  hands,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  assemblage  of  the 
citizens,  he  raised  the  American  flag  high  above  the  old  State 
House,  in  which  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  debated  and  signed 
almost  eighty-five  years  before.  The  place  and  its  hallowed  associations  sug 
gested  the  theme  of  a  brief  speech,  which  he  made  a  short  time  before 
raising  the  flag  over  the  Hall  wherein  the  great  deed  was  done.  "  I  have  never 
had  a  feeling,"  he  said  "politically,  that  did  not  spring  from  the  sentiments 
embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  have  often  pondered  over 
the  dangers  which  were  incurred  by  the  men  who  assembled  here  and 
framed  and  adopted  that  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  have  pondered 
over  the  toils  that  were  endured  by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army  who 
achieved  that  independence.  I  have  often  inquired  of  myself  what  great 
principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  the  Confederacy  so  long  together.  It  was 
not  the  mere  matter  of  the  separation  of  the  Colonies  from  the  mother  land, 
but  that  sentiment  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  which  gave  liberty, 
not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  country,  but,  I  hope,  to  the  world,  for  all 
future  time.2  It  was  that  which  gave  promise  that,  in  due  time,  the  weight 
would  be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  men.  This  is  the  sentiment  embodied 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be 
saved  upon  that  basis?  If  it  can,  I  will  consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest 
men  in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  If  it  cannot  be  saved  upon  that 
principle,  it  will  be  truly  awful.  But  if  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without 
giving  up  this  principle,  I  was  about  to  say,  /  ironld  r<ith<  r  be  assassinated 
on  this  8jH>t  tlian  ttHrrttufar  it.  .  .  .  My  friends,  I  have  said  nothing  but 
what  I  am  willing  to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  die 
by."  Then,  in  beautiful  contrast  with  the  truculent  speech  of  Davis  at 
Montgomery  a  week  earlier,  in  which  that  bold  leader  said  that  those 
who  opposed  himself  and  his  fellow-conspirators,  must  expect  "to  smell 

1  See  page  205. 

'  "We  hold  those  truths  to  be  self-evident:  that  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  richts;  that  amon<r  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." — 
Declaration  of  Jndtpemlfncf,  adopted  July  4.  1776. 


278 


ASSASSINATION   OF  MR.    LINCOLN  THOUGHT   OF. 


Southern  powder  and  feel  Southern  steel,"1  Mr.  Lincoln  added : — "  Now,  m 
my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or 
war.  There  is  no  necessity  for  it.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  such  a  course  ;  and 
I  may  say  in  advance,  that  there  will  be  no  bloodshed  unless  it  be  forced 
upon  the  Government,  and  then  it  will  be  compelled  to  act  in  self-defense." 
He  had  said  the  day  before,  at  Trenton,  "  I  shall  do  all  that  may  be  in  my 
power  to  promote  a  peaceful  settlement  of  all  our  difficulties.  The  man  does 
not  live  who  is  more  devoted  to  peace  than  I  am — no  one  who  would  do 
more  to  preserve  it;'  but  it  'may  be  necessary  to  put  the  foot  down  firmly  " 
The  declaration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  he  was  about  to  say  that.he  would 

rather  be  assassinated  than  to  give  up  the  great 
principles  of  the  rights  of  man  embodied  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  came  back  to  the 
ears  of  the   American    people  like   a   terrible 
echo,  a  little  more  than  four  years  afterward, 
when  he    was    assassinated  because  he  firmly 
upheld  those  principles  ;  and  in  the  very  hall 
wherein  they  were  first  enunciated  in  the  clear 
voice  of  Chai'les  Thomson,  reading  from    the 
manuscript   of    Thomas  Jefferson,   his   lifeless 
body   lay  in  state  all  through   one 
Sabbath  day,"  that  his  face  might 
be  looked   upon  for  the  last   time 
by  a  sorrowing  people. 

Perhaps  the  thought  of  assassination  was 
in  Mr.  Lincoln's  mind  at  that  time,  because 
he  had  been  warned  the  night  before  that  a 
band  of  men  in  Baltimore  in  the  interest  of  the 
conspirators,  arid  who  held  secret  meetings  in 
a  room  over  a  billiard  and  drinking  saloon  on 
Fayette  Street,  near  Calvert,  known  as  "  The 
Taylor  Building,"  had  made  preparations  to 
take  his  life.  Before  he  left  home,  threats  had 
found  their  way  to  the  public  ear  that  he  would 
never  reach  Washington  alive.  On  the  first 
day  of  his  journey  an  attempt  was  made  to 
throw  the  railway  train  in  which  he  was  conveyed  from  the  track  ;  and 
just  as  he  was  about  leaving  Cincinnati,  a  hand-grenade  was  found  secreted 
in  the  car  in  which  he  was  to  travel.  These  and  other  suspicious  circum 
stances  had  led  to  a  thorough  investigation,  under  the  direction  of  a  saga 
cious  police  detective.  It  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  conspiracy  at 
Baltimore,  and  the  revelation  of  the  fact,  that  a  small  number  of  assassins, 
led,  it  was  said,  by  an  Italian  who  assumed  the  name  of  Orsini,3  the  would- 


April  23, 
1865. 


THE    TAYLOR    BITILDING.2 


1  See  page  257. 

2  This  is  from  a  sketch  made  in  December,  1864.      The  front  is  of  brown  freestone.     It  is  No.  66  Fayette 
Street.     In  this  building,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter,  the  meetings  of  the  Baltimore  conspirators  were  held,  to 
arrange  for  the  attack  on  the  Massachusetts  troops,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1861. 

3  Hi  at  or y  of  the  Administration  of  President  Lincoln,  by  II.  J.  Raymond,  page  109.     A  Baltimore 
correspondent  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post  said  that  a  notorious  gambler  of  Baltimore,  named  Byrne,  who 
went  to  Richmond  soon  after  the  events  in  question,  was  arrested  there  on  a  charge  of  keeping  a  gambling- 


TITE   PRESIDENT   ELECT    WARNED   OF   DANGER.  279 

be  murderer  of  Louis  Napoleon,  were  to  kill  Mr.  Lincoln  whilst  passing 
through  the  streets  in  a  carriage.  General  Scott  and  Mr.  Seward  were  so 
well  satisfied  that  such  a  plot  was  arranged,  that  they  sent  a  special 
messenger  to  meet  the  President  elect,  and  warn  him  of  his  danger.  He 
heeded  the  warning,  passed  through  Baltimore  twelve  hours  earlier  than  he 
was  expected  there ;  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  people,  the  delight  of 
his  friends,  and  the  chagrin  and  dismay  of  the  conspirators,  he  appeared  in 
Washington  City  early  on  the  morning  of  the  23d  of  February. 

This  movement  gave  life  and  currency  to  many  absurd  stories.  It  was 
•asserted  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  assumed  all  sorts  of  disguises  to  prevent 
recognition — that  he  was  muffled  in  a  long  military  cloak  and  wore  a  Scotch 
cap — that  he  was  wrapped  in  the  shaggy  dress  of  a  hunter,  ct  cetera  ;  and  for 
a  while  his  political  opponents  made  merry  at  his  expense,  and  the  pencils  of 
the  caricaturists  supplied  fun  for  the  public.  Thoughtful  men  were  made 
sad.  They  felt  humiliated  by  the  fact  that  there  was  a  spot  in  our  fair  land 
where  the  constitutionally  chosen  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation  might  be  in 
danger  of  personal  injury  at  the  hands  of  his  fellow-citizens;  and  especially 
mortifying  was  the  allegation  that  he  had  been  compelled  to  go  in  full  dis 
guise,  by  stealth,  like  a  fugitive  from  justice,  to  the  National  Capitrik  It 
was  properly  felt  to  be  a  national  disgrace. 

The  occurrence  was  not  so  humiliating  as  represented  by  the  politicians, 
the  satirists,  and  caricaturists.  The  President  did  not  travel  in  disguise ; 
and  the  hired  assassins  or  their  employers  were  doubtless  too  timid  or  too 
prudent  to  attempt  the  execution  of  their  murderous  plan  at  the  critical 
moment.  While  in  Washington  City,  early  iu  December,  1864,  the  writer 
called  on  the  President,  with  Isaac  X.  Arnold,  Member  of  Congress  from 
Chicago,  one  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  most  trusted  personal  friends.  We  found  him 
alone  in  the  room  wherein  the  Cabinet  meetings  are  held  (in  the  White 
House),  whose  windows  overlook  the  Potomac  and  the  Washington  Monu 
ment.1  At  the  request  of  the  writer,  the  President  related  the  circumstances 
of  his  clandestine  journey  between  Philadelphia  and  Washington.  The 
narrative  is  here  given  substantially  in  his  own  words,  as  follows: — 

"I  arrived  at  Philadelphia  on  the  21st.  I  agreed  to  stop  over  night, 
and  on  the  following  morning  hoist  the  Hag  over  Independence  Hall.  In  the 
evening  there  was  a  great  crowd  where  I  received  my  friends,  at  the  Con 
tinental  Hotel.  Mr.  Judd,  a  warm  personal  friend  from  Chicago,  sent  for  me 
to  come  to  his  room.  I  went,  and  found  there  Mr.  Pinkerton,  a  skillful 
police  detective,  also  from  Chicago,  who  had  been  employed  for  some  days  in 
Baltimore,  watching  or  searching  for  suspicious  persons  there.  Pinkerton 
informed  me  that  a  plan  had  been  laid  for*  my  assassination,  the  exact  time 
when  I  expected  to  go  through  Baltimore  being  publicly  known.  He  was 
well  informed  as-to  the  plan,  but  did  not  know  that  the  conspirators  would 
have  pluck  enough  to  execute  it.  He  urged  me  to  go  right  through  with 
him  to  Washington  that  night.  I  didn't  like  that.  I  had  made  engagements 
to  visit  Harrisburg,  and  go  from  there  to  Baltimore,  and  I  resolved  to  do  so. 

honse,  and  of  disloyalty  to  the  "Southern  Confederacy."  His  loyalty  was  inadu  apparent  by  the  notorious 
Senator  Wigfall,  who  testified  that  he  "was  captain  of  the  gang  who  were  to  kill  Mr.  Lincoln."  This  evidence 
of  his  complicity  in  the  premeditated  crimo  was  suflicient  to  cover  every  other  sin  of  which  he  was  guilty,  and 
he  was  discharged  from  custody. 

1  bee  the  Frontispiece  to  this  volume. 


280  PRESIDENT   LINCOLN'S   PERSONAL  NARRATIVE. 

I  could  not  believe  that  there  was  a  plot  to  murder  me.  I  made  arrange- 
merits,  however,  with  Mr.  Judd  for  my  return  to  Philadelphia  the  next  night, 
if  I  should  be  convinced  that  there  was  danger  in  going  through  Baltimore. 
I  told  him  that  if  I  should  meet  at  Harrisburg,  as  I  had  at  other  places,  a 
delegation  to  go  with  me  to  the  next  place  (then  Baltimore),  I  should  feel 
safe,  and  go  on. 

"  When  I  was  making  my  way  back  to  my  room,  through  crowds  of 
people,  I  met  Frederick  Seward.  We  went  together  to  my  room,  when  he 
told  me  that  he  had  been  sent,  at  the  instance  of  his  father  and  General  Scott, 
to  inform  me  that  their  detectives  in  Baltimore  had  discovered  a  plot  there 
to  assassinate  me.  They  knew  nothing  of  Pinkerton's  movements.  I  now 
believed  such  a  plot  to  be  in  existence. 

"  The  next  morning  I  raised  the  flag  over  Independence  Hall,  and  then 
went  on  to  Harrisburg  with  Mr.  Sumner,  Major  (now  General)  Hunter,  Mr. 
Judd,  Mr.  Lamon,  and  others.  There  I  met  the  Legislature  and.  people, 
dined,  and  waited  until  the  time  appointed  for  me  to  leave.1  In  the  mean 
time,  Mr.  Judd  had  so  secured  the  telegraph  that  no  communication  could 
pass  to  Baltimore  and  give  the  conspirators  knowledge  of  a  change  in  my 
plans. 

"  In  New  York  some  friend  had  given  me  a  new  beaver  hat  in  a  box, 
and  in  it  had  placed  a  soft  wool  hat.  I  had  never  worn  one  of  the  latter  in 
my  life.  I  had  this  box  in  my  room.  Having  informed  a  very  few  friends 
of  the  secret  of  my  new  movements,  and  the  cause,  I  put  on  an  old  overcoat 
that  I  had  with  me,  and  putting  the  soft  hat  in  my  pocket,  I  walked  out  of 
the  house  at  a  back  door,  bareheaded,  without  exciting  any  special  curiosity. 
Then  I  put  on  the  soft  hat  and  joined  my  friends  without  being  recognized 
by  strangers,  for  I  was  not  the  same  man.  Sumner  and  Hunter  wished  to 
accompany  me.  I  said  no ;  you  are  known,  and  your  presence  might  betray 
me.  I  will  only  take  Lamon  (now  Marshal  of  this  District),  whom  nobody 
knew,  and  Mr.  Judd.  Sumner  and  Hunter  felt  hurt. 

"  We  went  back  to  Philadelphia  and  found  a  message  there  from  Pinker- 
ton  (who  had  returned  to  Baltimore),  that  the  conspirators  had  held  their 
final  meeting  that  evening,  and  it  was  doubtful  whether  they  had  the  nerve 
to  attempt  the  execution  of  their  purpose.  I  went  on,  however,  as  the 
arrangement  had  been  made,  in  a  special  train.  We  were  a  long  time  in  the 
station  at  Baltimore.  I  heard  people  talking  around,  but  no  one  particularly 
observed  me.  At  an  early  hour  on  Saturday  morning,"  at  about 

Tei7  28  ^ie  tmie  ^  was  exPected  to  leave  Harrisburg,  I  arrived  in  Wash 
ington."2 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  received  at  the  railway  station  in  Washington  by  Mr. 
Washburne,  member  of  Congress  from  Illinois,  who  was  expecting  him.  He 
was  taken  in  a  carriage  to  Willard's  Hotel,  where  Senator  Seward  was  in 
waiting  to  receive  him.  Mrs.  Lincoln  had  joined  him  at  Philadelphia,  on 

1  Six  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

2  According  to  a  statement  in  the  Albany  Evening  Journal,  a  confidential  agent  was  sent  by  Mr.  S.  M. 
Felton  with  Mr.  Lincoln  who  was  called  "George,"  and  whose  authority  was  recognized  by  engineer,  conductor, 
fireman,  and  brakeman.     He  bore  a  large  package  marked  Dispatches,  and  this  was  the  pretext  for  sending  the 
special  train  at  near  midnight.     The  telegraph  wires  leading  toward  Washington  had  been  cut.     They  were 
reunited  after  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  for  the  train  to  reach  its  destination,  when  "George,"  on  its  arrival, 
sent  .back  the  following  clectrograph  : — ''The  Dispatches  have  arrived,  and  are  safely  delivered." 


THE   CONSPIRACY   AT   BALTIMORE.  281 

the  22d,  and  she,  Mr.  Sumner,  and  others  left  Harrisburg  at  the  time 
appointed,  and  p:;ssed  on  to  the  National  Capital  without  interference. 

Tfiere  has  never  been  a  public  legal  investigation  concerning  the  alleged 
plot  to  assassinate  the  President  elect  at  that  time.  Sufficient  focts  have 
been  made  known  through  the  testimony  of  detectives  to  justify  the  histo 
rian  in  assuming  that  such  a  plot  was  formed,  and  that  it  failed  only  because 
of  the  change  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  movements.  It  was  alleged  that  "  statesmen, 
bankers,  merchants,  and  others"  were  engaged  in  the  conspiracy,1  and  that 
these  were  meeting  secretly  then,  and  did  meet  secretly  a  long  time  there 
after,  in  a  private  room  in  Taylor's  Building.  The  plan,  as  revealed,  seems 
to  have  been  to  create  a  mob  of  the  most  excitable  elements  of  society  in 
Baltimore,  ostensibly  against  the  Republican  Committee  in  that  city,  while 
they  and  the  nobly  loyal  citizens  were  honoring  Mr.  Lincoln  by  a  public 
reception  at  the  railway  station.  In  the  confusion  created  by  the  mob,  the 
hired  assassins  were  to  rush  forward,  shoot  or  stab  the  President  elect  while 
in  his  carriage,  and  fly  back  to  the  shelter  of  the  rioters. 

The  policemen  of  Baltimore  at  that  time  were  under  the  direction  of 
George  P.  Kane,  as  Chief  Marshal.  He  was  a  violent  secessionist,  and  seems 
to  have  been  the  plastic  instrument  of  conspirators  in  Baltimore,  who  were 
chiefly  of  the  moneyed  Oligarchy,  connected  by  blood  or  marriage  with  the 
great  land  and  slave  holders  in  the  more  Southern  States.  Kane  afterward 
fled  beyond  the  Potomac,  took  up  arms 
against  his  country,  and  received  a  commis 
sion  in  the  insurgent  army.  It  is  asserted 
that  an  arrangement  had  been  made  for  him 
to  so  control  the  police  on  that  occasion,  as 
not  to  allow  a  suppression  of  the  mob  until 
the  terrible  deed  should  be  accomplished. 
His  complicity  in  the  movements  which 
resulted  in  the  murder  of  Massachusetts 
troops  while  passing  through  Baltimore,  a 
few  weeks  later,  makes  it  easy  to  believe 
that  he  was  concerned  in  the  plot  to  assas 
sinate  the  President  elect. 

GKORliK    I'.    RANK. 

The  disloyal  press  of  Baltimore  seemed 

to  work  in  complicity  with  the  conspirators  on  this  occasion.  A  leading 
editorial  in  the  Re]mblic<o),  on  the  22d,  was  calculated  to  incite  tumult  and 
violence ;  and  on  the  following  morning,  the  day  on  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
expected  to  arrive  in  Baltimore,  the  JK/v/m/////-,  in  a  significant  article,  said 
to  its  readers  : — "  The  President  elect  of  the  United  States  will  arrive  in  this 
city,  with  his  suite,  this  afternoon,  by  special  train  from  IIarri*bur<j:,  and  will 
proceed,  we  learn,  directly  to  Washington.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  no  oppor 
tunity  will  be  afforded  him — or  that,  if  it  be  afforded,  he  will  not  embrace 
it — to  repeat  in  our  ears  the  sentiments  which  he  is  reported  to  have 
expressed  yesterday  in  Philadelphia."- 

Intelligence  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  arrival  at  Washington  soon  spread  over  the 


1  Baltimore  Correspondenee  of  the  Xew  York  Times,  February  23,  1661. 

2  For  these  sentiments,  see  page  277. 


282  THE   PRESIDENT  ELECT   IN  WASHINGTON. 

town,  and  at  an  early  hour  Willard's  Hotel  was  crowded  with  his  friends, 
personal  and  political,  who  came  to  give  him  a  cordial  welcome.  Loyal  men 
of  all  parties  rejoiced  at  his  safe  arrival ;  and,  because  of  it,  there  was  glad 
ness  throughout  the  land.  That  gladness  was  mingled  with  indignation 
because  of  the  circumstances  attending  that  arrival,  and  the  journey  pre 
ceding  it.  Had  the  danger  at  Baltimore  been  made  known,  and  protectors 
called  for,  two  hundred  thousand  loyal  citizens  of  the  Free-labor  States  would 
have  escorted  the  President  elect  to  the  Capital. 

At  an  early  hour,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Lincoln  called  on 
President  Buchanan.  The  latter  could  scarcely  believe  the  testimony  of  his 
own  eyes.  He  gave  his  appointed  successor  a  cordial  greeting.  The 
Cabinet  was  then  in  session.  By  invitation,  the  President  elect  passed  into 
their  chamber.  He  was  received  with  demonstrations  of  delight.  He  then 
called  to  see  General  Scott,  at  his  head-quarters.  The  veteran  was  absent. 
Mr.  Lincoln  returned  to  Willard's,  and  there  received  his  friends  uncere 
moniously  during  the  remainder  of  the  day.  In  the  evening  he  was  formally 
waited  upon  by  the  Peace  Convention,1  in  a  body,  and  afterward  by  loyal 
women  of  Washington  City.  Only  the  secessionists  (and  they  were  a  host) 
kept  aloof.  Foiled  malice,  disappointment,  and  chagrin  made  them  sullen. 
A  capital  plan  in  their  scheme  had  been  frustrated  ;  and  General  Scott, 
whose  defection' had  been  hoped  and  prayed  for,  and  expected  because  he 
was  born  in  Virginia,  was  standing  firm  as  a  rock  in  the  midst  of  the  surges 
of  secession,  and  had  filled  the  National  Capital  with  so  many  troops  that  its 
security  against  the  machinations  of  the  conspirators,  secret  or  open,  was 
considered  complete. 

Ofi  Wednesday,  the  27th,  the  Mayor  and  Common  Council  waited  upon 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  gave  him  a  welcome.  On  the  same  day,  he  and  Mrs. 
Lincoln  were  entertained  at  a  dinner-party  given  by  Mr.  Spaulding,  Member 
of  Congress  from  Buifalo,  New  York ;  and  on  that  evening,  they  were  visited 
at  Willard's  by  several  Senators,  and  Governor  Hicks  of  Maryland,  and  were 
serenaded  by  the  members  of  the  Republican  Association  at  Washington,  to 
whom  he  made  a  short  speech — the  last  one  previous  to  his  inauguration.2 

Having  followed  the  President  elect  from  his  home  to  the  Capital,  and  left 
him  there  on  the  eve  of  his  assuming  the  responsibilities  of  Chief  Magistrate 
of  the  Republic,  let  us  turn  a  moment  and  hold  brief  retrospective  inter 
course  with  the  actual  President,  who  seemed  to  be  as  anxious  as  were  the 
people  for  the  close  of  his  official  career.  We  have  seen  him,  from  the 
opening  of  the  session  of  Congress  until  the  disruption  of  his  Cabinet,  at  the 
close  of  December,  working  or  idling,  voluntarily  or  involuntarily,  in  seeming 
harmony  with  the  wishes  of  the  conspirators.  We  have  seen  him  after  that 
surrounded  by  less  malign  influences,  and  prevented,  by  loyal  men  in  his 
Cabinet,  from  allowing  his  fears  or  his  inclinations  to  do  the  Republic  serious 
« January  4,  harm.  And  when  the  National  Fast-day  which  he  had  recom 
mended  had  been  observed,0  he  spoke  some  brave  words  in  a 
•  January  8.  message  sent  in  to  Congress,6  saying,  it  was  his  right  and  his 
duty  to  "  use  military  force  defensively  against  those  who  resist  the  Federal 

1  See  page  237.  « 

2  Il'wtory  of  the  Administration  of  President,  Lincoln  :  by  Henry  J.  Kaymond,  page  110.     Vice-Presi 
deut  Hamlin  and  Thomas  Corwin  also  made  speeches. 


PRESIDENT   BUCHANAN   AND   THE   CONSPIRATORS.  283 

officers  in  the  execution  of  their  legal  functions,  and  against  those  who  assail 
the  property  of  the  Federal  Government ;"  yet  he  refused  to  support  these 
brave  words  by  corresponding  dutiful  action,  and  cast  the  whole  respon 
sibility  of  meeting  the  great  peril  upon  Congress,  at  the  same  time  suggest 
ing  to  it  the  propriety  of  yielding  to  the  demands  of  the  disloyal  Oligarchy, 
by  adopting,  substantially,  the  Crittenden  Compromise. 

Mr.  Buchanan  seemed  determined  to  get  through  with  the  remainder  of 
his  term  of  office  as  quietly  as  possible,  and  as  innocent  of  all  offense  toward 
the  conspirators  as  "a  decent  respect  for  the  opinions  of  mankind"  would 
allow.1  In  his  efforts  to  please  his  "Southern  friends,"  he  sometimes  omitted 
to  be  just.  While  the  country  was  ringing  with  plaudits  for  Major  Ander 
son,  because  of  his  gallant  and  useful  conduct  at  Fort  Sumter,  and  Lieu- 
tenant-General  Scott  asked  the  President  to  show  his  regard  for  the  faithful 
soldier,  and  act  as  "the  interpreter  of  the  wish  of  millions"  by  nominating 
Anderson  for  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel  by  brevet,  for  his  "  wise  and 
heroic  transfer  of  the  garrison  of  Fort  Moultrie  to  Fort  Sumter  ;"  also  by 
nominating  him  for  the  rank  of  colonel  by  brevet,  "  for  his  gallant  main 
tenance  of  the  latter  fort,  under  severe  hardships,  with  but  a  handful  of  men, 
against  the  threats  and  summons  of  a  formidable  army,"-  the  President,  who 
might,  in  that  act,  have  won  back  much  of  the  lost  respect  of  his  country 
men,  refused,  saying  in  substance  :— "  I  leave  that  for  my  successor  to  do." 
And  with  a  seeming  desire  to  maintain  his  inoffensive  position'  toward  the 
conspirators,  he  pursued  a  timorous  and  vacillating  policy,  which  greatly 
embarrassed  his  loyal  counselors,  and  paralyzed  their  efforts  to  strengthen 
the  ship  of  State,  so  as  to  meet  safely  the  shock  of  the  impending  tempest. 

Notwithstanding  his  efforts  to  please  his  "  Southern  friends,"  they  would 
not  allow  the  current  of  the  President's  official  life  to  flow  smoothly  on,  after 
Holt  and  Dix,  loyal  Democrats,  became  his  counselors.  They  would  not 
trust  him  with  such  advisers  at  his  ear.  It  has  been  said  that  he  "preached 
like  a  patriot,  but  practised  like  a  traitor."1  His  preaching  offended  and 
alarmed  them,  especially  the  South  Carolina  politicians,  for  its  burden  was 
against  the  dignity  of  their  "  Sovereign  nation."  While  Sumter  was  in 
possession  of  National  troops,  they  felt  that  South  Carolina  was  insulted  and 
her  sovereignty  and  independence  were  denied.  So,  on  the  llth  of  January, 
two  days  after  the  attack  on  the  Sf<ir  of  the  IFtvtf,  Governor  Pickens,  as  we 
have  observed,3  sent  A.  G.  Magrath  and  D.  F.  Jamison,  of  his  Executive 
Council,  to  demand  its  surrender  to  the  authorities  of  the  State.  M;ijor 
Anderson  refused  to  give  it  up,  and  referred  the  matter  to  the  President ; 
whereupon  Pickens  sent  Isaac  W.  Hayne,  the  Attorney-General  of  the  State, 
in  company  with  Lieutenant  Hall,  of  Anderson's  command,  to  Washington 
City,  to  present  the  same  demand  to  the  National  Executive.  Hayne  bore 
a  letter  from  the  Governor  to  the  President,  in  which  the  former  declared, 
that  the  demand  for  surrender  was  suggested  because  of  his  "  earnest  desire 
to  avoid  the  bloodshed  which  a  persistence  in  the  attempt  to  retain  posses- 

1  In  his  Message  on  the  Sth  of  January  he  salt! :— "  At  the  beginning  of  these  unhappy  troubles,  I  deter 
mined  that  no  act  of  mine  should  increase  the  excitement  in  either  section  of  the  country.  If  the  political 
conflict  were  to  end  in  civil  war,  it  was  my  determined  purpose  not  to  commence  it,  nor  even  to  furnish  an 
excuse  for  it  in  any  act  of  this  Government" 

1  Letter  of  Lieutenant-General  Scott  to  President  Buchanan,  February  26,  1561. 

1  See  page  160. 


284  COMMISSIONER   FROM   SOUTH   CAROLINA. 

sion  of  that  fort  would  cause,  and  which  would  be  unavailing  to  secure  that 
possession."  Commissioner  Hayne  was  authorized  to  "  give  the  pledge  of 
the  State"  that  the  valuation  of  the  public  property  within  Fort  Sumter 
should  be  "  accounted  for  by  the  State,  upon  the  adjustment  of  its  relations 
with  the  United  States,  of  which  it  was  a  part."1 

Mr.  Hayne  arrived  in  Washington  City  on  the  13th  of  January,  when 
ten  of  the  disloyal  Senators,  still  holding  seats  in  Congress,2  advised  him,  in 

writing,  not  to  present  the  letter  of 
Pickens  to  the  President  until  after 
the  Southern  Confederacy  should  be 
formed,  a  month  later.  They  proposed 
to  ask  the  President  to  agree  not  to 
re-enforce  Fort  Sumter,  in  the  mean 
time.  "  I  am  not  clothed  with  power 
to  make  the  arrangement  you  sug 
gest,"  Mr.  Hayne  replied,  in  writing  ; 
"but,  provided  you  can  get  assu 
rances,  witli  which  you  are  entirely 
satisfied,  that  no  re-enforcements  will 
be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter  in  the  inter 
val,  and  that  the  public  peace  will  not 
be  disturbed  by  any  act  of  hostility 

ISAAC    W    HATNE.  X  ,.  T 

toward  South  Carolina,    I   Avill    refer 

your  communication  to  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina,  and,  withholding 
the  communication  with  which  I  am  at  the  present  charged,  will  await 
further  instructions." 

This  correspondence  was  laid  before  the  President"  by  Senators  Slidell, 
Fitzpatrick,  and  Mallory,  and  the  President  was  asked  to  consider 
'  JaisSr 16'   the  matter-3     He  replied,  through  Mr.  Holt,  the  Secretary  of  War, 
that  he  could  not  give  such  pledge,  for  the  simple  reason  that  he 
had  no  authority  to  do  so,  being  bound  as  an  Executive  officer  to  enforce  the 
laws  as  far  as  practicable.     He  informed  them  that  it  was  not  deemed  neces 
sary  to  re-enforce  Major  Anderson  at  that  time ;   but  told  them,  explicitly, 
that  should  the  safety  of  that  officer  at  any  time  require  it,  the  effort  to  give 
him  re-enforcements  and  supplies  would  be  made.     He  reminded  them  that 
Congress  alone  had  the  power  to  make  war,  and  that  it  would  be  an  act  of 

1  Letter  of  Francis  W.  Pickens  to  President  Buchanan,  January  11,  1S61. 

2  These  were  Wigfall,  Hemphill,  Yulee,  Mallory,  Jefferson  Davis,  C.  C.  Clay,  Jr.,  Fitzpatrick,  Iverson, 
Slidell.  and  Benjamin. 

3  The  boldness  and  impunity  of  the  conspirators  in  Congress,  at  this  time,  is  illustrated  by  this  correspond 
ence  which  they  laid  before  the  President,  and  asked  that  he  would  "take  into  consideration  the  subject  of  said 
correspondence."     In  their  letter  to  Hayne,  signed  by  the  ten  Senators,  they  assure  him  that  they  "represent 
States  which  have  already  seceded  from  the  United  States,  or  will  have  done  so  before  the  1st  of  February  next,1' 
and  which  would  meet  South  Carolinians  "in  convention  on  or  before  the  15th  of  that  month."     "Our  people," 
said  these  conspirators  to  Mr.  Ilayne,  "feel  that  they  have  a  common  destiny  with  your  people,  and  expect  to 
form  with  them,  in  that  convention,  a  new  confederation  and  provisional  government.    We  must  and  will 
share  your  fortunes,  suffering  with  you  the  evils  of  war,  if  it  cannot  be  avoided,  and  enjoying  with  you  the 
blessings  of  peace  if  it  can  be  preserved." 

This  letter  was  written  on  the  15th  of  January,  the  day  after  several  of  these  Senators  had  written  to  the 
conventions  of  their  several  States,  intimating  that  it  might  be  well  for  them  to  retain  their  seats  in  Congress, 
in  order  to  more  effectually  carry  on  their  treasonable  work.  These  men  were  not  only  not  arrested,  but  their 
request  was  responded  to  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  under,  the  direction  of  the  President,  as  courteously  and 
considerately  as  if  they  were  true  and  loyal  to  their  Government. 


STATE  SOVEREIGNTY   DENIED.  285 

usurpation  on  the  part  of  the  Executive  to  give  any  assurance  that  Congress 
would  not  exercise  that  power. 

When  this  correspondence  reached  Charleston,  Governor  Pickena  ordered 
Ilayne  to  present  the  demand  for  the  surrender  of  Sumter  forth 
with.  He  did  so,"  in  a  letter  of  considerable  length,  to  which  *J:im^y3i 
Secretary  Holt  gave  a  final  answer  on  the  6th  of  February,  in 
which,  as  in  his  reply  to  Senators  Fitzpatrick,  Mallory,  and  Slidell,  he  claimed 
for  the  Government  the  right  to  send  forward  re-enforcements  when,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  President,  the  safety  of  the  garrison  required  them — a  right 
resting  on  the  same  foundation  as  the  right  to  occupy  the  fort.  He  denied 
the  right  of  South  Caroli?ia  to  the  possession  of  the  fort,  and  said  : — "  If 
the  announcement,  so  repeatedly  made,  of  the  President's  pacific  purpose  in 
continuing  the  occupation  of  Fort  Sumter  until  the  question  shall  be  settled 
by  competent  authority,  has  failed  to  impress  the  government  of  South 
Carolina,  the  forbearing  conduct  of  the  Administration  for  the  last  few 
months  should  be  received  as  conclusive  evidence  of  his  sincerity.  And  if 
this  forbearance,  in  view  of  the  circumstances  which  have  so  severely  tried  it, 
be  not  accepted  as  a  satisfactory  pledge  of  the  peaceful  policy  of  this  Admin 
istration  towards  South  Carolina,  then  it  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  neither 
language  nor  conduct  can  possibly  furnish  one.  If,  with  all  the  multiplied 
proofs  which  exist  of  the  President's  anxiety  for  peace,  and  of  the  earnestness 
with  which  he  has  pursued  it,  the  authorities  of  that  State  shall  assault  Fort 
Sumter,  and  peril  the  lives  of  the  handful  of  brave  and  loyal  men  shut  up 
within  its  walls,  and  thus  plunge  our  common  country  into  the  horrors  of 
civil  war,  then  upon  them  and  those  they  represent  must  rest  the  responsi 
bility." 

Here  ended  the  attempt  of  the  conspirators  of  South  Carolina  to  have  the 
sovereignty  of  that  State  acknowledged  by  diplomatic  intercourse.  It  had 
utterly  failed.  The  President  refused  to  receive  Governor  Pickens's  agent, 
excepting  as  "a  distinguished  citizen  of  South  Carolina,"  and  also  refused  any 
compliance  with  the  demands  of  the  authorities  of  that  State.  lie  had  been 
strongly  inclined  to  yield  to  these  demands ;  but  recent  manifestations  of 
public  opinion  convinced  him  that  he  could  not  do  so  without  exciting  the 
hot  indignation  of  the  loyal  portion  of  the  people.  Coincident  with  these 
manifestations  were  the  strong  convictions  of  Holt,  Dix,  and  Attorney-Gen 
eral  Stanton  of  his  Cabinet.1 

1  The  secret  history  of  these  public  demonstrations  of  a  desire  to  hold  Fort  Sumter  has  been  given  by 
General  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  in  a  brief  eulogy  of  Mr.  Stanton,  the  Secretary  of  Wur  during  a  greater  portion  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  Administration.  "Toward  evening,  on  one  of  the  gloomy  days  in  the  winter  of  1  SGI,"  says 
Sickles,  "  the  Attorney-General  [Stanton]  sent  for  one  of  the  representatives  in  Congress  from  New  York,  and 
informed  him  that  unless  the  public  opinion  of  the  North  was  instantly  manifested,  the  President  would  yield 
to  the  demand  of  South  Carolina,  and  order  Major  Anderson  back  from  Sumter  to  Moultrie.  It  was  decided 
at  once  that  an  envoy  should  go  to  the  principal  Northern  cities  and  announce  that  the  President  had  decided 
to  maintain  Anderson  in  Sumter  at  all  hazards.  '  Fire  some  powder,'  said  Stanton;  'all  we  can  do  yet  is  to  fire 
blank  cartridges;  a  thousand  bullets  or  a  bale  of  hemp  would  save  us  from  a  bloody  rebellion.  The  President 
will  not  strike  a  blow,  but  he  will  resist  if  he  sees  the-  temper  of  the  people  demands  resistance.  Go  and  tire 
some  cannon,  and  let  the  echoes  come  to  the  White  House.'  The  next  day  salutes  were  fired  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Albany,  and  other  cities,  in  honor  of  President  Buchanan's  determination  to  sustain  the  gallant 
Anderson.  Congratulating  telegrams  were  sent  from  prominent  men  in  all  these  cities  to  the  President  :  tho 
corporate  authorities  of  New  York  passed  earnest  resolutions  of  support;  several  journals,  in  leading  articles 
of  remarkable  power,  indorsed  and  commended  the  decision  of  the  President.  The  next  day  the  decision  was 
made.  The  demand  of  South  Carolina  for  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter  was  refused;  it  remained  only  for 
the  Sonth  to  secede,  or  make  war." — Address  at  the  Opening  of  the  American  Institute  Fair,  inXew  York, 
on  the  \1th  of  September,  1S65. 


286 


COMMISSIONERS  REFUSED   RECOGNITION   AS  SUCH. 


6       7  *' 


Before  "Commissioner"  Hayne  was  dismissed,  "  Commissioner  "  Thomas 
J.  Judge  appeared  on  the  stage  at  Washington,  as  the  representative  of 
Alabama,  duly  authorized  "to  negotiate  with  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  in  reference  to  the  forts,  arsenals,  and  custom  houses  in  that  State, 
and  the  debt  of  the  United  States."  He  approached  the  President0 
through  Senator  C.  C.  Clay,  Jr.,  who  expressed  his  desire  that 
when  Judge  might  have  an  audience,  he  should  "  present  his  cre 
dentials  and  enter  upon  the  proposed  negotiations."1  The  Presi 
dent  placed  Mr.  Judge  on  the  same  footing  with  Mr.  Hayne,  as  only  a  "  dis 
tinguished  "  private  gentleman,  and  not  as  an  embassador  ;  whereupon 
Senator  Clay  wrote  an  angry  letter  to  the  President,6  too  foolish  in  matter  and 
manner  to  deserve  a  place  in  history.  The  "  Sovereign  State  of 

b  February  1.  L  J 

Alabama"  then  withdrew,  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Judge,  who  argued 
that  the  course  of  the  President  implied  either  an  abandonment  of  all 
claims  to  the  National  property  within  the  limits  of  his  State,  or  a  desire 
that  it  should  be  retaken  by  the  sword.2 

No  further  attempts  to  open  diplomatic  intercourse  between  the  United 
States  and  the  banded  conspirators  in  "  seceded  States  "  were  made  during 
the  remainder  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration  ;  and  he  quietly  left  the 
chair  of  State  for  private  life,  a  deeply  sorrowing  man.  "  Governor,"  said 
the  President  to  Senator  Fitzpatrick,  a  few  weeks  before,0  when 
the  latter  was  about  to  depart  for  Alabama,  "  the  current  of 
events  warns  me  that  we  shall  never  meet  again  on  this  side  the  grave.  I 
have  tried  to  do  my  duty  to  both  sections,  and  have  displeased  both.  I 
feel  isolated  in  the  world."3 


1  Letter  of  Senator  Clay  to  the  President,  February  1,  1S61. 

2  Letter  of  Senator  Clay  to  "  Commissioner"  Judge,  February  4,  1861. 
•  Harper's  Weekly,  February  2,  1861. 


PREPARATIONS  FOR   THE  INAUGURATION.  287 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  INAUGURATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN,  AND  THE  IDEAS  AND  POLICY  OP 

THE  GOVERNMENT. 

OXDAY,  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  will  ever  bo  a  memo 
rable  day  in  the  annals  of  the  Republic.  On  that  day  a 
Chief  Magistrate  was  installed  who  represented  the 
loyal  and  free  spirit  of  the  nation,  which  had  found 
potential  expression  in  a  popular  election.  That  election 
proclaimed,  in  the  soft  whispers  of  the  ballot,  an  un 
changeable  decree,  that  slave  labor  should  cultivate 
no  more  of  the  free  land  of  the  Republic.  Professedly 
on  account  of  that  decree,  the  advocates  of  such  labor  commenced  a  revolt; 
and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  caused  by  the  mad  cry  of  insurgents, 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  went  up  to  the  National  Capital,  and  was  inaugurated 
the  Sixteenth  President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  inaugural   ceremonies  were  performed   quietly  and  orderly,  at  the 
usual  place,  over  the  broad  staircase   at  the  eastern  front  of  the  Capitol, 
whose  magnificent  dome  was  only  half  finished.     In  order  to  insure  quiet 
and  safety,  and  the  performance  of  the  ceremony  in  the  usual  peaceful  form, 
General  Scott  had  collected  about  six  hundred  regular  troops  in  the  city, 
but  they   were  so   scattered   that  their  presence   was  scarcely  perceptible. 
They  had  been  making  their  way  to  the  capital  in  small  numbers  from  differ 
ent  points  for  several  weeks,  and  the  conspirators  were  so  impressed  with 
the  belief  that  the  total  force  was  enormous  in  strength — that  a  vast  number 
of  troops  \vere  hidden  all  about  the  city — that  they  abandoned  the  scheme 
of  seizing   Washington,  preventing   the   inauguration  of  Mr.    Lincoln,   and 
placing  one  of  their  number  in  the  Executive  Chair.1     They  were 
undeceived,  four  days  before  the  inauguration,  by  a  Message  of  the   "  M  jTjJ  *' 
President,"   in  response   to  an   inquiry  by   Congress  concerning 
the  number  of  troops  in  the  city.2     It  was  then  too  late  for  them  to  organize 

1  Sec  pace  143. 

2  Mr.  Burm-lt,  of  Kentucky,  offered  a  resolution  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  llth  of  February, 
which  was  adopted,  asking  the  President  for  his  reasons  for  assembling  a  large  number  of  troops  in  Washington; 
why  they  were  kept  there:  and  whether  he  had  any  information  of  a  conspiracy  to  seize  the  Capital,  and  pre 
vent  the  inauguration  of  the  President  elect     On  the  5th  of  the  same  month,  Witrfall  had  offered  a  resolution 
in  the  Senate,  ask i up  the  President  why,  since  the  commencement  of  the  session  of  C'otisrress,  troops   had 
been  gathering iu  Washington;  munitions  of  war  collected  there  ;  from  what  points  they  had  been  called,  ic., 
and  under  the  authority  of  what  law  they  were  held  for  service  in  the  National  Capital.     The  President  did  not 
answer  these  inquiries  until  the  1st  of  March,  when  he  declared  that  there  were  only  six  hundred  and  fifty- 
three  private  soldiers  in  the  city,  besides  the  usual  number  of  marines  at  the  Navy  Yard,  and  that  they  were 
ordered  to  Washington  to  "act  as  a  ]»osfif  comittjtu*.  in  strict  subordination  to  the    civil  authority,  for  the 
purpose  of  preserving  peace  and  order,"  should  that  be  necessary,  before  or  at  the  period  of  the  inauguration 
of  the  President  elect     In  the  mean  time   a  Committee  of  the.  House  had  investigated  the  subject  of  a  con 
spiracy ;  and  the  members  of  that  body  were  so  well  convinced  of  its  existence,  that  a  resolution,  expressing 
the  opinion  that  "tho  regular  troops  now  in  this  city  ou;jht  to  be  forthwith  removed  therefrom,"  was  laid  on 


288 


THE  INAUGURAL  PROCESSION. 


the  "Minute-men"    of  Maryland  and  Virginia.      This   condition,   and    the. 

natural  belief  that  many  of  the  thousands  of  the  loyal  people  who  were 

pouring  into  the  Capital  to  participate  in 
the  ceremonies  were  well  armed,  kept  the 
enemies  of  the  Republic  in  perfect  restraint. 
The  <fciwn  of  the  4th  of  March  was 
pleasant,  and  the  day  was  a  bright  one. 
Washington  City  was  crowded  by  more 
than  twenty-five  thousand  strangers,  a  large 
portion  of  them  the  political  friends  of  the 
President  elect.  The  streets  around  Wil- 
lard's  Hotel  were  densely  packed,  at  an  early 
hour,  with  eager  watchers  for  the  appearance 
of  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  forenoon  wore  away, 
and  he  was  yet  invisible  to  the  public  eye. 
He  wras  waiting  for  Mr.  Buchanan,  who  was 
engaged  almost  up  to  twelve  o'clock,  the 
appointed  hour  for  the  inaugural  ceremonies, 
in  signing  bills  at  his  room  in  the  Capitol. 
Then  he  was  conveyed  rapidly  to  the  White 
House,  where  he  entered  a  barouche,  waited 
upon  by  servants  in  livery,  and  hastened  to 
Willard's.  The  President  elect,  with  the 
late  Senators  Pearce  and  Baker,  there  entered 

SCENE   OF   THE   INAUGURATION. 

the  carriage,  and  at  a  little  before  one  o  clock 

the  procession,  under  the  direction  of  Chief  Marshal  Major  French,  moved 
along  Pennsylvania  Avenue  toward  the  Capitol.1  Mounted  troops,  under 
the  direction  of  General  Scott,  moved  on  the  flanks  on  parallel  streets, 


the  tabje  by  a  very  large  majority.     The  alarm  for  the  safety  of  the  Government  archives,  which  prevailed 
throughout  the  country,  had  instantly  subsided  when  it  was  known  that  troops  were  called  to  Washington. 

1  Marshal  French  was  assisted  by  thirteen  aids  and  twenty-nine  assistant  marshals,  representing  loyal 
States  and  Territories.  Besides  these  Avere  eighty-three  assistants.  The  marshal's  aids  wore  blue  scarfs  and 
white  rosettes.  Their  saddle-cloths  were  blue,  trimmed  with  gilt.  The  assistant  marshals  wore  blue  scarfs 
and  white  rosettes.  Their  saddle-cloths  were  white,  trimmed  with  blue.  Each  carried  a  baton  two  feet  in 
length,  of  blue  color,  with  ends  gilt  two  inches  deep.  The  procession  was  composed  as  follows: — 


Aids. 


Marshal-in-Chief. 
A  National  Flag,  with  appropriate  emblems. 


Aids. 


lag,  wltn  approp 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  with  the  President  Elect  and  Suite,  with  Marshals  on  their  left,  and  tha 
Marshal  of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of  Columbia  (Colonel  William  Selden) 

and  his  Deputies  on  their  right. 

The  Committee  of  Arrangements  of  the  Senate, 

Ex-Presidents  of  the  United  States. 

The  Republican  Association. 

The  Judiciary. 

The  Clergy. 

Foreign  Ministers. 

The  Corps  Diplomatique. 

Members  elect,  Members,  and  ex-Members  of  Congress, 

and  ex-Members  of  the  Cabinet. 

The  Peace  Congress. 

Heads  of  Bureaus. 
Governors  and  ex-Governors  of  States  and  Territories,  and  Members  of  the  Lesislatures  of  the  same. 

Officers  of  the  Army,  Navy,  Marine  Corps,  and  Militia,  in  full  uniform. 
Officers  and  Soldiers  of  the  Revolution,  of  the  War  of  1S12.  and  subsequent  periods. 

The  Corporate  Authorities  of  Washington  and  Georgetown. 
Other  Political  and  Military  Associations  from  the  District,  and  other  parts  of  the  United  States. 

All  organized  Civil  Societies. 

Professors,  Schoolmasters,  and  Students  within  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Citizens  of  the  District,  and  of  States  and  Territories. 

There   was  a  military  escort  under  Colonels  Harris  and  Thomas,  and  Captain  Taylor.     The  carriage  in 


THE  INAUGURAL  CEREMONIES.  289 

ready  for  action  at  a  concerted  signal.1  They  were  not  needed.  The  pro- 
cession  passed  on  without  interruption,  excepting  by  the  enormous  crowd. 

At  half-past  one  the  two  Presidents  left  the  carriage,  went  into  the 
Capitol,  and,  preceded  by  Major  French,  entered  the  Senate  Chamber  arm 
in  arm.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  pale  and  nervous;  Mr.  Lincoln's  face  was 
slightly  flushed  with  emotion,  but  he  was  a  model  of  self-possession.  They 
sat  waiting  a  few  minutes  before  the  desk  of  the  President  of  the  Senate. 
"  Mr.  Buchanan,'1  an  eye-witness  said,  "  sighed  audibly  and  frequently. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  grave  and  impassive  as  an  Indian  martyr."  The  party 
soon  proceeded  to  the  platform  over  the  ascent  to  the  eastern  portico,  where 
the  Supreme  Court,  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  Foreign  Min 
isters,  and  other  privileged  persons  were  assembled,  while  an  immense  con 
gregation  of  citizens  filled  the  space  below. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  introduced  to  the  people  by  Senator  Baker,  of  Oregon ; 
and  as  he  stepped  forward,  his  head  towering  above  most  of  those  around 
him  (for  his  hight  was  six  feet  and  four  inches),5  he  was  greeted  with 
vehement  applause.  Then,  with  a  clear,  strong  voice,  he  read  his 
Inaugural  Addresst  during  which  service  Senator  Douglas,  lately  his  com 
petitor  for  the  honors  and  duties  he  was  now  assuming,  held  the  hat  of  the 
new  President.3  At  the  close  of  the  reading,  the  late  Chief-Justice  Taney 

which  the  two  Presidents  rode  was  surrounded  by  military,  so  as  to  prevent  any  violence,  if  it  should  be 
attempted. 

1  "I  caused  to  be  organized,"  says  General  ScMt,  "the  ilite  of  the  Washington  Volunteers,  and  called 
from  a  distance  two  batteries  of  horse  artillery,  with  small  detachments  of  cavalry  and  infantry,  all  regulars." — 
Autobiography  of  Central  Scott,  iii.  611.  The  General  says,  that  during  the  two  months  preceding  the 
inauguration,  he  received  more  than  fifty  letters  from  various  points,  some  earnestly  dissuading  him  from  being 
present  at  the  ceremony,  and  others  threatening  him  with  :issassination  if  he  dared  to  protect  the  ceremony  by 
a  military  force. 

'The  best  description  of  the  personal  appearance  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  according  to  the  author's  own  vivid 
recollection  of  him  in  January,  1865,  is  the  following: — 

"Conceive  a  tall  and  gaunt  figure,  more  than  six  feet  in  hight,  not  only  unencumbered  with  superfluous 
flesh,  but  reduced  to  the  minimum  working  standard  of  cord,  and  sinew,  and  muscle,  strong  and  indurated  by 
*X|M>sure  and  toil,  with  legs  and  arms  long  and  attenuated,  but  not  disproportionately  so  to  the  long  and 
attenuated  trunk.  In  posture  and  carriage  not  ungraceful,  but  with  the  grace  of  unstudied  and  careless  ease, 
rather  than  of  cultivated  airs  and  high-bred  pretensions.  His  dress  is  universally  of  black  throughout,  and 
would  attract  but  little  attention  in  a  well-dressed  circle,  if  it  hung  less  loosely  upon  him.  and  the  ample  white 
shirt  collar  was  not  'turned  over  his  crnvat  in  the  Western  style.  The  face  that  surmounts  this  figure  is  half 
Koman  nnd  half  Indian,  bronzed  by  climate,  furrowed  by  life-struggles,  seamed  with  humor;  the  head  is 
massive,  and  covered  with  dark,  thick,  and  unmanageable  hair;  the  brow  is  wide  and  well  developed;  the  nose 
large  and  fleshy ;  the  lips  full;  cheeks  thin,  and  drawn  down  in  strong  corded  lines,  which,  but  for  the  wiry 
whiskers,  would  disclose  the  machinery  which  moves  the  broad  jaw.  The  eyes  are  dark  gray,  sunk  in  deep 
sockets,  but  bright,  soft,  and  beautiful  in  expression,  ami  sometimes  lost  and  half  abstracted,  as  if  their  glance 
was  reversed  and  turned  inward,  or  as  if  the  soul  which  lighted  them  was  faraway.  The  teeth  are  white  and 
regular,  and  it  is  only  when  a  smile,  radiant,  captivating,  and  winning,  as  was  ever  given  to  mortal,  transfigures 
the  plain  countenance,  that  you  begin  to  realize  that  it  is  not  impossible  for  artists  to  admire  and  woman  to 
love  it" — Eulogy  on  Abraham  Lincoln:  by  Henry  Champe  Doming, before  the  General  Assembly  of  Connec 
ticut,  at  Hartford,  June  S,  1865. 

•  On  that  day  the  veteran  journalist.  Thurlow  Weed,  wrote  as  follows  for  the  editorial  column  of  his  papet 
the  Albany  Evening  Journal : — 

"The  throng  in  front  of  the  Capitol  was  immense,  and  yet  the  President's  voice  was  so  strong  and  clear 
that  he  was  heard  distinctly.  The  cheers  went  up  loud  and  long. 

'•After  he  commenced  delivering  his  Inaugural  I  withdrew,  and  passing  north  on  Capitol  Hill,  s.iw  Generals 
Scott  and  Wool,  in  full  uniform,  standing  by  their  battery — the  battery  memorable  for  its  prowess  in  Mexico. 
I  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  present  myself  to  those  distinguished  veterans,  the  heroes  of  so  many  battles 
and  so  many  victories.  They  received  mo  cordially.  General  Scott  inquiring  how  the  inauguration  was  going 
on.  I  replied,  '  It  is  a  success.'  Upon  which  the  old  hero  raised  his  arms  and  exclaimed,  'God  be  praised! 
God  in  His  goodness  be  praised  P 

"  In  leaving  these  scarred  and  seamed  veterans,  my  mind  went  back  to  the  long  interval  and  striking  events 

which  have  occurred  since  1812,  when  \  first  saw  them— General  Scott  a  major  of  artillery,  and  General  Wool 

a  captain  in  the  Thirteenth  Infantry,  both  alert,  active,  buoyant  young  men — General  Scott  tall  and  erect,  but 

remarkably  slender  in  form,  with  flowing  flaxen  hair.     Nearly  half  a  century  has  passed.     They  have  fought 

VOL.  I.— 19 


290  DECLARATIONS   CONCERNING   SLAVERY. 

administered  the  oath  of  office  to  him,  when  the  President  and  ex-President 
re-entered  the  Capitol,  and  the  former  proceeded  immediately  to  the  White 
House.  Mr.  Buchanan  drove  to  the  house  of  District- Attorney  Ould,1  and  on 
the  following  day  left  for  his  beautiful  seat  of  "  Wheatland,"  near  Lancaster, 
in  Pennsylvania,  which  he  reached  on  the  6th.2  There  he  was  received  by  a 
large  concourse  of  his  fellow-citizens,  with  a  fine  display  of  military,  and  civic 
societies.  He  was  welcomed  home  by  an  address ;  and,  in  response,  he  con 
gratulated  himself  on  his  retirement  from  public  life,  and  announced  his 
intention  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  existence  as  a  "  good  citizen,  a  faithful 
friend,  an  adviser  of  those  who  needed  advice,  and  a  benefactor  of  the 
widows  and  the  fatherless."  He  alluded  to  public  affairs  only  to  express  a 
hope  that  the  Constitution  and  the  Union  might  be  preserved. 

President  Lincoln's  Inaugural  Address  was  waited  for  with  intense 
interest  and  anxiety  throughout  the  Republic.  At  no  period  in  its  wonderful 
career  had  the  nation  been  in  so  great  peril  as  at  that  time.  Already  a 
rebellion  had  been  allowed  to  acquire  formidable  moral  and  physical  propor 
tions,  and  republican  institutions  and  a  republican  form  of  government, 
against  which  its  deadly  blows  were  to  be  aimed,  were  now  put  upon  their 
trial  before  the  bar  of  the  great  powers  of  the  earth.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  their 
chosen  counsel  and  defender ;  and  he  now  entered  upon  the  momentous  task 
of  vindicating  their  might  and  invincible  vitality,  with  no  precedents  to 
guide  him,  and  no  statutes  for  support  other  than  the  opinions  and  theories 
of  the  fathers,  sometimes  only  dimly  shadowed,  and  the  plain  letter  of  the 
National  Constitution.  With  these  helps,  the  exercise  of 'sound  judgment, 
abounding  common  sense,  an  honest  purpose,  patriotism  without  alloy,  and 
with  the  illumination  that  comes  down  to  the  earnest  seeker  for  Divine  light 
and  assistance,  Mr.  Lincoln  stood  up  bravely  before  that  bar  with  his  brief, 
and  entered  upon  the  cause. 

"  Apprehensions,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  Inaugural,  "  seem  to  exist  among 
the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  that  by  the  accession  of  a  Republican 
Administration,  their  property  and  their  peace  and  personal  security  are  to 
be  endangered.  There  has  never  been  any  reasonable  cause  for  such  appre 
hension.  Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to  the  contrary  has  all  the  while 
existed  and  been  open  to  their  inspection.  It  is  found  in  nearly  all  the  pub 
lished  speeches  of  him  who  now  addresses  you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of 
these  speeches,  when  I  declare  that  '  I  have  no  purpose  directly  or  indirectly 
to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  Slavery  in  the  States  where  it  exists.  I 
believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so.' 
Those  who  nominated  and  elected  me,  did  so  with  full  knowledge  that  I  had 
made  this  and  similar  declarations,  and  had  never  recanted  them.  And,  more 
than  this,  they  placed  in  the  platform  for  my  acceptance,  and  as  a  law  to 
themselves  and  to  me,  the  clear  and  emphatic  resolution  which  I  now  read  : — 

"  '  Resolved^  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the  rights  of  the  States,  and 
especially  the  right  of  each  State  to  order  and  control  its  own  domestic 

through  all  the  wars  of  their  country,  terminating  them  all  gloriously.  They  are  spared  for  a  severer  trial  of 
courage  and  patriotism,  unless  Heaven,  in  its  wisdom  and  mercy,  averts  the  threatened  dangers." 

1  Robert  Ould.     See  page  145. 

2  Mr.  Buchanan  was  escorted  to  the  railway  station  at  Washington  by  a  committee  of  gentlemen  from  Lan 
caster,  and  two  companies  of  mounted  infantry.     He  was  well  received  at  Baltimore  by  the  citizens;  and  from 
that  city  he  was  escorted  to  his  home  by  the  Baltimore  City  Guards.  « 


PERPETUITY   OF   THE   UNION.  291 

institutions  according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  is  essential  to  the 
balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfection  and  endurance  of  our  political 
fabric  depend  ;'  and  we  denounce  the  lawless  invasion  by  armed  force  of  the 
soil  of  any  State  or  Territory,  no  matter  under  what  pretext,  as  among  the 
gravest  of  crimes.' 

"  I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments  ;  and,  in  doing  so,  I  only  press  upon 
the  public  attention  the  most  conclusive  evidence  of  which  the  case  is 
susceptible,  that  the  property,  peace,  and  security  of  no  section  are  to  be  in 
any  wise  endangered  by  the  now  incoming  Administration.  I  add,  too,  that 
all  the  protection  which,  consistently  with  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  can 
be  given,  will  be  cheerfully  given  to  all  the  States,  when  lawfully  demanded, 
for  whatever  cause — as  cheerfully  to  one  section  as  to  another." 

The  President  referred  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  as  constitutional,  but 
suggested  that  it  should  have  provisions  that  would  throw  around  it "  all  the 
safeguards  of  liberty  known  in  civilized  and  humane  jurisprudence,"  so  that 
"  a  free  man  be  not  in  any  case  surrendered  as  a  slave."  He  also  suggested 
that  it  might  be  well  to  provide  by  law  "for  the  enforcement  of  that  clause 
in  the  Constitution  which  guaranties  that  4  the  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be 
entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States.'" 
These  "  privileges  and  immunities"  had  not  been  fully  enjoyed  by  citizens  of 
the  Free-labor  States  while  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  for  many  years. 

The  President  then  spoke  of  the  political  construction  and  character  of 
the  Republic.  "  I  hold,"  he  said,  "  that  in  contemplation  of  universal  law 
and  of  the  Constitution,  the  Union  of  tln-m*  Statin  /x  perpetual.  Perpetuity 
is  implied,  if  not  expressed,  in  the  fundamental  law  of  all  national  govern 
ments.  It  is  safe  to  assert  that  no  government  proper  ever  had  a  provision 
in  its  organic  law  for  its  own  termination.  Continue  to  execute  all  the 
express  provisions  of  our  National  Constitution,  and  the  Union  will  endure 
forever — it  being  impossible  to  destroy  it,  except  by  some  action  not  pro 
vided  for  in  the  instrument  itself.  If  the  United  States  be  not  a  government 
proper,  but  an  association  of  States  in  the  nature  of  a  contract  merely,  can 
it,  as  a  contract,  be  peaceably  unmade  by  less  than  all  the  parties  who  made 
it  ?  One  party  to  a  contract  may  violate  it — break  it,  so  to  speak ;  but  does 
it  not  require  all  to  lawfully  rescind  it? 

"Descending  from  these  general  principles,  we  find  the  proposition  that, 
in  legal  contemplation,  the  Union  is  perpetual,  confirmed  by  the  history  of 
the  Union  itself.  The  Union  is  much  older  than  the  Constitution.  It  was 
formed,  in  fact,  by  the  Articles  of  Association,  in  1774.  It  was  matured  and 
continued  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  1770.  It  was  further 
matured,  and  the  faith  of  all  the  then  thirteen  States  expressly  plighted  and 
engaged  that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  in  1778. 
And  finally,  in  1787,  one  of  the  declared  objects  for  ordaining  ai:d  establish 
ing  the  Constitution  was,  4  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union.'  But  if  the 
destruction  of  the  Union,  by  one  or  by  a  part  only  of  the  States,  be  lawfully 
possible,  the  Union  is  less  perfect  than  before,  the  Constitution  having  lost 
the  vital  element  of  perpetuity."2 

1  Sec  pape  32. 

2  For  a  quarter  of  a  century,  conspirators  against  the  nationality  of  the  Republic  had  been  teaching  the 
tjpposite  doctrine,  until,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  it  was  proclaimed  as  a  fundamental  dogma  of  the  political 


292  RECONCILIATION   AND   PEACE   DESIRED. 

"  It  follows,  from  these  views,  that  no  State,  upon  its  own  mere  motion, 
can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union  ;  that  resolves  and  ordinances  to  that  effect 
are  legally  void ;  and  that  acts  of  violence  within  any  State  or  States,  against 
the  authority  of  the  United  States,  are  insurrectionary  or  revolutionary, 
according  to  circumstances.  I,  therefore,  consider  that,  in  view  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken,  and,  to  the  extent  of  my 
ability,  I  shall  take  care,  as  the  Constitution  itself  expressly  enjoins  upon  me, 
that  the  laws  of  the  Union  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the  States.  Doing 
this  I  deem  to  be  only  a  simple  duty  on  my  part,  and  I  shall  perform  it,  so 
far  as  practicable,  unless  my  rightful  masters,  the  American  people,  shall 
withhold  the  requisite  means,  or  in  some  authoritative  manner  direct  the 
contrary.  I  trust  this  will  not  be  regarded  as  a  menace,  but  only  as  the 
declared  purpose  of  the  Union,  that  it  will  constitutionally  defend  and 
maintain  itself. 

"  In  doing  this,  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or  violence ;  and  there  shall 
be  none,  unless  it  be  forced  upon  the  National  authority.  The  power  con 
fided  to  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and  possess  the  property  and  places 
belonging  to  the  Government,  and  to  collect  the  duties  and  imposts ;  but 
beyond  what  may  be  but  necessary  for  these  objects,  there  will  be  no  invasion, 
no  using  of  force  against  or  among  the  people  anywhere.  Where  hostility 
to  the  United  States  in  any  interior  locality  shall  be  so  great  and  universal  as 
to  prevent  competent  resident  citizens  from  holding  the  Federal  offices,  there 
will  be  no  attempt  to  force  obnoxious  strangers  among  the  people  for  that 
-object.  While  the  strict  legal  right  may  exist  in  the  Government  to  enforce 
the  exercise  of  these  offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so  would  be  so  irritating,  and 
so  nearly  impracticable  withal,  I  deem  it  better  to  forego  for  the  time  the 
uses  of  such  offices." 

The  President  then  declared  that  he  should  endeavor,  by  justice,  to 
reconcile  all  discontents,  with  a  hope  of  bringing  about  a  "  peaceful  solution 
of  the  National  troubles."  If  there  were  any  who  sought  to  destroy  the 
Union  in  any  event,  to  those  he  need  "address  no  word."  To  those  who 
really  loved  the  Union,  he  spoke  in  terms  of  zealous  and  earnest  pleading, 
asking  them  to  consider  well  so  "  grave  a  matter  as  the  destruction  of  our 
national  fabric,  with  all  its  benefits,  its  memories,  and  its  hopes,"  before 
undertaking  it.  He  asked  the  malcontents  to  point  to  a  single  instance  where 
'"  any  right,  plainly  written  in  the  Constitution,"  had  been  denied.  He 
declared  that  if,  "  by  the  mere  force  of  numbers,  a  majority  should  deprive  a 
minority  of  any  clearly  written  constitutional  right,  it  might,  in  a  moral 
point  of  view,  justify  revolution — certainly  would  if  such  right  were  a  vital 
one.  But  such  is  not  our  case,"  he  said.  "  All  the  vital  rights  of  minorities 
and  of  individuals  are  so  plainly  assured  to  them,  by  affirmations  and  nega 
tions,  guaranties  and  prohibitions  in  the  Constitution,  that  controversies 
never  arise  concerning  them." 


creed  of  the  conspirators  and  the  Oligarchy,  that  the  Union  was  a  temporary  compact,  and  the  National  Gov 
ernment  no  government  at  all,  but  only  the  "  ajjt-nt  of  the  Sovereign  States."  Edward  A.  Pollard  editor  of  the 
Richmond  Examiner,  who  wrote  a  history  of  the  war,  opens  his  first  volume  with  these  remarkable  words  aa 
the  key-note  to  his  whole  performance: — "The  American  people  of  the  present  generation  were  born  in  the 
belief  that  the  Union  of  the  States  was  destined  to  be  perpetual.  A  few  minds  rose  superior  to  this  natai 
delusion,"  et  ccetera. 


RIGHTS   AND   DUTIES   OF   THE   PEOPLE.  293 

The  President  then  spoke  of  the  necessity  of  acquiescence  of  either 
minorities  or  majorities  in  the  decisions  of  questions.  Without  such 
acquiescence,  the  Government  could  not  exist.  "  If  .1  minority  in  such  case," 
he  said,  "  will  secede  rather  than  acquiesce,  they  make  a  precedent  which,  in 
turn,  will  divide  and  ruin  them ;  for  a  minority  of  their  own  will  secede  from 
them  whenever  a  majority  refuses  to  be  controlled  by  such  minority.  For 
instance,  why  may  not  any  portion  of  a  new  Confederacy,  a  year  or  two 
hence,  arbitrarily  secede  again,  precisely  as  portions  of  the  present  Union 
now  claim  to  secede  from  it  ?  .  .  .  Plainly,  the  central  idea  of  secession  is 
anarchy.  A  majority,  held  in  restraint  by  constitutional  checks  and  limita 
tions,  and  always  changing  easily  with  deliberate  changes  of  popular  opinions 
and  sentiments,  is  the  only  true  sovereign  of  a  free  people.  Whoever  rejects 
it,  does  of  necessity  fly  to  anarchy  or  to  despotism." 

The  President  referred  to  the  binding  character  of  the  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  all  special  cases  ;  but  he  said,  evidently  with  the  action  of 
Chief-Justice  Taney  in  the  Dred  Scott  case  in  his  mind,1  "The  candid  citizen 
must  confess,  that  if  tlie  policy  of  the  Government  upon  vital  questions 
affecting  the  whole  people  is  to  be  irrevocably  fixed  by  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  the  instant  they  are  made  in  ordinary  litigation  between 
parties  in  personal  actions,  the  people  will  have  ceased  to  be  their  own  rulers, 
having  to  that  extent  practically  resigned  their  government  into  the  hands  of 
that  eminent  tribunal."  He  referred  to  the  impossibility  of  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union,  physically  speaking.  The  people  of  the  respective  sections,  who 
differed  widely  in  opinions,  might,  like  a  divorced  husband  and  wife,  separate 
absolutely,  by  going  out  of  the  reaeli  of  each  other,  but  the  territory  of  the 
respective  sections  must  remain  "face  to  face,"  and  intercourse,  either 
amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue  between  them.  The  question  then  arises, 
whether  that  intercourse  would  be  more  airreenble  after  separation.  "Can 
aliens,"1  asked  the  President,  "  make  treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make 
laws?  Can  treaties  be  more  faithfully  enforced  among  aliens  than  laws  can 
among  friends?  Suppose  you  go  to  war,  you  cannot  tight  always;  and 
when,  after  much  loss  on  both  sides  and  no  gain  on  either,  you  cease  fighting, 
the  identical  old  questions  as  to  terms  of  intercourse  are  airain  upon  you.*' 

The  President  recognized  the  right  of  the  people  to  change  their  existing 
form  of  government  when  they  should  become  weary  of  it,  either  by  amend 
ing  the  Constitution  or  by  revolution;  and,  in  view  of  present  difficulties, 
he  expressed  his  concurrence  in  the  proposition  lor  a  Convention  of  Uepre- 
sentatives  of  all  the  Sfates,  to  deliberate  on  constitutional  amendments:  and 
he  went  so  far  as  to  say,  that  he  had  no  objections  to  anv  amendment  which 
should,  by  an  express  and  irrevocable  decree,  provide  that  the  National 
Government  should  never  interfere  with  Slavery  in  the  States  where  it 
existed.  The  Chief  Magistrate,  he  said,  had  no  power  to  fix  any  terms  for 
a  separation  of  States.  That  was  for  the  people  to  do.  His  business  was 
only  to  execute  the  laws.  He  believed  in  the  ultimate  wisdom  and  justice 
of  the  American  people.  "  Why  not  have  a  patient  confidence  in  that 
justice?"  he  asked.  "Is  there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world?  In 
our  present  differences,  is  either  party  without  faith  of  being  in  the  ri^ht? 


1  See  note  1.  j»age  84. 


294  THE   INAUGURATION   BALL. 

If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  Nations,  with  His  eternal  truth  and  justice,  be  on 
your  side  of  the  North,  or  on  yours  of  the  South,  that  truth  and  that  justice 
will  surely  prevail,  by  the  judgment  of  this  great  tribunal  of  the  American 
people."  He  concluded  by  an  earnest  exhortation  to  his  countrymen  to 
think  calmly  and  well  upon  the  whole  subject.  He  begged  them  to  take 
time  for  serious  deliberation.  "  Such  of  you,"  he  said,  u  as  are  now  dis 
satisfied,  still  have  the  old  Constitution  unimpaired,  and,  on  the  sensitive 
point,  the  laws  of  your  own  framing  under  it;  while  the  new  Administration 
will  have  no  immediate  power,  if  it  would,  to  change  either.  ...  In  your 
hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and  not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous 
issue  of  civil  war.  The  Government  will  not  assail  you.  You  can  have 
no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the  aggressors.  You  have  no  oath 
registered  in  heaven  to  destroy  the  Government;  whilst  I  shall  have  the 
most  solemn  one  to  '  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  it.'  I  am  loth  to  close. 
We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion 
may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic 
chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battle-field  and  patriot  grave  to 
every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell 
the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the 
better  angels  of  our  nature." 

Long  before  sunset  on  that  beautiful  4th  of  March,  the  brilliant  pageant 
of  the  inauguration  of  a  President  had  dissolved,  and  thousands  of  citizens, 
breathing  more  freely  now  that  the  first  and  important  chapter  in  the  history 
of  the  new  Administration  was  closed  without  a  tragic  scene,  were  hastening 
homeward.  But  Washington  City  was  to  be  the  theater  of  another  brilliant 
display  the  same  evening,  in  the  character  of  an  Inauguration  Ball.  Not 
withstanding  a  pall  of  gloom  and  dark  forebodings  overspread  the  land,  and 
the  demon  of  Discord,  with  his  torch  and  blade,  was  visibly  on  the  Aving, 
expediency  seemed  to  declare  that  none  of  the  usual  concomitants  of  the 
inauguration  ceremonies  should  be  omitted  on  this  occasion,  but  that  every 
thing  should  move  on  after  the  old  fashion,  as  if  the  Government  were  per 
fectly  undisturbed  by  the  stormy  passions  of  the  time. 

The  preparations  for  the  ball  had  been  made  in  the  usual  manner.  A 
large  temporary  building  had  been  erected  for  the  purpose  near  the  City 
Hall,  whose  council-chamber  and  committee-rooms  were  used  as  dressing- 
rooms  for  the  guests.  The  hall,  a  parallelogram  in  shape,  was  decorated 
with  red  and  Avhite  muslin,  and  many  shields  bearing  National  and  State 
arms.  Several  foreign  ministers  and  their  families,  and  heads  of  departments 
and  their  families,  were  present.  The  dancing  commenced  at  eleven  o'clock. 
Ten  minutes  later  the  music  and  the  motion  ceased,  for  it  Avas  announced 
that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln,  in  Avhose  honor  the  ball  was  given,  Avere  about  to 
enter  the  room.  The  President  appeared  first,  accompanied  by  Mayor 
Berret,  of  Washington,  and  Senator  Anthony,  of  Rhode  Island.  Immediately 
behind  him  came  Mrs.  Lincoln,  Avearing  a  rich  Avatered  silk  dress,  an  elegant 
point-lacetshaAvl,  deeply  bordered,  with  camelias  in  her  hair  and  pearl  orna 
ments.  She  was  leaning  on  the  arm  of  Senator  Douglas,  the  President's 
late  political  rival.  The  incident  was  accepted  as  a  proclamation  of  peace 
and  friendship  between  the  champions.  Mr.  Hamlin,  the  Yice-President, 
was  already  there ;  and  the  room  Avas  crowded  with  many  distinguished 


HEADS   OF   DEPARTMENTS   APPOINTED. 


295 


men  and  beautiful  and  elegantly  dressed  women.  The  utmost  gayety  and 
hilarity  prevailed  ;  and  every  face  but  one  was  continually  radiant  with  the 
unmixed  joy  of  the  hour.  That  face  was  Abraham  Lincoln's.  The  perennial 
good-humor  of  his  nature  could  not,  at  all  times,  banish  from  his  countenance 


<  OSTV.MKS    \VOUN    AT   TIIK    I N AT(i f  K ATIoN    HALL. 


that  almost  painfully  sad  thoughtfulness  of  expression,  more  frequently  seen 
afterward,  when  the  cares  of  State  had  marred  his  brow  with  deeper  furrows. 
Of  all  that  company,  lie  was  the  most  honored  and  the  most  burdened  ;  and 
with  the  pageantry  of  that  Inauguration  Day  and  that  Inauguration  Ball, 
ended,  for  him,  the  poetry  of  his  Administration.  Thereafter  his  life  was 
spent  in  the  sober  prose  of  dutiful  endeavor  to  save  and  redeem  the  nation. 

On  the  day  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration,  the  Senate,  in  extraordinary 
session,  confirmed  his  appointments  of  Cabinet  ministers.  He  had  chosen 
for  Secretary  of  State,  William  II.  Seward,  of  Xe\v  York  ;  for  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio  ;  for  Secretary  of  War,  Simon 
Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania ;  for  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Gideon  Welles,  of 
Connecticut  ;  for  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Caleb  Smith,  of  Indiana  ;  for 
Postmaster-General,  Montgomery  Blair,  of  Maryland  ;  and  for  Attorney- 
General,  Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri.2  Mr.  Seward  had  been  a  prominent 
candidate  for  a  nomination  for  the  Presidency,  at  Chicago.  On  that  account, 

1  The  dross  of  one  of  the  ladies  was  thus  described  by  an  eye-witness: — "The  robe  was  of  white  illusion, 
dtcolltte,  puffed  sleeves,  with  six  flounces,  embroidered  with  cherry  silk  :  an  overskirt  of  cherry  satin,  looped 
up  with  clusters  of  white  roses;  a  pointed  waist 'of  same,  edged  with  a  quilling  of  white  satin;  head-dress,  a 
chaplet  of  ivy;  ornaments,  diamonds  and  opals." 

*  See  the  Frontispiece  to  this  volume.  The  picture  represents  the  President  and  his  Cabinet,  with  General 
Scott,  in  consultation  concerning  military  affairs.  I  have  endeavored  to  irive  this  picture  an  historic  value,  by 
presenting  not  only  a  correct  portraiture  of  the  nu-n,  but  also  of  the  room  in  which  the  meetings  of  th« 
Cabinet,  were  held,  in  the  White  House.  The  drawing  of  the  room  was  made  for  me,  with  great  accuracy,  by 
Mr.  C.  K.  Stellwagen,  of  the  Ordnance  Department,  in  October,  1^64.  and  the  grouping  of  the  figures  by  Mr. 
Schuselle,  an  accomplished  artist  of  Philadelphia.  This  council  chamber  of  the  Executive  is  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  White  House,  overlooking  the  public  grounds,  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  the  unfinished  Washing 
ton  Monument,  and  the  Potomac  River.  The  Washington  Monument  is  seen,  in  the  picture,  through  one  of  the 
windows. 


296  RECEPTION"   OF  THE  PRESIDENT'S    ADDRESS. 

and  because  of  his  known  eminent  ability,  and  unswerving  fidelity  to  his 
country  and  the  principles  of  justice  and  right,  his  appointment  was  accept 
able  to  all  loyal  people,  and  especially  to  his  political  friends.  How  well  he 
performed  the  very  important  and  delicate  duties  of  prime  minister  during 
the  four  succeeding  years,  let  the  recorded  diplomacy  of  the  Republic  for 
that  time  answer. 

The  ship  of  State  was  now  fhirly  launched  upon  the  tide  under  the 
guidance  of  the  new  pilot.  It  was  evident  that  terribly  stormy  seas  were 
before  it.  Premonitions  of  tempests  were  darkening  the  air,  alarming  the 
timid,  and  filling  the  hearts  of  the  brave  with  anxiety.  There  was  peril  on 
every  side. 

The  President's  Inaugural  Address,  calm,  dignified,  conciliatory  even  to 
pathos  in  tone,  clear  in  its  enunciation  of  the  great  truths  concerning  the 
political  construction  and  character  of  the  nation,  and  as  clear  in  its  annun 
ciation  of  the  duties  and  determination  of  the  Chief  Magistrate,  satisfied  the 
loyal  people  of  the  country  everywhere.  It  promised  peace,  security,  and 
justice  to  every  law-abiding  citizen  and  community.  It  was  a  pledge  that 
the  integrity  of  the  territory  of  the  Republic  should  be  maintained,  and  its 
laws  executed.  It  denied  the  existence  of  State  supremacy,  but  not  of 
State  rights.  It  denied  the  right  of  secession,  and  plainly  told  the  advocates 
of  such  pretended  right  that  to  attempt  it  would  be  an  essay  at  criminal  revo 
lution,  that  would  be  resisted  with  all  the  powers  of  the  Government.  It  was 
denounced  by  the  conspirators  and  their  partisans,  South  and  North,  as 
belligerent — as  threatening  war,  because  it  contemplated  the  "  coercion  "  of 
law-breakers  into  submission.1  It  was  mutilated  and  interpolated  while 
passing  through  the  newspapers  in  the  interest  of  the  conspirators  ;  and  the 


1  That  conspicuous  counterfeit  of  a  statesman,  Senator  Wigfall,  whose  mendacity  and  cowardice  at  Fort 
Sumter,  a  month  later,  were  as  prominent  as  his  vulgarity  and  bluster  in  Congress,  kept  his  seat  in  the 
Senate,  in  defiance  of  all  decency ;  and  on  the  last  days  of  its  session  uttered  his  treasonable  words  more  inso 
lently  than  ever.  He  took  it  upon  himself  to  treat  the  Inaugural  with  scorn.  u  It  is  easy  to  talk  about 
enforcing  the  laws,  and  holding,  occupying,  and  possessing  the  forts,1'  he  said.  ;t  When  you  come  to  do  this, 
bayonets,  and  not  words,  must  settle  the  question.  And  he  would  here  say,  that  Fort  Pickeus  and  the  Admin 
istration  will  soon  be  forced  to  construe  the  Inaugural.  Forts  Moultrie,  and  Johnston,  and  Castle  Pinckney  are 
in  possession  of  the  Confederate  States:  but  the  confederated  States  will  not  leave  Fort  Sumter  in  possession 
of  the  Federal  Government.  .  .  .  Seven  Southern  States  have  formed  a  confederation,  and  to  tell  them,  as  the 
President  has  done,  that  the  acts  of  secession  are  no  more  than  blank  paper,  is  an  insult."  lie  repeated: 
"There  is  no  Union  left;  the  seceded  States  will  never  surely  come  back  under  any  circumstances.  They 
will  not  live  under  this  Administration.  Withdraw  your  troops.  Make  no  attempt  to  collect  tribute,  and 
enter  into  a  treaty  with  those  States.  Do  this,  and  you  will  have  peace.  Send  your  flag  of  thirty-fou  stara 
thither,  and  it  will  be  fired  into,  and  war  will  ensue.  Divide  the  public  property ;  make  a  fair  assessment  of 
the  public  debt;  or  will  you  sit  stupidly  and  idly  till  there  shall  be  a  conflict  of  arms,  because  you  canno  com 
promise  with  traitors  ?  Let  the  remaining  States  reform  their  government,  and  if  it  is  acceptable,  the  Conft  leracy 
will  enter  into  a  treat}'  of  commerce  and  amity  with  them.  If  you  want  peace,  you  shall  have  it.  If  w  r,  you 
shall  have  it.  The  time  for  platforms  and  demagogism  has  passed.  Treat  with  the  Confederate  States  as 
independent,  and  you  will  have  peace.  Treat  with  them  as  States  of  this  Union,  and  you  will  have  war.  Mr. 
Lincoln  has  to  remove  the  troops  from  Forts  Pickens  and  Sumter,  or  they  will  be  removed  for  him.  He  has  to 
collect  the  revenue  at  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  New  Orleans,  or  it  will  be  collected  for  him.  If  he  attempts 
to  do  so,  resistance  will'  be  made.  It  is  usless  to  blind  your  eyes.  No  compromise  or  amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution,  no  arrangement  you  may  enter  into,  will  satisfy  the  South,  unless  you  recognize  slaves  as  property, 
and  protect  it  as  any  other  species  of  property.'' 

Senator  Douglas  reminded  Wigfall  that,  according  to  his  own  doctrine,  he  was  "  a  foreigner,"  and  yet  ho 
retained  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  The  insolent  conspirator  replied: — "  It  was  because  he 
had  no  official  information  that  Texas  has  abolished  the  office  of  United  States  Senator.  When  he  should  be 
so  notified,  he  would  file  a  notice  of  his  withdrawal  at  the  desk  ;  and  if,  after  being  so  informed,  his  name 
should  continue  to  be  called,  he  should  answer  to  it,  if  it  suited  his  convenience;  and  if  called  upon  to  vote, 
be  would  probably  give  his  reasons  for  voting,  and  regard  this  as  a  very  respectable  public  meeting." 


ASPECT   OF   THE   NATIONAL  FINANCES.  297 

misled  and  excited  people  were  made  to  believe  that  a  war  for  subjugation 
was  about  to  be  waged  against  them.  "It  is  our  wisest  policy,''  said  the 
satanic  Charleston  Mervury,  "to  accept  it  as  a  declaration  of  war;"  and 
urged  its  readers  not  to  waste  time  in  thinking,  but  to  raise  the  arm  of 
resistance  immediately.  The  conspirators  were  most  afraid  of  deliberation. 
They  would  not  allow  the  people  to  reflect,  but  hurried  them  on,  willing  or 
unwilling,  into  open  armed  rebellion.  "To  carry  out  his  threats,"  they  said, 
"  not  only  on  the  forts  now  in  possession  of  the  Federal  Government  to  be 
held,  but  fortresses  along  the  coast,  and  owned  [by  virtue  of  unlawful 
seizure]  by  the  Confederate  States  Government,  are  to  be  'possessed'  and 
'held 'by  the  United  States  Government.  This  warns  us  that  our  course 
now  must  be  entirely  one  of  policy  and  war  strategy."1  A  member  (Mr. 
Harvie,  of  Amelia)  of  the  politicians'  convention  in  Virginia,  then  in 
session  in  Richmond,  introduced  a  resolution  declaring  that  it  was  Mr. 
Lincoln's  purpose  to  plunge  the  country  into  civil  war  by  "  coercive  policy," 
and  asked  the  Legislature  to  take  measures  for  resistance ;  and  some  were 
so  indiscreet  as  to  rejoice  because  the  Inaifgural  seemed  to  give  a  pretext  for 
rebellion.  Every  thing  that  unholy  ambition  and  malice  could  devise  was 
used  to  distort  the  plain  meaning  of  the  address,  and  inflame  the  passions  of 
the  people  against  those  of  the  Free-labor  States."  It  was  falsely  asserted 
that  it  breathed  hostility  to  \\\u  p-ople  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  when  it  was 
only  hostile  to  the  conspirators  and  their  friends.  For  that  reason  they 
sought  to  blind  and  mislead  the  people  ;  and  they  illustrated  the  truth,  that 

"No  rojjue  e'er  Mi  the  halter  dniw 
With  i^ooU  opinion  of  the  law." 

The  first  business  of  the  President  and   his  Cabinet  was  to  inform  them 
selves  about  the   condition   of  public  affairs,   the  resources   of  the   Govern 
ment,  and  the  powers  at  its  command.     They  first   turned  to  the  Treasury 
Department,  and   there  found,  under  the  skillful   management   of  Secretary 
Dix,  cheerful  promises,  because   of  evidences   of  renewed  public  confidence. 
The   national  debt  was  something  more  than   sixty  millions  of  dollars,  and 
was  slowly  increasing,  because  of  the  necessity  for  loans.     After  the  Presi 
dential  election,  in  November,  1800,  as   we  have  seen,  the  public  inquietude 
and  the  dishonest  operations  of  Secretary  Cobb  caused  much  distrust  among 
capitalists,  and   they   were   loth  to  buy  Government   stocks.     Of  a   loan   of 
twenty  millions  of  dollars,  authorized  by  Congress  in  June,"  one- 
half  of  it  was  asked  for  in   October.     It  was  readily  subscribed 
for,  but   only  a   little  more  than    seven    millions  of  dollars   were  paid  in.      A 
few  days   after   Cobb  left   the   Treasury,   Congress  authorized  the  issue  of 
treasury   notes 4   to  the  amount  of  ten   millions  of  dollars,   pay 
able  in   one   year,   at   the   lowest   rates   of  interest  offered.      Of 
these,    five   millions    of  dollars    were    offered    on    the    28th   of   December. 


1  Charleston  Mercury,  March  6,  1S61. 

a  The  Richmond  newspapers  were  specially  incendiary.  "No  action  of  our  Convention  can  now  maintain 
the  peace,  and  Virginia  must  fight,"  said  the  Enquirer.  "  Every  Border  State  ought  to  go  out  within  twenty- 
four  hours,"  said  the  Dfujmtch.  4%The  positions  taken  are  a  declaration  of  war,  laying  down  doctrines  which 
would  reduce  the  Southern  section  to  the  unquestioned  dominion  of  the  North,  as  a  section,"  said  the  Sentinel. 
Even  the  conservative  Wlii'j  blazed  with  indignation.  "The  policy  indicated  toward  the  seceding  States  will 
meet  with  stern,  unyielding  resistance  by  the  united  South,"  said  this  professedly  Union  paper. 


298  CONDITION   OF   THE   ARMY  AND   NAVY. 

The  buoyancy  of  feeling  in  financial  circles,  after  the  retirement  of  Cobb, 
had  now  given  way  to  temporary  despondency  because  of  a  want  of  con 
fidence  in  Thomas,  his  immediate  successor,  and  the  robbery  of  the  Indian 
Trust-Fund.1  There  were  bids  for  only  five  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
The  semi-annual  interest  on  the  national  debt  would  be  due  on  the  first  of 
January,  and  the  Government  would  be  greatly  embarrassed.  Loyal 
bankers  stepped  forward,  and  took  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the  treasury 
notes  to  relieve  the  pressing  wants  of  the  Government.  Nothing  was  now 
needed  to  inspire  capitalists  with  confidence  but  the  appointment  o£ General 
Dix  to  the  head  of  the  Treasury,  which  was  made  soon  afterward."  When 
he  offered  the  remaining  five  millions  of  dollars  of -the  author- 
*  ^isS7 11?  ize<^  l°an>  ^  was  readily  taken,  but  at  the  high  average  rate  of 
interest  of  ten  and  five-eighths  per  centum. 

Congress  perceived  the  necessity  fot  making  provision  for  strengthening 
the  Government  financially.  By  far  the  larger  proportion  of  all  the 
expenses  of  the  Government,  from  its  foundation,  had  been  paid  from 
customs'  revenue.  To  this  source  of  supply  the  National  Legislature  now 
directed  their  attention,  and  the  tariff*  was  revised  so  that  it  would  produce 
a  much  larger  revenue.  An  act  passed  Congress  on  the  2d  of  March,  to  go 
into  eft'ect  on  the  1st  of  April,  which  restored  the  highest  protective  char 
acter  to  the  tariff".  A  bill  was  also  passed  on  the  8th  of  February,  author 
izing  a  loan  of  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars,  to  bear  six  per  cent,  interest, 
to  run  not  less  than  ten,  nor  more  than  twenty  years,  the  stock  to  be  sold 
to  the  highest  bidder.  The  Secretary  offered  eight  millions  of  dollars  of 
this  stock  on  the  27th  of  February,  when  there  were  bids  to  the  amount  of 
fourteen  millions  three  hundred  and  fifty-five  thousand  dollars,  ranging  from 
seventy-five  to  ninety-six.  All  bids  below  ninety  were  refused.  The  new 
tariff  bill,  and  the  faith  in  the  Government  shown  by  the  eagerness  to  lend 
money  on  its  securities,  were  the  cheerful  promises  found  in  the  Treasury 
Department.  * 

The  President  and  his  Cabinet  turned  to  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  saw 
little  in  that  direction  to  encourage  them.  The  total  regular  force  was 
sixteen  thousand  men,  and  these  were  principally  in  the  Western  States 
and  Territories,  guarding  the  frontier  settlers  against  the  Indians.  The 
forts  and  arsenals  on  the  seaboard,  especially  those  within  the  Slave-labor 
States,  were  so  weakly  manned,  or  really  not  manned  at  all,  that  they 
became  an  easy  prey  to  the  insurgents.  The  consequence  was,  that  they 
were  seized ;  and  when  the  new  Administration  came  into  power,  of  all  the 
fortifications  within  the  Slave-labor  States,  only  Fortress  Monroe,  and  Forts 
Jefferson,  Taylor,  and  Pickens,  remained  in  possession  of  the  Government. 
The  seized  forts  were  sixteen  in  number.2  They  had  cost  the  Government 
about  seven  millions  of  dollars,  and  bore  an  aggregate  of  one  thousand  two 
hundred  and  twenty-six  guns.  All  the  arsenals  in  the  Cotton-growing 
States  had  been  seized.  That  at  Little  Rock,  the  capital  of  the  State  of 


1  See  page  144. 

2  The  following  are  the  names  and  locations  of  the  seized  forts  :—Pulaski  and  Jackson,  at  Savannah ; 
Morgan  and  Gaines,  at  Mobile ;  Macon,  at  Beaufort,  North  Carolina ;  Caswell,  at  Oak  Island,  North  Carolina ; 
Moultrie  and  Castle  Pinckney,  at   Charleston;   St.   Philip,  Jackson,  Pike,    Macomb,   and  Livingston,  in 
Louisiana;  and  McRee,  Barrancas,  and  a  redoubt  in  Florida. 


THE   NAVY   MADE    UNAVAILABLE. 


299 


Arkansas,  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  militia  of  that  State,  under  the 
direction  of  the  disloyal  Governor  Rector,  on  the  5th  of  February.  They 
came  from  Helena,  and  readily  obtained  the  Governor's  sanction  to  the 
movement.  Far-off  Fort  Kearney,  on  Grand  Island,  in  the  Platte  River, 


ARSENAL    AT    LITTLE    ROCK. 


was  also  seized  on  the  lT)th  of  February,  and  a  Palmetto  flag  was  raised  over 
it.  It  was  soon  retaken  by  the  Union  men. 

The  little  Navy  of  the  United  States,  like  the  Army,  had  been  placed  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  Government  for  immediate  use.  The  total  number 
of  vessels  of  all  classes  belonging  to  the  Navy  was  ninety,  carrying  or 
designed  to  carry  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifteen  guns.  Of  this 
number,  only  forty-two  were  in  commission.  Twenty-eight  ships,  bearing  in 
the  aggregate  eight  hundred  and  seventy-four  guns,  were  lying  in  ports, 
dismantled,  and  none  of  them  could  be  made  ready  for  sea  in  less  than 
several  weeks'  time ;  some  of  them  would  require  at  least  six  months.  The 
most  of  those  in  commission  had  been  sent  to  distant  seas;  and  the  entire 
available  force  for  the  defense  of  the  whole  Atlantic  coast  of  the  Republic 
was  the  Krookli/H,  of  twenty-five  guns,  and  the  store-ship  Ii<li<f,  of  two 
guns.  The  Brooklyn  drew  too  much  water  to  enter  Charleston  harbor, 
where  war  had  been  commenced,  with  safety;  and  the  Relief  had  been 
ordered  to  the  coast  of  Africa  with  stores  for  the  squadron  there.  Many  of 
the  officers  of  the  Navy  were  born  in  Slave-labor  States,  and  a  large  number 
of  them  abandoned  their  flag  at  this  critical  moment.  No  less  than  sixty  of 
them,  including  eleven  at  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis,  had  resigned 
their  commissions. 

Such  was  the  utterly  powerless  condition  of  the  Navy  to  assist  in  the 
preservation  of  the  life  of  the  Republic,  when  Isaac  Toucey,  of  Connecticut, 
for  four  years  at  the  head  of  the  Navy  Department,  handed  the  seals  of  his 
office  to  his  successor,  Gideon  Welles,  of  the  same  State.  The  amazing  fact 
stands  upon  official  record,  that  Mr.  Buchanan's  Secretaries  of  War  and  of 
the  Navy  had  so  disposed  the  available  military  forces  of  the  Republic  that 
it  could  not  command  their  services  at  the  critical  moment  when  the  assassin 
was  preparing  to  strike  it  a  deadly  blow. 

The  public  offices  were  found  to  be  swarming  with  disloyal  men.  It 
was  difficult  to  decide  as  to  who  were  or  were  not  trustworthy.  It  was 
necessary  for  the  President  to  have  proper  instruments  to  work  with ;  and 


300 


GOVERNMENT   OFFICES   PURIFIED. 


ISAAC  TOUCEY. 


for  a  month  after  his  inauguration,  he  was  busily  engaged  in  relieving  the 
Government  of  unfaithful  servants,  and  supplying  their  places  with  true 
men.  So  intent  was  he  upon  the  thorough  performance  of  this  work  before 
he  should  put  forth  the  arm  of  power  to  maintain  the  laws  and  keep  down 

rising  rebellion,  that  many  of  his  best 
friends  were  filled  with  apprehensions. 
They  thought  they  discovered  signs  of 
that  weakness  which  had  characterized 
the  late  Administration,  and  began  to 
seriously  doubt  the  ability  of  the  Re 
public  to  preserve  its  own  life.  They 
did  not  know  the  man.  Like  a  pru 
dent  warrior  of  old,  he  was  unwilling 
to  go  out  to  battle  before  he  should 
prove  his  armor.  He  would  be  sure 
of  the  temper  of  his  blade  before  he 
unsheathed  it.  Mr.  Lincoln  wisely 
strengthened  the  Executive  arm,  by 
calling  to  its  aid  loyal  men,  before  he 
ventured  to  speak  out  with  authority. 

The  rebellion  could  not  be  put  down  by  proclamations,  unless  the  insurgents 
saw  behind  them  the  invincible  power  of  the  State,  ready  to  be  wielded  by 
the  President  with  trusty  instrumentalities. 

The  firmness  of  the  new  Administration  was  soon  put  upon  its  trial.  We 
have  already  observed  that  three  Commissioners  were  appointed  by  the 
confederated  conspirators  at  Montgomery  to  proceed  to  Washington,  for  the 
alleged  purpose  of  treating  with  the  National  Government  upon  various 

topics  of  mutual  interest,  that  there  might 
be  a  "  settlement  of  all  questions  of  dis 
agreement  between  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  and  that  of  the  Confed 
erate  States,  upon  principles  of  right,  jus 
tice,  equity,  and  good  faith."1  Two  of 
these  Commissioners  (John  Forsyth,  of 
Alabama,  who  had  been  a  Minister  of  the 
United  States  in  Mexico  a  few  years 
before,  and  Martin  J.  Crawford,  of  Geor 
gia,  a  member  of  Congress  from  that 
State)  arrived  in  Washington  on  the  5th 
of  March.  On  the  llth  they  made  a 
formal  application,  through  "  a  distin 
guished  Senator,"  for  an  unofficial  inter 
view  with  the  Secretary  of  State.  It 
was  declined,  and  on  the  13th  they  sent  to  the  Secretary  a  sealed  com 
munication,  in  which  they  set  forth  the  object  of  their  mission,  and  asked 
the  appointment  of  an  early  day  on  which  to  present  their  credentials  to  the 
President.2 


MARTIN   J.    CRAWFORD. 


1  See  page  264. 

2  See  Secretary  Seward's  Memorandum  for  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford,  dated  March  15,  1861. 


"CONFEDERATE"   COMMISSIONERS   AT  WASHINGTON.          3<>1 

This  first  attempt  of  the  conspirators  adroitly  to  win  for  the  so-called 
government  of  the  Confederated  States  the  solid  advantage  of  a  recognition 
of  inherent  sovereignty,  was  met  l>y  Mr.  Seward  with  his  accustomed  suavity 
of  manner  and  unanswerable  logic.  He  told  them,  not  in  a  letter,  for  he 
would  hold  no  such  communication  with  them,  but  in  a  Memorandum,  in 
pleasant  phrases  and  explanatory  sentences,  that  he  was  not  at  liberty  to 
know  them  in  any  other  character  than  that  of  citizens  of  the  Republic. 
The  Commissioners  had  said  :  u  Seveji  States  of  the  late  Federal  Union  having, 
in  the  exercise  of  the  inherent  right  of  every  free  people  to  change  or  reform 
their  political  institutions,  and  through  conventions  of  their  people,  with 
drawn  from  the  United  States,  and  resumed  the  attributes  of  sovereign 
power  delegated  to  it,  have  formed  a  government  of  their  own.  The  Con 
federate'  States  constitute  an  independent  nation  </<  facto  and  d<  jure,  and 
possess  a  government  perfect  in  all  its  parts,  and  endowed  with  all  the  means 
of  self-support." 

"  The  Secretary  of  State,"  Mr.  Seward  replied  in  his  Memorandum,- 
"frankly  confesses  that  he  understands  the  events  which  have 
recently  occurred,  and  the  condition  of  public  affairs  which  "  jJ5 
actually  exists  in  the  part  of  the  Union  to  which  his  attention 
has  thus  been  directed,  very  differently  from  the  aspect  in  which  they  are 
presented  by  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford.  He  sees  in  them,  not  a  right 
ful  and  accomplished  revolution,  and  an  independent  nation,  with  an  estab 
lished  government,  but  rather  a  perversion  of  a  temporary  and  partisan 
excitement  to  the  inconsiderate  purposes  of  an  unjustifiable  and  unconstitu 
tional  aggression  upon  the  rights  and  authority  vested  in  the  Federal 
Government,  and  hitherto  benignly  exercised,  as  from  their  very  nature  they 
always  must  be  so  exercised,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union,  the  preserva 
tion  of  Liberty,  and  the  security,  peace,  welfare,  happiness,  and  aggrandize 
ment  of  the  American  people.  The  Secretary  of  State,  therefore,  avows  to 
Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford  that  he  looks  patiently,  but  confidently,  to  the 
cure  of  evils  which  have  resulted  from  proceedings  so  unnecessary,  so  unwise, 
so  unusual,  and  so  unnatural — not  to  irregular  negotiations,  having  in  view 
new  and  untried  relations  with  agencies  unknown  to,  and  acting  in  derogation 
of,  the  Constitution  and  laws,  but  to  regular  and  considerate  action  of  the 
people  of  those  States,  in  co-operation  with  their  brethren  in  the  other  States, 
through  the  Congress  of  the  United  States;  and  such  extraordinary  conven 
tions,  if  there  shall  be  need  thereof,  as  the  Federal  Constitution  contemplates 
and  authorizes  to  be  assembled."  Mr.  Seward  then  referred  them  to  the 
President's  Inaugural  Message,  saying  that,  "  guided  by  the  principles  therein 
announced,"  he  could  not  admit  that  any  States  had  withdrawn  from  the 
Union,  or  that  they  could  do  so,  excepting  with  the  consent  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  given  through  a  National  Convention.  Therefore,  the 
so-called  "Confederate  States''  were  not  a  foreign  power,  "with  whom 
diplomatic  relations  ought  to  be  established,"  and  that  he  could  not  "  recog 
nize  them  as  diplomatic  agents,  or  hold  correspondence  or  other  communica 
tion  with  them." 

Thus,  at  the  outset,  both  in  the  Inaugural  Address,  and  in  the  Memorandum 
of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  representatives  of  the  conspirators,  the 
Government  took  the  broad  national  ground  that  secession  was  an  impossi- 


302  THE   COMMISSIONERS   AND   THEIR   ADVISERS. 

bility ;  that  no  State,  as  a  State,  had  seceded  or  could  secede ;  that  the 
National  Government  is  a  unit,  and  that  it  knows  no  States  in  the  exercise 
of  its  executive  authority,  but  deals  only  with  the  individuals  of  the  people ; 
therefore  the  "coercing  of  a  State"  was  an  impossibility,  the  contemplation 
of  it  an  absurdity,  and  the  assertion  of  its  possibility  a  positive  misrepresen 
tation.  And  during  the  entire  war  that  ensued,  the  Government  acted  upon 
the  plain  fact,  declared  by  the  very  nature  of  the  construction  of  the  nation, 
that  no  State,  as  a  State,  was  at  any  time  in  insurrection  or  rebellion,  but 
only  certain  persons  in  certain  States  were  acting  in  open  defiance  of  the 
Law  and  of  the  Constitution.  Individual  citizens,  not  States,  any  more  than 
counties  or  towns,  were  held  amenable  to  the  outraged  Constitution  and 
laws.1 

Mr.  Seward's  Memorandum  remained  uncalled  for  and  undelivered  for 
twenty-three  days,  when,  on  the  8th  of  April,  J.  F.  Pickett,  Secretary  of  the 
Commissioners,  applied  for  it.2  The  Commissioners  explained  the  delay  in 
seeking  a  reply  to. their  note,  by  asserting  that  they  had  been  assured  by  "  a 
person  occupying  a  high  official  station  in  the  Government,"  and  who,  they 
believed,  was  speaking  by  authority,  that  Fort  Sumter  would  soon  be 
evacuated,  and  that  there  would  be  no  change  in  the  relations  of  Fort 
Pickens  to  the  "  Confederacy,"  prejudicial  to  the  "new  government."  They 
were  also  informed,  they  said,  on  the  1st  of  April,  that  an  attempt  might  be 
made  to  send  provisions  to  Fort  Sumter,  but  nothing  was  said  about 
re-enforcing  the  garrison.  Governor  Pickens,  they  understood,  was  to  be 
informed  before  any  attempt  to  send  supplies  should  be  made.  With  the 
belief  that  no  hostile  act  would  be  undertaken  unheralded,  they  had  con 
sented  to  wait,  that  they  might  secure  the  great  object  of  their  mission, 
namely,  "  a  peaceful  solution  of  existing  complications." 

The  "  person  occupying  a  high  official  station  "  was  John  A.  Campbell, 
a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  who  soon  afterward 
resigned  his  seat  on  the  bench,  and  joined  the  conspirators  in  their  unholy 
work.  He  had  received  from  Secretary  Seward  such  assurances  of  peaceful 
intentions  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  that  on  the  day  when  the  Secretary 
wrote  his  Memorandum  for  the  Commissioners,  Judge  Campbell  advised 
them  not  to  press  the  matter  of  their  mission.  "I  feel  an  entire  confidence," 
he  said,  "  that  an  immediate  demand  for  an  answer  to  your  communication 
will  be  productive  of  evil  and  not  of  good."  They  acted  upon  his  advice, 
and  waited.  It  was  from  Judge  Campbell  that  they  received  from  Mr. 
Seward,  on  the  1st  of  April,  the  assurance  that  he  was  "satisfied  that  the 
Government  would  not  undertake  to  supply  Fort  Sumter  without  giving 
notice  to  Governor  Pickens."  When,  on  the  8th,  they  were  informed  that 


1  At  Indianapolis,  while  on  his  way  to  Washington,  Mr.  Lincoln  asked,  significantly: — "In  what  consists 
the  special  sacredness  of  a  State  ?     I  speak  of  that  assumed  primary  right  of  a  State  to  rule  all  which  is  less 
than  itself,  find  ruin  all  which  is  greater  than  itself.     If  a  State  and  a  county,  in  a  given  case,  should  be  equal 
in  extent  of  territory  and  equal  in  number  of  inhabitants,  in  what,  as  a  matter  of  principle,  is  the  State  better 
than  the  county?     Would  an  exchange  of  names  be  an  exchange  of  rights,  upon  principle?     On  what  rightful 
principle  may  a  State,  being  not  more  than  one-fiftieth  part  of  the  Nation  in  soil  and  population,  break  up  the 
Nation,  and  then  coerce  a  proportionately  larger  subdivision  of  itself,  in  the  most  arbitrary  way?     What  myste 
rious  right  to  play  tyrant  is  conferred  on  a  district  of  country,  with  its  people,  by  merely  calling  it  a  State  ?" 

2  The  original  Memorandum   is  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State.     On  it  is  an  indorsement,  setting 
forth  that  its  delivery  was  delayed  by  the  consent  of  the  "  Commissioners"  and  that,  when  called  for,  a  verified 
copy  was  delivered  to  their  Secretary. 


PLEADINGS   OF   THE   COMMISSIONERS.  303 

Governor  Pickens  had  been  so  notified,  they  sent  for  the  Secretary's  reply, 
and  received  the  Memorandum  alluded  to  ;  and  on  the  9th  they  returned  a 
response  characteristic  of  the  cause  which  they  represented.  It  was  dis 
ingenuous,  boastful,  and  menacing.  They  spoke  of  their  government — the 
band  of  usurpers  at  Montgomery — as  one  seeking  the  good  of  the  people, 
who  (they  falsely  alleged)  "  had  intrusted  them  with  power,  in  the  spirit  of 
humanity,  of  the  Christian  civilization  of  the  age,"  ct  cetera ;  and  who, 
among  its  first  acts,  had  sent  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  which 
they  were  attempting  to  revolutionize,  the  olive-branch  of  peace. 

The  Commissioners  proceeded  to  give  the  Secretary  a  lecture,  composed 
of  a  curious  compound  of  truth,  untruth,  prophecy,  and  sophistry.  ''Per 
sistently  wedded,"  they  said,  u  to  those  fatal  theories  of  construction  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  always  rejected  by  the  statesmen  of  the  South,  and 
adhered  to  by  those  of  the  Administration  school,  until  they  have  produced 
their  natural  and  often-predicted  result  of  the  destruction  of  the  Union, 
under  which  we  might  have  continued  to  live  happily  and  gloriously  together, 
had  the  spirit  of  the  ancestry  who  framed  the  common  Constitution  animated 
the  hearts  of  all  their  sons,  you  now,  with  a  persistence  untaught  and  uncured 
tby  the  ruin  which  has  been  wrought,  refuse  to  recognize*  the  great  fact 
presented  to  you  of  a  complete  and  successful  revolution;  you  close  your 
eyes  to  the  existence  of  the  government  founded  upon  it,  ami  ignore  the 
high  duties  of  moderation  and  humanity  which  attach  to  you  in  dealing  with 
this  great  fact.  Had  you  met  these  issues  with  the  frankness  and  manli 
ness  with  which  tlie  undersigned  were  instructed  to  present  them  to  you  and 
treat  them,  the  undersigned  had  not  now  the  melancholy  duty  to  return 
home  and  tell  their  government  ami  their  countrymen  that  their  earnest  and 
ceaseless  efforts  in  behalf  of  peace  had  been  futile,  and  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  meant  to  subjugate  them  by  force  of  arms.  Whatever 
may  be  tlie  result,  impartial  history  will  record  the  innocence  of  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  place  the  responsibility  of  the  blood  and 
mourning  that  may  ensue  upon  those  who  have  denied  the  great  fundamental 
doctrine  of  American  liberty,  that  'governments  derive  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed;'  and  who  have  set  naval  ami  land  arma 
ments  in  motion  to  subject  the  people  of  one  portion  of  tlie  land  to  the  will 
of  another  portion.  That  it  can  never  be  done  while  a  freeman  survives  in 
the  Confederate  States  to  wield  a  weapon,  the  undersigned  appeal  to  past 
history  to  prove. 

"It  is  proper,  however,  to  advise  you,  that  it  were  well  to  dismiss  the 
hopes  you  seem  to  entertain  that,  by  any  of  the  modes  indicated,  the  people 
of  the  Confederate  States  will  ever  be  brought  to  submit  to  the  authority  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States.  You  are  dealing  with  delusions,  too, 
when  you  seek  to  separate  our  people  from  our  government,  and  to  charac 
terize  the  deliberate  sovereign  act  of  the  people  as  a  *  perversion  of  a  tem 
porary  and  partisan  excitement.'  If  you  cherish  these  dreams  you  will  be 
awakened  from  them,  and  find  them  as  unreal  and  unsubstantial  as  others  in 
which  you  have  recently  indulged.  The  undersigned  would  omit  the 
performance  of  an  obvious  duty,  were  they  to  fail  to  make  known  to  tho 
Government  of  the  United  States,  that  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States 
have  declared  their  independence  with  a  full  knowledge  of  all  the  responsi- 


304     THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  ACCUSED  OF  PERFIDY. 

bilities  of  that  act,  and  with  as  firm  a  determination  to  maintain  it  by  all 
the  means  with  which  Nature  has  endowed  them,  as  that  which  sustained 
their  fathers  when  they  threw  off  the  authority  of  the  British  crown.1  .  .  .  The 
undersigned,  in  behalf  of  their  government  and  people,  accept  the  gage  of 
battle  thus  thrown  down  to  them;  and,  appealing  to  God  and  the  judgment 
of  mankind  for  the  righteousness  of  their  cause,  the  people  of  the  Confederate 
States  will  defend  their  liberties  to  the  last  against  this  flagrant  and  open 
attempt  at  their  subjugation  to  sectional  power."  In  conclusion,  these  bold 
conspirators  offended  truth  and  insulted  the  Chief  Magistrate  by  saying,  it 
was  clear  "that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  determined  to  appeal  to  the  sword,  to 
reduce  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States  to  the  will  of  the  section  or  party 
whose  President  he  was." 

In  a  memorandum  of  a  few  lines,  on  the  10th  of  April  the  Secretary  of 
State  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  this  communication,  and  declined  to  make 
a  reply.  So  ended  the  first  attempt  of  the  so-called  Government  of  the 
"Confederate  States  of  America"  to  hold  diplomatic  intercourse  with  the 
National  Government,  whose  forbearance  they  had  reason  to  admire.  The 
Commissioners  left  Washington  on  the  morning  of  the  llth. 

In  their  communication,  Messrs.  Forsyth  and  Crawford  recited  the  assu 
rances  concerning  Fort  Sumter  which  they  had  received  from  the  Secretary 
of  State  through  Judge  Campbell,  and  charged  the  Administration  with  bad 
faith,  because,  early  in  April,  it  attempted  to  send  supplies  to  the  Fort. 
Judge  Campbell,  finding  himself  suspected  of  treachery,  or  at  best  of  dupli 
city,  by  his  friends  at  Montgomery,  hastened,  on  the  day  after  the  attack  on 
Fort  Sumter,  to  exculpate  himself  by  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  State, 
intended  for  publication.  "  On  the  7th  of  April,"  he  said,  "  I  addressed  you 
a  letter  on  the  subject  of  the  alarm  that  the  preparations  by  the  Government 
had  created,  and  asked  you  if  the  assurances  I  had  given  were  well  or  ill 
founded  in  respect  to  Sumter.  Your  reply  was : — '  Faith,  as  to  Sumter,  fully 
kept — wait  and  see.'  In  the  morning's  paper  I  read  : — c  An  authorized  mes 
senger  from  President  Lincoln  informed  Governor  Pickens  and  General 
Beauregard  that  provisions  will  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter — peaceably,  or  other 
wise  by  force.'  This  was  on  the  8th,  at  Charleston,  the  day  following  your 
last  assurance,  and  is  the  evidence  of  the  faith  I  was  invited  to  wait  for  and 
see.  In  the  same  paper,  I  read  that  intercepted  dispatches  disclosed  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Fox,  who  had  been  allowed  to  visit  Major  Anderson,  on  the  pledge 
that  his  purpose  was  pacific,  employed  his  opportunity  to  devise  a  plan  for 
supplying  the  fort  by  force,  and  that  this  plan  had  been  adopted  by  the 
Washington  Government,  and  was  in  process  of  execution.  My  recollection 
of  the  date  of  Mr.  Fox's  visit  carries  it  to  a  day  in  March.  I  learn  he  is  a 
near  connection  of  a  member  of  the  Cabinet.  My  connection  with  the  Com 
missioners  and  yourself  was  superinduced  by  a  conversation  with  Justice 
Nelson.  He  informed  me  of  your  strong  disposition  in  favor  of  peace,  and 
that  you  were  pressed  with  a  demand  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Confed 
erate  States  for  a  reply  to  their  first  letter,  and  that  you  desired  to  avoid  it 
at  that  time." 


1  How  cruelly  the  people  were  kept  silent  on  the  subject  of  the  formation  of  an  independent  government, 
the  careful  reader  of  these  pages  may  easily  comprehend. 


FALSE   POSITION   OF   THE  GOVERNMENT.  305 

Judge  Campbell  then  mentioned  his  interview  with  the  Secretary,  and 
the  pledge  given  for  the  evacuation  of  Sumter,  as  the  ground  of  his  advice  to 
the  Commissioners  to  wait,  and  added: — "The  Commissioners  who  received 
those  communications  conclude  they  have  been  abused  and  overreached. 
The  Montgomery  Government  holds  the  same  opinion.  ...  I  think  no  candid 
man,  who  will  read  over  what  I  have  written,  and  consider  for  a  moment 
what  is  going  on  at  Sumter,  but  will  agree  that  the  equivocating  conduct  of 
the  Administration,  as  measured  and  interpreted  in  connection  with  these 
promises,  is  the  proximate  cause  of  the  great  calamity.  I  have  a  profound 
conviction  that  the  telegrams  of  the  8th  of  April,  of  General  Beauregard, 
and  of  the  10th  of  April,  of  General  Walker,  the  Secretary  of  War,  can  be 
referred  to  nothing  else  than  their  belief  that  there  has  been  systematic 
duplicity  practiced  on  them,  through  me.1  It  is  under  an  oppressive  sense  of 
the  weight  of  this  responsibility  that  I  submit  to  you  these  things  for  your 
explanation."  The  Secretary  did  not  reply  to  this  letter,  nor  to  another 
note,  again  asking  for  explanations,  written  on  the  2<>th  of  April. 

The  correspondence  of  the  Commissioners,  and  the  letter  of  Judge 
Campbell  to  Secretary  Seward,  were  soon  published  to  the  world,  and  made 
an  unfavorable  impression  concerning  the  dignity  and  good  faith  of  the 
Government.  The  Commissioners  disingenuously  affected  to  be  ignorant  of 
the  reason  why  an  answer  was  not  immediately  given  by  the  Secretary  to 
their  letter,  when,  as  we  have  seen,  they  had  made  arrangements  themselves 
with  Campbell,  their  friend  and  adviser,  to  delay  a>king  for  it.  Campbell's 
letter  to  the  Secretary  was  also  unnoticed  ;  and  the  charges,  actual  and 
implied,  01'  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  went  out  uncontra- 
dicted.  The  friends  of  the  conspirators  everywhere  denounced  the  Adminis 
tration  as  faithless.  It  was  held  up  to  scorn  by  the  organs  of  the  ruling 
classes  in  England  and  on  the  Continent  ;  and  its  friends,  in  the  absence  of 
explanations,  were  unable  to  defend  it  with  success.  State  policy,  which 
allowed  the  President  to  give  a  partial  explanation  three  months  later,"  com 
manded  silence  at  that  time.  The  pledges  concerning  Sumter,  and  the  charge 
that  they  had  been  violated  by  the  Government,  were  obscured  in  mystery, 
and  month  after  month  the  Opposition  pointed  significantly  to  the  seeming 
bad  faith  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  The  following  facts,  communicated  to 
the  author  of  this  work,  scmi-orticially,  in  September,  isr,4,  may,  in  connec 
tion  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  Message,  just  referred  to,  make  it  plain  that  he  and 
his  advisers  acted  in  good  faith,  and  that  Mr.  Se ward's  assurances  were 
honestly  given  : — 

On  the  4th  of   March,  the  day  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  inaugurated,  a 


1  The  following  are  the  telegraphic  dispatches  alluded  to: — 

"CHARLESTON.  April  <\  1S61. 
"To  L.  P.  WALKER,  Stcrttury  «f  War  :— 

"An  authorized  message  from  President  Lincoln  just  informed  Governor  Piekens  ami  myself  that  pro 
visions  will  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter  peaceably,  or  otherwise  by  force.  <1.  T.  REAL-REGARD." 

"  MONTGOMERY,  April  10,  1SC1. 
"  General  G.  T.  KKAI-REOAKD: — 

"  If  you  have  no  doubt  as  to  the  authorized  character  of  the  aeent  who  communicated  to  you  the  instruc 
tions  of  the  Wa^hinston  Government  to  supply  Fort  Sumter  by  force,  you  will  at  once  demand  its  evacuation; 
»nd  If  this  is  refused,  proceed,  in  such  manner  as  you  may  determine,  to  reduce  it. 

"L.   1'.  WALKER." 
*  See  the  President's  Message  to  Congress,  July  4, 1S61,  sixth  and  seventh  paragraphs. 

VOL.  I.— '20 


306        PLAN  FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF  FORT  SUMTER. 

letter  was  received  at  the  War  Department  from  Major  Anderson,  dated  the 
28th  of  February/  in  which  that  officer  expressed  an  opinion 
that  re-enforcements  "  could  not  be  thrown  into  Fort  Sumter 
within  the  time  for  his  relief,  rendered  necessary  by  the  limited  supply  of 
provisions,  and  with  a  view  of  holding  possession  of  the  same,  with  a  force 
of  less  than  twenty  thousand  good  and  well-disciplined  men."1  This  letter 
was  laid  before  the  President;  and  his  Cabinet  on  the  5th,  and  the  first  ques 
tion  of  importance  which  that  council  was  called  upon  to  decide  was,  whether 
Fort  Sumter  should  be  surrendered  to  the  demands  of  the  South  Carolina 
authorities.  General  Scott  was  called  into  the  council,2  and  he  concurred  in 
opinion  with  Major  Anderson.  No  sufficient  force  was  then  at  the  control 
of  the  Government,  nor  could  they  be  raised  and  taken  to  the  ground  before 
Anderson's  supplies  would  be  exhausted.  In  a  military  point  of  view,  the 
Administration  was  reduced  to  the  simple  duty  of  getting  the  garrison  safely 
£iit  of  the  fort. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  governed  by  the  advice  of  General  Scott,  who  had  been 
earnest  some  weeks  earlier,  while  there  was  yet  time,  for  re-enforcing  the 
fort,  was  in  favor  of  abandoning  any  further  attempts  to  hold  it.      Every 
member  of  his  Cabinet  but  two — anxious  for  peace,  and  believing  further 
efforts  to  hold  Sumter  would  be  useless,  and  perhaps  mischievous — coincided 
with  the  views  of  the  President  and  of  General  Scott.    Those  members  were 
Messrs.  Chase  and  Blair.    Finding  himself  alone  in  support  of 
the  idea  that  the  fort  must  be  held  at  all  hazards,  Mr.  Blair  sent* 
for  his  kinsman  by  marriage,  Gustavus  V.  Fox,  who  had  resigned  his  com 
mission  of  lieutenant  in  the  Navy  several  years  before. 

Mr,  Fox  had  already,  through  Secretary  Holt,  presented '  to  Mr.  Buchanan 
a  plan  for  provisioning  and  re-enforcing  the  garrison  of  Sumter, 
y '"  which  was  highly  approved  by  General  Scott.  This  plan, 
which  Mr.  Blair  now  wished  to  lay  before  President  Lincoln,  proposed 
the  preparation  of  necessary  supplies  in  packages  of  portable  form ;  to 
appear  off  Charleston  bar  with  them  and  the  troops  in  a  large  ocean  steamer ; 
to  have  three  or  four  men-of-war  as  a  protecting  force ;  to  have  the  steamer 
accompanied  by  three  fast  New  York  tug-boats,  and,  during  the  night,  to 
send  in  the  supplies  and  troops  in  these  tugs,  or  in  launches,  as  should  seem 
best,  after  arrival  and  examination.  The  channel  between  Cummings's  Point 
and  Fort  Moultrie  is  one  mile  and  one-third  in  width ;  and  this  plan  was 
based  on  the  feasibility  of  passing  the  line  of  fire,  from  batteries  that  com 
manded  this  channel,  with  impunity.  Experience  has  taught  us  that  it  was 
so.  Farragut's  successes  during  the  late  war  were  achieved  by  action  based 
upon  the  same  plan ;  and  the  impunity  with  which  vessels  passed  up  and 
down  the  Potomac,  after  the  insurgents  had  established  batteries  upon  its 
banks,  shows  that  the  plan  was  feasible. 

The  President  was  strongly  urged  to  give  up  Fort  Sumter  for  the  sake  of 
peace ;  but  the  Postmaster-General  argued  against  it,  in  opposition  to  the 
opinions  of  the  General-in-Chief  and  other  military  men,  with  great  perti 
nacity.  Aided  by  the  practical  suggestions  of  Mr.  Fox,  he  succeeded  in 


1  Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book.     President  Lincoln's  Message,  July  4,  1861. 
a  See  the  Frontispiece  of  this  volume. 


THE   PRESIDENT'S   DESIRE   FOR   RECONCILIATION.  307 

convincing  the  President  of  the  feasibility  of  the  plan,  and  that  sound  policy 
required  that  the  attempt  should  be  made,  whether  it  should  succeed  or  not. 
"  It  was  believed,"  as  the  President  said  in  his  Message,  already 
referred  to,"  "that  to  abandon  that  position,  under  the  circum-      "^"g^4' 
stances,  would  be  utterly  ruinous  ;  that  the  necessity  under  which 
it  was  done  would  not  be  fully  understood ;  that  by  many  it  would  be  con 
strued  as  a  part  of  a  voluntary  policy  ;  that  at  home  it  would  discourage  the 
friends  of  the  Union,  embolden  its  adversaries,  and  go  far  to  insure  to  the 
latter  a  recognition  abroad;  that,  in  fact,  it  would' be  our  national  destruction 
commenced." 

Although  satisfied  of  the  feasibility  and  the  necessity  of  strengthening 
Major  Anderson,  by  sending  him  provisions  and  men,  the  President,  extremely 
anxious  for  peace  and  reconciliation,  hesitated  to  make  any  movement  that 
might  lead  to  collision  with  the  insurgents.  He  favored  Mr.  Fox's  propo 
sitions,  and  that  gentleman,  with  the  approval  of  the  Secretary  of  War 
and  General  Scott,  visited  Charleston  harbor.  In  company  with  Captain 
Ilartstene,  of  the  Xavy,  who  had  joined  the  insurgents,  he  visited  Fort 
Sumtcr  on  the  21st  of  March,  by  permission  of  Governor  Pickens,1  and  ascer 
tained  that  Major  Anderson  had  provisions  sufficient  fur  his  command  until 
the  loth  of  April;2  and  it  was  understood  between  them  that  he  must  sur 
render  or  evacuate  the  fort  at  noon  on  that  day.  Mr.  Fox  gave  him  no 
assurances,  such  as  Judge  Campbell  mentioned,  of  relief,  nor  any  information 
of  a  plan  for  that  purpose. 

On  his  return  to  Washington,  Mr.  Fox  reported  to  the  President  that 
any  attempt  to  succor  Major  Anderson  must  be  made  before  the  middle  of 
April.  The  President  was  perplexed.  He  yearned  for  peace,  if  it  could  be 
had  without  dishonor.  The  Virginia  Convention  was  then  in  session,  and  he 
sent  for  one  of  the  prominent  members  of  that  body,  known  to  be  a  professed 
Union  man,  and  assured  him  that  if  the  Convention  would  adjourn  instead 
of  staying  in  session,  menacing  the  Government,  he  would  immediately  direct 
Major  Anderson  to  evacuate  Sumter.  Had  the  Virginia  politicians  desired 
peace,  this  reasonable  request  would  have  been  complied  with.  On  the  con 
trary,  this  professed  Virginia  Unionist  replied  :  "  The  United  States  must 
instantly  evacuate  Fort  Sumter  and  Fort  Pickens,  and  give  assurances  that 
no  attempts  shall  be  made  to  collect  revenue  in  Southern  ports."  This  was  a 
demand,  in  effect,  for  the  President  to  recognize  the  band  of  conspirators  at 
Montgomery  as  a  government  possessed  of  sovereign  powers. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  now  satisfied  that  a  temporizing  policy  would  not  do. 
He  had  said  in  a  little  speech  to  the  Xew  Jersev  Legislature,4 

'  t  ebruary  1. 

when    on  his   way    to    Washington,    as    we    have  observed,   u  it 
may  be  necessary  to  put  the  foot  down  firmly."      That  necessity  now  pre 
sented  itself,  and  the  President  did    "  put  the  foot    down    firmly."       Over 
ruling  the  persistent  objections  of  the  General-in-Chief,  and  other  military 

1  On  that  occasion,  Mr.  Fox  carried  a  letter  to  Governor  Pickens  from  General  Scott,  in   compliance  >vith 
orders  from  the  President     Pickens  sent  the  following  note  to  Major  Anderson  : — 

*•  I  have  permitted  Mr.  Fox  and  1'aptain  Hartstene  to  so  to  you  under  peculiar  circumstances,  and  I  deeply 
rejrret  General  Scott  could  not  have  been  more  formal  to  me,  as  you  well  know  I  have  been  in  a  peculiar  position 
for  month*  here,  and  I  do  this  now  because  I  confide  in  you  as  a  irentleman  of  honor.'' 

2  Lieutenant  Norman  J.  II all,  one  of  Anderson's  trusty  men,  furnished  Mr.  Fox  with  a  memorandum  of 
supplies  in  Fort  Sumter. 


308 


AN  EXPEDITION   FOR   RELIEVING   FORT   SUMTER, 


authorities,  and  regarding  the  affair  more  as  a  naval  than  as  a  military  opera 
tion,  he  at  once  sent  for  Mr.  Fox,  and  verbally  authorized  him* 
to  fit  out  an  expedition  for  the  relief  of  Surnter,  according  to  that 
gentleman's  plan.  The  written  order  for  that  service  was  not  given  until  the 
afternoon  of  the  4th  of  April,  when  the  President  informed  Fox  that,  in  order 
that  "faith  as  to  Sumter"  might  be  kept,  he  should  send  a  messenger  at  once 
to  Charleston,  to  inform  Governor  Pickens  that  he  was  about  to  forward  pro 
visions,  only,  to  the  garrison,  and  that  if  these  supplies  should  be  allowed  to 
enter,  no  more  troops  would  be  sent  there.  This  was  done.  Colonel  Lamon 
(afterward  marshal  of  the  District  of  Columbia)  was  sent  as  a  special  mes 
senger  to  Governor  Pickens,  who  was  also  informed  that  supplies  must  go 
into  Sumter  peaceably,  if  possible,  if  not,  by  force,  as  the  Governor  might 
choose. 

Mr.  Fox  arrived  in  the  city  of  New  York  the  second  time,  on  his  important 
errand,  on  the  evening  of  the  5th  of  April,  and  delivered  to  Colonel  H.  L. 
Scott,  of  the  staif  of  the  General-in-Chief,  a  copy  of  his  instructions.     That 
officer  ridiculed  tho  idea  of  relieving  Sumter,  and  stood  as  an  obstacle  in  the 
way  as  far  as  possible.      The  plan  was  highly  approved   by   Commodores 
Stewart   and   Stringham;    and,    as   Mr.  Fox's    orders   were    imperative,  he 
performed  his  duty  in  spite  of  all  official  detentions,  and  with  that  profes 
sional    skill,  untiring    industry,  and  in 
domitable  energy  which,  as   Assistant 
Secretary    of  the   Navy,    he  displayed 
throughout  the  entire  war  that  ensued, 
he  fitted    out   the    expedition    (having 
made      some     previous     preparations) 
within  the  space  of  forty-eight  hours. 
He  sailed  on  the  morning  of  the  9th, 
with    two    hundred     recruits,    in    the 
steamer    Baltic,    Captain     Fletcher. — 
The  entire  relief  squadron  consisted  of 
that    vessel,    the   United    States    ships 
Powhatan,   Pawnee,  Pocahontas,    and 
Harriet  Lane,    and   the  tugs    Yankee, 
Uncle  Ben,  and  Freeborn  •  and  all  of 
GUSTAVUS  VASA  FOX.  them  WQTG  ordered  to  rendezvous   off 

Charleston.1      The   frigate     Powhatan 

bore  the  senior  naval  officer  of  the  expedition,  and  men  sufficient   to  man 
the  boats  for  the  relief  party. 

Soon  after  leaving  New  York,  the  expedition  encountered  a  heavy  storm. 
One  of  the  tugs  (the  Freeborn)  was  driven  back;  a  second  (Uncle  Ben)  put 
into  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  and  was  captured  by  the  insurgents  there ; 
and  the  third,  losing  her  smoke-stack,  was  not  able  to  reach  Charleston  bar 
until  it  was  too  late.  The  Powhatan 2  was  also  lost  to  the  expedition. 


1  The  frigate  Powhatan,  Captain  Mercer,  left  New  York  on  the  6th  of  April.     The  Pawnee,  Commodore 
Rowan,  left  Norfolk  on  the  9th,  and  the  Pocahontas,  Captain  Gillis.  on  the  10th.     The  revenue  cutter  Harriet 
Lane,  Capta'n  Faunce,  left  the  harbor  of  New  York  on  th>-  Sth,  in  company  with  the  tug  Yankee.     The  Free 
born  and  Uncle  Ben  left  on  the  previous  day.     The  Yankee  was  fitted  to  throw  hot  water. 

2  The  energy  displayed  in  getting  the  Powhatan  ready  for  sea  was  wonderful.     She  had  been  put  out  of 


FAILURE  OF   THE    RELIEF   EXPEDITION. 


309 


While  passing  down  New  York  Bay,  Captain  Meigs,  who  was  Quartermaster- 
General  during  the  war,  and  Lieutenant  (afterward  Rear-Admiral)  Porter 
went  on  board  of  her,  with  an  order  from  the  President  to  take  any  man-of- 
war  they  might  select  and  proceed  immediately  with  her  crew  to  Pensacola. 
Under  this  order  they  took  possession  of  and  sailed  away  in  the  flag-ship 
of  the  relief  expedition.1 

The  -Baltic  reached  Charleston  bar  on  the  morning  of  the  12th,  just  as 
the  insurgents  opened  fire  on  Fort  Sumter.  The  faience  and  the  Harriet 
Lane  were  already  there,  with  orders  to  report  to  the  Pollution,  but  she 
had  gone  to  Fort  Pickens,  then,  like  Fort  Sumter,  threatened  by  armed 
insurgents.  All  day  long  the  ocean  and  Charleston  harbor  were  swept  by 
a  storm.  A  heavy  sea  was  rolling  inward,  and  there  were  no  signs  of  abate 
ment  until  the  morning  of  the  13th.  It  was  then  determined  to  seize  a 
schooner  lying  at  anchor  near,  load  her  with  provisions,  and  take  her  to  Fort 
Sumter  the  following  night.  She  was  accordingly  prepared,  but  before  the 
time  for  her  departure,  Fort  Sumter  was  in  the  hands  of  the  insurgents. 
How  that  happened  will  be  related  in  the  next  chapter. 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  Republic  that  the  effort  to  relieve  Major  Ander 
son  was  made  at  that  time.  It  gave  practical  assurances  to  the  country  that 
the  new  Administration  would  employ  all  its  energies  in  support  of  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  laws;  and  it  also  gave  to  the  Government  one  whose  ser 
vices  can  only  be  appreciated  by  those  who  know  their  amount  and  value. 
The  judgment  and  energy  displayed  by  Mr.  Fox  caused  him  to  be 
appointed  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  lie  was  then  in  the  prime  of 
life,  and  endowed  with  great  physical  endurance.  As  the  lieutenant  of  Secre 
tary  Welles,  invested  with  wide  discretionary  powers,  he  was  to  the  Xavy 
what  the  General-in-Chief  is  to  the  Armv. 


commission,  and  was  4>lyinjr  tip."  an<l  her  crow  were  on  the  reccivinp-ship  Xorth  Carolina.     She  was  put  into 
commission  at  the  Brooklyn  Niivy  Yard,  and  bent  to  sea  in  the  space  of  three  days. 

1  The  order  (issued  by  the  President)  ehurnrini;  the  destination  of  the  /'inr/nifan  did  not  pass  through 
the  Navy  Department,  or  it  would  have  been  arrested  there.  It  was  calculated  to  prevent  the  success  of  Fox's 
expedition,  because  the  I'mc/tntan  carried  the  sailors  and  launches  provided  for  the  landing  of  supplies  and 
re-enforcements.  The  President  was  not  aware  of  this  when  he  sisnrd  tin- order.  In  the  whole  matter  there 
was  nothing  more  serious  than  a  blunder,  which  was  caused  by  the  secrecy  with  which  two  expeditions  were 
simultaneously  fitted  out,  namely,  one  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Sumter.  and  the  other  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Pickena. 
Mr  Fox  was  not  aware  of  the  change  in  the  destination  of  the  I'vichatiin  until  he  arrived  off  Charleston  bar. 


310      PREPARATIONS  FOR  ATTACKING  FORT  SUMTER. 


CHAPTEE    XIII. 

THE  SIEGE  AND  EVACUATION  OF  FOET   SUMTER. 

OR  three  weary  months  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Star 
of  the  West  from  Charleston  harbor,  Major  Anderson 
and  his  little  garrison  suffered  and  toiled  until  their 
provisions  were  exhausted,  and  a  formidable  army, 
and  forts  or  batteries,  all  prepared  for  the  reduction 
of  Fort  Sumter,  had  grown  up  around  him.  The 
temporizing  policy  of  the  late  Administration  had 

compelled  him  to  keep  his  guns  muzzled  while  the  treasonable  operations 
were  going  on,  and  the  new  Administration  continued  the  same  policy  until 
it  was  prepared  to  act  with  some  vigor. 

From  the  hour  when  the  South  Carolina  politicians  declared  that  State  to 
be  an  independent  sovereignty,  they  had  striven  with  all  their  might  to  sustain 
that  declaration.  The  garrison  in  Sumter  was  a  standing  refutation  of  it,  and 
every  effort  was  used  to  wipe  that  disgrace  from  the  newly  made  escutcheon 
of  the  Palmetto  Empire.  The  Charleston  Mercury  almost  daily  published 
articles  calculated  to  inflame  the  public  mind,  and,  in  spite  of  the  prudent 
restraints  of  the  band  of  conspirators  at  Montgomery,  cause  Sumter  to  be 
attacked.  Its  appeals  were  frantic,  and  assumed  every  phase  of  entreaty, 
remonstrance,  and  menace.  Styling  Fort  Sumter  "The  Bastion  of  the  Fed 
eral  Union,"  it  said  : — "  No  longer  hoping  for  concessions,  let  us  be  ready 
for  war;  and  when  we  have  driven  every  foreign  soldier  from  our  shores, 
then  let  us  take  our  place  in  the  glorious  republic  our  future  promises  us. 
Border  Southern  States  will  not  join  us  until  we  have  indicated  our  power  to 
free  ourselves — until  we  have  proven  that  a  garrison  of  seventy  men  cannot 
hold  the  portal  of  our  commerce.  The  fate  of  the  Southern  Confederacy 
hangs  by  the  ensign  halliards  of  Fort  Sumter."1 

The  Convention  and  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  worked  in*  unison 
for  the  great  end  of  securing  the  independence  of  the  State.  The  latter  appro 
priated  eight  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  general  purposes ;  nine 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  for  military  and  cognate  expenses ;  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  postal  service,  when  the  National  mail-routes 
should  be  closed.  They  also  made  preparations  to  organize  a  force  of  ten 
thousand  men ;  and  Milledge  L.  Bonham,  a  late  member  of  Congress,  wTas 
appointed  major-general  of  the  forces  of  that  State.  Volunteers  from  every 
part  of  the  "Confederacy"  flocked  into  Charleston;  and  at  the  close  of 
March,  not  less  than  seven  thousand  armed  men  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 

1  Charleston  Mercury,  January  24,  1861.    The  "Southern  Confederacy"  was  not  yet  formed. 


FORTIFICATIONS   AROUND   CHARLESTON   HARBOR 


311 


MM. I. KIM, K    L.    BOXHA3C 


cannon  were  menacing  Anderson  and  his  little  garrison.  These  were  under 
the  command  of  Major  Peter  Gustavus  Toutant  Beauregard,  a  Louisiana 
Creole,  who  had  deserted  his  flag,  resigned  his  commission,4  and 
received  from  the  Montgomery  conspirators  the  appointment  of  ° 
brigadier-general.  He  arrived  at  Charleston  on  the  4th  of  March. 

Fort  Sumter  was  built  for  defense 
against  external  and  not  against  internal 
foes.  Its  stronger  sides  were  toward  the 
sea ;  its  weakest  side  was  toward  Morris 
Island,  three-fourths  of  a  mile  distant,  and 
the  nearest  land.  On  that  side  were  its 
sally-port  and  docks.  The  builders  never 
suspected  that  a  hostile  gun  would  be 
pointed  toward  that  face;  now  Morris 
Island  was  selected  as  the  position  for  one 
of  the  most  formidable  of  the  batteries  of 
the  insurgents,  which  was  built  of  heavy 
yellow  pine  logs,  with  a  slanting  roof 
toward  the  fort  of  the  same  material,  over 
which  was  laid  a  shield  of  railway  iron, 
strongly  clasped,  and  forming  a  perlt-.-t 

foil  to  bomb-shells.  The  embrasures  were  closed  with  iron-clad  doors;  and 
within  were  three  64-p< umder  columbiads.  This  was  known  as  the  Stevens 
Battery,  so  named  in  honor  of  its  inventor  and  constructor,  Major  P.  F. 
Stevens,  who  was  conspicuous  in  the  attack  on  the  Shir  of  the  W<st.  There 
were  two  other  batteries  on  Cummings's  Point  of  Morris  Island,  the  prin 
cipal  one  being  known  as  the  Cummings's  Point  Battery,  which  was  armed 
with  two  42-pounder  columbiads,  three  10-inclf  mortars,  and  a  12-pounder 
Blakely  gun  from  England.  All  of  the  troops  on  Morris  Island  were  under 
the  command  of  Brigadier-General  James  Simons,  who  had  been  Speaker  of 
the  South  Carolina  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  artillery  battalion  was 
in  charge  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  De  Saussure.  The  iron-clad  battery  was 
served  under  the  immediate  direction  of  Captain  George  B.  Cuthbert. 
The  batteries  at  Cummings's  Point  were  manned  by  the  Palmetto  Guards. 

The  spiked  guns  of  Fort  Moultrie,  on  Sullivan's  Island,  had  been  restored 
to  good  order,  and 
others  added  to  them. 
Traverses  had  been 
constructed,  the  ram 
parts  strengthened  by 
sand-bags,  and  eleven 
heavy  siege-guns  and 
several  mortars  had  been  placed  in  position.  Beside  Fort  Moultrie  and  some 
small  channel  batteries,  there  were  six  formidable  ones  on  Sullivan's  Island 
bearing  on  Fort  Sumter,  some  of  which  will  be  mentioned  hereafter.  All 
the  forces  on  that  island  were  commanded  by  Brigadier-General  Dunnovant, 
and  the  artillery  battalion  was  in  charge  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  R.  S.  Ripley, 
late  of  the  National  Army.  On  Mount  Pleasant  was  a  battery  of  two  10-inch 
mortars ;  and  on  James  Island,  nearer  Charleston,  was  Fort  Johnston,  which 


IRON-CLAD    BATTERY    ON    MORRIS    ISLAND. 


312 


THE   FLOATING  BATTERY   AT   CHARLESTON. 


JAMES    SIMONS. 


had  been  strengthened,  and  was  flanked  by  two  batteries,  known  as  the  Upper 
and  Lower.     The  latter  was  a  mortar  battery.     Assistant  Adjutant-General 

N.  G.  Evans  was  in  command  of  that  post. 
The  sandy  shores  of  Morris,  Sullivan,  and 
James  Islands  were  literally  dotted  with 
fortifications,  about  twenty  in  number,  of 
varied  strength,  armed  with  heavy  guns, 
and  well  manned.  Several  of  them  were 
commanded  by  officers  of  the  National 
Army  who  had  abandoned  their  flag. 

In  addition  to  the  land-works  was  a 
curious  monster  in  the  character  of  a  float 
ing  battery,  which  had  been  constructed 
at  Charleston,  under  the  direction  of 
Lieutenant  J.  R.  Hamilton,  a  deserter 
from  the  National  Navy.1  It  was  made 
of  heavy  pine  timber,  filled  in  with  Pal- 
.metto  logs,  and  covered  with  a  double 
layer  of  railway  iron.  It  appeared  on  the  water  like  an  immense  shed,  about 
twenty-five  feet  in  width,  and,  with  its  appendages,  about  a  hundred  feet  in 
length.  Its  front,  in  which  were  four  enormous  siege  cannon,  sloped  inward 
from  the  top ;  and  the  iron-clad  roof,  intended  to  be  shell-proof,  sloped  to  its 
outer  edge.  Just  back  of  the  cannon  was  an  open  space  with  water  to 
extinguish  the  fuze  of  any  shell  that  might  fall  into  it.  The  powder-maga 
zine  was  in  the  rear, 
below  the  water-line, 
and  protected  by  bags 
filled  with  sand.  Far 
ther  back  was  a  plat 
form  extending  the 
whole  width  of  the  bat 
tery.  This  was  loaded 
with  sand-bags,  which 
served  to  balance  the 
heavy  guns,  and  to 
protect  the  floating 
hospital  attached  to  the  rear.  The  hospital  was  fitted  up  with  every  neces 
sary  article,  and  was  placed  in  charge  of  Dr.  De  Veza ,  of  Charleston.  The 
monster  was  to  be  towed  to  a  position  so  as  to  have  its  guns  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  weakest  part  of  Sumter. 

During  those  three  weary  months,  Major  Anderson  had  suffered  extremely 
from  anxiety  and  annoyances  of  every  kind.  It  was  evident  that  his  letters 
were  regularly  opened  at  Charleston,  and  the  contents  noted.  His  valor  and 
his  prudence  sustained  the  dignity  of  his  Government  under  the  most  trying 
circumstances,  and  his  bearing  toward  the  civil  and  military  authorities  at 
Charleston  wort  for  him  their  most  cordial  esteem.  He  communicated  with 
his  Government  almost  daily,  sometimes  by  a  messenger,  but  generally  by 


FLOATING  BATTERY  AT  CHARLESTON. 


i  See  note  3,  page  97. 


FAITHFUL   MEN   IN   FORT   SUMTER. 


313 


mail.  The  faithful  Peter  Hart  was  his  judicious  mail-carrier  between  Sumter 
and  the  main,  and  his  trusted  caterer  for  the  garrison  in  fresh  provisions  in 
the  Charleston  markets,  so  long  as  they  were  open  t<4  them.  Lieutenant 
George  \V.  Snyder1  was  his  chief  messenger  in  bearing  written  and  oral 
dispatches  to  and  from  Governor  Pickens ;  and  Lieutenant  Theodore  Talbot 
was  his  personal  messenger  to  the  President.5  These  young  officers,  since 
dead,  were  gallant  and  true  on  all  occasions.  His  other  officers  were  brave, 
and  also  loyal,  with  the  exception  of  Lieutenant  Meade,  a  Virginian,3  and 
several  of  them  have  since  held  distinguished  positions  in  the  Army.  His 
little  garrison,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  were  true  to  the  old  flag  when 
tempted.  Yet,  with  all  these  advantages,  Anderson  was  sorely  tried  by  the 
practical  weakness  of  his  Government,  and  the  malice  of  its  enemies. 

At  the  beginning  of  February,  one  source  of  much  anxiety  for  the  gar 
rison  was  removed.  On  Sunday,  the  3d  of  that  month,  the  wives  and 
children  (about  twenty  in  number)  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  in  Sumter  were 
borne  away  in  the  steamer  3f(trion  for  New  York.  The  parting  scenes  of 
fortitude  and  tenderness  were  touching.4  They  had  left  the  fort  on  the 


1  Lieutenant  George  W.  Snyder  was  one  of  Major  Anderson's  most  energetic  ami  trusted  youn?  officers. 
He  had  been  the  highest  of  the  three  higher  graduates  of  his  class  at  West  Point,  who  were  entitled  to  enter 
the  Engineer  Corps.  He  carried  a  number  of  messages  from  Major 
Anderson  to  Governor  Pickens.  On  011*1  occasion  the  Governor  told 
him  that  the  rebellion  would  have  been  delayed  if  the  Republican 
majorities  in  1M50  had  not  been  so  lanre.  They  had  resolved  on 
rebellion  when  their  political  power,  ''sustained  by  the  Democratic 
party  in  the  North,"  should  pass  from  them.  They  saw  no  chance 
for  that  party  to  recover  its  power,  and  there  was  no  reason  for  the 
conspirators  to  wait  any  lonirer.  The  exigency  mentioned  by  Cal- 
houn  in  lsl'2  (see  note  2,  page  41)  had  occurred. 

A  colonel's  commission,  as  commander  of  a  volunteer  regiment, 
was  offered  to  Lieutenant  Snyder.  but  lie  preferred  his  position  in 
the  regular  Army.  He  died  while  assisting  in  the  construction  of 
the  defenses  of  Washington  City.  His  remains  are  Tinder  a  neat 
monument  in  his  family  burial-ground,  near  Schoharie  Court  House, 
New  York,  forty  miles  west  of  Albany.  On  the  monument  are  the 
following  inscriptions : — 


WEST  SIUK.—  Lieutenant  GF.O.  W.  SXYHEK,  born  at  O.bleskill, 
July  30,  1SW.  Died  at  Washinston  City,  D.  ('..  November  IT.  IS61. 

NORTH  SII>K.  —  A  graduate  of  I'nion  ColK-ire  ;  also  of  the  Mili 
tary  Academy  at  West  Point,  with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class. 

KAST  SIHF..—  One  of  the  gallant  defenders  of  Fort  Sumter. 

Sorxii  SII>K.  —  Aide-de-Camp  to  General  Heint/elman  at  the 
battle  of  Hull's  Uiin. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  monument,  in  relief,  is  a  military  hat 
and  sword.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Daniel  Knower  for  the  drawing  of 
the  monument. 

2  On  one  occasion,   when   Lieutenant  Talbot  went   to   President 
Buchanan,  the  latter    met  the    young   officer  with    much   agitation, 
and  laying  both  his  hands  on  his  shoulders,  said:  "Lieutenant,  what 

shall  we  do  ?"  Talbot,  when  he  related  this  fact  to  Lieutenant  Snyder,  said:  "  I  never  felt  so  in  my  life.  The 
President  seemed  like  an  old  man  in  his  dotage.  It  set-mod  so  strange  to  me  that  I  should  have  lived  to  see 
the  day  when  a  President  of  the  United  States  should  put  his  hands  imploringly  on  the  shoulders  of  a  poor 
lieutenant,  and  ask  what  he  should  do  to  save  his  country  !  A  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  was  immediately  called 
(•lanuary  1,  IsOl).  when  none  of  the  Ministers  had  any  resolution,  excepting  Mr.  Holt,  the  new  Secretary  of 
War.  who  said  that  the  Union  must  be  saved  at  whatever  cost  of  blood  and  treasure."—  Letter  <>/  Ihinitl  Knmcer 
to  t/it  A  tit/tor. 

3  Soon  after  leaving  Fort  Sumter,  Meade  abandoned  his  flag  and  joined  the  insurgents. 
the  construction  of  the  defenses  of  Petersburg,  in  the  second  and  third  years  of  the  war. 

4  "Many  a  woman  and  child  departed   that  day  who.  to  the  utmost   of  their  ability,  w 
dared  as  much  as  their  husbands  and  fathers.     •  We  have  been  seven  years  married,'  said 


BNTDERB    MoNfMKNT. 


H 


as  active  in 


d  h-ivc  done  and 
e.  •  and  I  never 


314  RUMORS.— ANDERSON'S  APPEALS. 

25th,"  and  embarked  at  Charleston.     When  the  Marion  neared  Sumter,  the 
whole  garrison  was  seen  on  the  top  of  the  ramparts.     While  the 
sn*P  W^  passing,  they  fired  a  gun  and  gave  three  hearty  cheers, 
as   a  parting  farewell  to  the   beloved  ones  on  board.     The  re 
sponse  was  waving  of  handkerchiefs,  and  tears  and  sobs,  and  earnest  prayers, 
both  silent  and  audible. 

Late  in  March,  rumors  reached  Governor  Pickens  that  the  garrison  in 
Sumter  would  soon  be  transferred  to  some  other  post.  It  doubtless  came 
from  the  Commissioners  at  Washington,  who  were  waiting  in  expectation  of 
that  event.  Accordingly,  Beauregard  wrote  to  Major  Anderson/  apprising 
,,  March  26  ^m  °^  ^e  rumor,  and  saying  that  when  he  should  be  prepared 
to  leave  the  fort,  he  and  the  authorities  at  Charleston  would 
be  happy  to  give  him  every  facility.  "All  that  will  be  required  of  you," 
he  said,  "  will  be  your  word  of  honor,  as  an  officer  and  a  gentleman,  that  the 
fort,  all  public  property  therein,  its  armaments,  &c.,  shall  remain  in  their 
present  condition,  without  any  arrangements  or  preparations  for  their  destruc 
tion  or  injury  after  you  shall  have  left  the  fort.  On  our  part,  no  objection 
will  be  raised  to  your  retiring  with  your  side  and  company  arms,  and  to  your 
saluting  your  flag  on  lowering  it."1  To  this  the  indignant  commander 
replied  : — "  I  feel  deeply  hurt  at  the  intimation  in  your  letter  about  the  con 
ditions  which  will  be  exacted  of  me,  and  I  must  state  most  distinctly,  that  if 
I  can  only  be  permitted  to  leave  on  the  pledge  you  mention,  I  shall  never,  so 
help  me  God,  leave  this  fort  alive."2  Beauregard  apologized,  and  there  the 
mntter  rested. 

Rumors  concerning  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter  now  came  from  the 
Xorth  as  thickly  as  falling  leaves.  Major  Anderson  was  sorely  perplexed. 
He  received  no  instructions  from  his  Government,  and  his  discretionary 
powers  were  made  very  limited  by  unrepealed  restrictions.  On  the  1st  of 
April  he  wrote  to  Lieuten ant-General  Scott,  saying,  after  referring  to  the 
fact  that  he  had  been  at  times  cut  off  from  all  communication  with  Washing 
ton  :  "I  think  the  Government  has  left  me  too  much  to  myself.  It  has  given 
me  no  instructions,  even  when  I  have  asked  for  them,  and  I  think  that 
responsibilities  of  a  higher  and  more  delicate  character  have  devolved  upon 
me  than  was  proper."  He  wrote  to  Adjutant-General  Thomas  (the  successor 
of  Cooper,  the* traitor),  on  the  5th,  because  of  rumors  from  the  North,  and 
the  non-reception  of  replies  to  earnest  letters  for  advice,  saying :  "  I  am  sure 
that  I  shall  not  be  left  without  instructions,  even  though  they  may  be  con 
fidential.  After  thirty  odd  years  of  service,  I  do  not  wish  it  to  be  said  that 
I  have  treasonably  abandoned  a  post,  and  turned  over  to  unauthorized  persons 
public  property  intrusted  to  my  charge.  I  am  entitled  to  this  act  of  justice 
at  the  hands  of  my  Government,  and  I  feel  confident  that  I  shall  not  be  dis 
appointed.  What  to  do  with  the  public  property,  and  where  to  take  my 

"had  reason  to  find  fault  with  yon;  now,  whatever  may  happen,  I  knoio  I  shall  never  have  cause  to  blush  for 
you.1  Another,  whose  swollen  eyes  belied  her  words,  said:  1 1  don't  want  you  to  think  of  us,  Ben  ;  the  children 
and  myself  will  get  along,  and  you'll  have  enough  to  think  of  here.'1  And  another,  holding  a  large  warm  hand 
between  her  own,  and  leaning  her  head  against  the  brawny  shoulder,  whispered,  with  quivering  lips, 'May 
God  bless  an1  take  care  o1  you,  Thomas;  Til  never  cease  to  pray  for  you;  but  do  your  juty,  do  your  juty, 
darlint.  God  forbid  that  my  love  should  interfere  with  that.1  Her  husband,  Thomas  Carroll,  did  his  'juty1 
well  when  the  hour  for  duty  came,  and  carried  a  wounded  face  away  from  Fort  Sumter.11—  Within  Fort  Sumter  : 
by  one  of  the  Company,  pase  25. 

1  Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book.  2  Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book. 


ANDERSON   AND   THE  AUTHORITIES   AT  CHARLESTON. 


315 


command,  are  questions  to  which  answers  will,  I  hope,  be  at  once  returned. 
Unless  we  receive  supplies,  I  shall  be  compelled  to  stay  here  without  food 
or  to  abandon  this  fort  very  early  next  week."1  Again,  on  the  6th,  he  wrote, 
"  The  truth  is,  that  the  sooner  we  are  out  of  this  harbor,  the  better.  Our 
flag  runs  an  hourly  risk  of  being  insulted,  and  my  hands  are  tied  by  my 
orders  ;  and  even  if  that  were  not  the  case,  I  have  not  the  power  to  protect 
it.  God  grant  that  neither  I  nor  any  other  officer  of  our  Army  may  be  again 
placed  in  a  position  of  such  humiliation  and  mortification." 

Whilst  Anderson  was  thus  chafing 
in  Fort  Sumter,  the  Government  at 
Washington,  as  we  have  observed,  was 

O 

very  much  perplexed,  for  it  was  evident 
that  a  crisis  was  at  hand. 

Lieutenant  Talbot  was  on  his  way  to 
the  seat  of  government,  with  an  earnest 
plea  from  Anderson  for  instructions, 
when  a  note  from  Beauregard  informed 
the  Major  that  orders  had  been  received 
from  Montgomery,  that  "  on  account  of 
delays  and  apparent  vacillation  of  the 
United  States  Government,  in  relation 
to  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter,''  no 
further  communication  between  that 
fort  and  Charleston,  for  mails  or  for  the 

purpose  of  procuring  supplies,  would  be  permitted.  Once  before  there  had 
been  a  like  restriction,  and  when  a  removal  of  it  was  ottered,  in 
the  form  of  a  courtesy,  and  he  was  proffered"  "fresh  meat  and 
vegetables,  under  the  direction  of  an  otticer  of  the  State  of  South 
Carolina,''  Major  Anderson  declined  receiving  any  supplies  by  "permission." 
He  had  not,  he  said,  represented  that  he  was  in  need  of  supplies.  "If  the 
permission  is  founded  on  courtesy  and  civility,  I  am  compelled  respectfully 
to  decline  accepting  it."5  Xo  objections  were  made  for  a  time  thereafter  to 
his  free  use  of  the  Charleston  markets  for  fresh  meat  and  vegetables. 

The  crisis  came.  The  message  of  President  Lincoln  to  Governor  Pickeus, 
concerning  the  sending  of  supplies  to  Fort  Sumter,  was  made 
known  on  the  morning  of  the  8th.6  It  produced  the  most  intense 
excitement.  Beauregard  Immediately  sent  the  electrograph  to  Montgomery, 
already  noticed,  and  the  reply  came  back  on  the  10th,  conditionally  author 
izing  him  to  demand  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter.0'  "The  demand  will  be 
made  to-morrow  at  twelve  o'clock,"  replied  Beanregard.  The  news  of  this 
determination  spread  instantly  over  the  city,  and  to  the  various  camps  and 
batteries  of  the  insurgents.  The  Floating  Battery,  finished,  armed,  and 
manned,  was  taken  out  and  anchored  near  the  west  end  of  Sullivan's  Island  ; 
and  fire-ships  —  vessels  filled  with  wood  and  rosin,  to  be  set  on  fire  and  run 
among  the  relief  squadron,  to  burn  it,  if  it  should  enter  the  harbor  —  were 
towed  out  at  the  same  time. 


P.    G.    T.    BKAfREGARD. 


d   '  Jft1n™r-v  19' 


1  Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book. 


5  Anderson's  MS.  Letter-book. 


*  See  note  1.  page  305. 


316  SEDITIOUS   SPEECH   OF   A   VIRGINIAN. 

Charleston  was  full  of  demagogues  at  that  time,  busily  engaged  in  infla 
ming  the  populace  and  the  soldiers ;  and  that  city  became,  in  miniature,  what 
Paris  was  just  before  the  attack  on  the  Bastile. 

Among  the  demagogues  in  Charleston  was  Roger  A.  Pryor,  lately  a 
member  of  the  National  House  of  Representatives ;  and  also  Edmund 
Ruffin,1  both  from  ^Virginia.  Their  State  Convention  was  then  in  session  at 
Richmond.  The  Union  sentiment  in  that  body  seemed  likely  to  defeat  the 
secessionists.  Something  was  needed  to  neutralize  its  power,  by  elevating 
passion  into  the  throne  of  judgment.  It  was  believed  by  many  that  this 
could  be  done  only  by  shedding  blood.  Pryor  and  Ruffin  were  self-consti 
tuted  preachers  of  the  sanguinary  doctrine.  They  were  earnest  missionaries; 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  10th,  while  the  city  was  rocked  with  excitement, 
a  rare  opportunity  was  offered  to  Pryor  for  the  utterance  of  his  incendiary 
sentiments.  He  was  serenaded,  and  made  a  fiery  speech  to  the  populace,  in 
response  to  the  compliment.  "  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  I  thank  you,  especially, 
that  you  have  at  last  annihilated  this  cursed  Union,  reeking  with  corruption, 
and  insolent  with  excess  of  tyranny.  Thank  God !  it  is  at  last  blasted  and 
riven  by  the  lightning  wrath  of  an  outraged  and  indignant  people.  Not 
only  is  it  gone,  but  gone  forever.  In  the  expressive  language  of  Scripture,  it 
is  water  spilt  upon  the  ground,  and  cannot  be  gathered  up.  Like  Lucifer, 
son  of  the  morning,  it  has  fallen,  never  to  rise  again.  For  my  part,  gentle 
men,  if  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Hannibal  Hamlin,  to-morrow,  were  to  abdicate 
their  office,  and  were  to  give  me  a  blank  sheet  of  paper  to  write  the  condi 
tions  of  reannexation  to  the  defunct  Union,  I  would  scornfully  spurn  the 
overture.  ...  I  invoke  you,  and  I  make  it  in  some^sort  a  personal  appeal — • 
personal  so  far  as  it  tends  to  our  assistance  in  Virginia — I  do  invoke  you,  in 
your  demonstrations  of  popular  opinion,  in  your  exhibitions  of  official  inter 
est,  to  give  no  countenance  to  the  idea  of  reconstruction.  In  Virginia,  they 
all  say,  if  reduced  to  the  dread  dilemma  of  this  alternative,  they  will  espouse 
the  cause  of  the  South  as  against  the  interests  of  the  Northern  Confederacy; 
but  they  whisper  of  reconstruction,  and  they  say  Virginia  must  abide  in  the 
L'nion,  with  the  idea  of  reconstructing  the  Union  which  you  have  anni 
hilated.  I  pray  you,  gentlemen,  rob  them  of  that  idea.  Proclaim  to  the 
world  that  upon  no  condition  and  under  no  circumstance  will  South  Carolina 
ever  again  enter  into  political  association  with  the  Abolitionists  of  New 
England.  Do  not  distrust  Virginia.  As  sure  as  to-morrow's  sun  will  rise 
upon  us,  just  so  sure  will  Virginia  be  a  member  of  the  Southern  Confedera 
tion.  And  I  will  tell  you,  gentlemen,"  said  the  speaker,  with  great  vehe, 
mence,  "  what  will  put  her  in  the  Southern  Confederacy  in  less  than  an  hour 
by  Shrewsbury  clock — STRIKE  A  BLOW!  The  very  moment  that  blood  is 
shed,  old  Virginia  will  make  common  cause  with  her  sisters  of  the  South. 
It  is  impossible  she  should  do  otherwise."2 

This  speech  was  vehemently  applauded.  It  was  in  consonance  with  the 
diabolical  spirit  of  the  more  zealous  conspirators  and  insurgents  everywhere 
The  cry  of  Pryor  for  blood  was  sent  to  Montgomery  by  telegraph  the  next 
morning,  arid  Mr.  Gilchrist,  a  member  of  the  Alabama  Legislature,  said  to 
Davis  and  a  portion  of  his  "  Cabinet"  (Walker,  Benjamin,  and  Memminger):— 

i  gee  page  48.  *  Charleston  Mercury,  April  11,  1861. 


DEMAND  FOR  THE  SURRENDER  OF  FORT  SUMTER.     317 

"  Gentlemen,  unless  you  sprinkle  blood  in  the  face  of  the  people  of  Alabama, 
they  will  be  back  in  the  old  Union  in  less  than  ten  days."1  The  "  sober 
second  thought "  of  the  people  was  dreaded.  The  conspirators  knew  that 
there  was  solemn  truth  in  the  assertion,  that  "  the  big  heart  of  the  people  is 
still  in  the  Union.  It  is  now  subjugated  temporarily  to  the  will  of  the  poli 
ticians.  I^ess  than  a  hundred  thousand  politicians  are  endeavoring  to 
destroy  the  liberties  and  usurp  the  rif/hts  of  more  than  thirty  millions  of 
people.'1'"1 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Thursday,  the  llth  of  April,  Beaure- 
gard  sent  Colonel  James  Chesnut,  Jr.,  Colonel  Chisholni,  and  Captain  Stephen 
I).  Lee,  of  his  staff,  with  a  letter  to  Major  Anderson,  in  which  he  conveyed 
a  demand  for  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Stimter.3  This  reached  the  fort  at  four 
o'clock.  Major  Anderson,  who  was  in  expectation  of  such  demand,  at  once 
replied,  that  his  sense  of  honor  and  obligations  to  his  Government  would  not 
allow  him  to  comply.  At  the  same  time  he  informed  Beauregard's  aids, 
orally,  that  the  condition  of  his  supplies  was  such  that  he  would  be  com 
pelled,  by  menaces  of  starvation,  to  leave  the  fort  in  a  few  days.  They 
returned  to  Beauregard  under  a  red  flag,  thereby  indicating  to  the  com 
manders  of  the  forts  and  batteries  that  no  peaceful  arrangement  had  yet 
been  made.  That  officer  instantly  communicated  Anderson's  remark  to 
Walker,  the  "Confederate  Secretary  of  War,"  at  Montgomery,  giving  as  his 
words: — "I  will  await  the  first  shot,  and  if  you  do  not  batter  us  to  pieces, 
we  will  be  starved  out  in  a  few  days/'  Walker  telegraphed  back,  that  if 
Major  Anderson  would  state  the  time  when  he  would  evacuate,  and  agree" 
that,  meanwhile,  he  would  not  use  his  guns  against  them,  unless  theirs  should 
be  employed  against  Fort  Sumter,  Beauregard  was  authorized  thus  to  avoid 


1  Speech  of  Jeremiah  Clemens,  formerly  United  States  Senator  from  Alabama,  at  Huntsville.  in  that  Stat*>, 
on  the  18th  of  March,  1*»>4. 

1  Kulfigk  (North  Carolina)  Banner. 

1  The  original  of  Bcauregard's  letter  is  bvforc  mo  while  I  write.     It  is  as  follows  : — 

"  HEAD-QUARTERS    PROVISIONAL    AnMY,    C.    5.    A.,    ) 

••CIIAKI.KSTON,  8.  (.'..  April  11,  Isfil.  )' 

"SiR: — The  Government  of  the  Confederate  States  has  hitherto  forborne  any  hostile  demonstration* 
against  Fort  Smnter,  in  the  hope  that  the  Government  of  Ihe  United  States,  with  a  view  to  the  amicable 
adjustment  of  all  questions  between  the  two  governments,  and  to  avoid  the  calamity  of  war,  would  voluntarily 
evacuate  it.  There  was  reason  at  one  time  to  believe  that  such  would  be  the  course  pursued  by  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  and.  under  that  impression,  my  government  has  refrained  from  making  any  demand 
for  the  surrender  of  the  fort.  Hut  the  Confederate  States  can  no  longer  delay  assuming  actual  possession  of  a 
fortification  commanding  the  entrance  of  on«  of  their  harbors,  and  necessary  to  it. 

"  I  am  ordered  by  the  Government  of  the  Confederate  States  to  demand  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter. 
My  aids.  Colonel  Chesnut  and  Captain  Lee,  are  authorized  to  make  such  demand  of  you.  All  proper  facilities 
will  be  afforded  for  the  removal  of  yourself  and  command,  together  with  company  arms  and  property,  and 
all  private  property,  to  any  post  in  the  United  States  which  you  may  elect  The  Hag  which  you  have  upheld 
so  long,  and  with  so  much  fortitude,  under  the  most  trying  circumstances,  may  be  saluted  by  you  on  taking 
it  down. 

"Colonel  Chesnut  and  Captain  Lee  will,  for  a  reasonable  time,  await  your  answer. 
"  I  am.  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

"G.  T.  BKAI;RE<}ARI>. 

*•  Brigadier-General  Commanding, 
"Major  ROBERT  ANPERSOX, 

"  Commanding  tit  Fort  Sumter,  S.  (V 

It  is  a  noteworthy  faet,  that  the  paper  on  which  was  written  this  demand  from  the  conspirators  for  a  recogni 
tion  of  their  right  and  power  to  destroy  the  Union,  bore,  in  its  water-mark,  the  emblem  of  Union,  namely,  the 
Union  shield,  with  its  full  complement  of  stars  on  and  around  it.  and  in  the  segment  of  a  circle  over  it  the  words, 
E  PLURIBUB  UNUH.  In  a  corner,  surrounded  in  an  ellipse  formed  by  the  words  Evan*  and  Cogsicell,  Charleston, 
was  a  picture  of  the  National  Capitol  at  Washington. 


318 


A  PART  OF  BEAUREGARD'S  LETTER. 


A   MEMORABLE   NIGHT   IX   CHARLESTON.  319 

the  effusion  of  blood."    "  If  this  or  its  equivalent  be  refused,"  he  said,  "  reduce 
the  fort,  as  your  judgment  decides  to  be  the  most  practicable." 

At  eleven  o'clock  the  same  night,  Beauregard  sent  Colonels  Chesnut,  Chis- 
holm,  PryOr  (Roger  A.),  and  Captain 
Lee,  with  the  proposition  of  Walker,  to 
Major  Anderson,  when  the  latter  replied 
that  he  cordially  united  with  them  in  a 
desire  to  prevent  bloodshed,  and  would 
therefore  agree,  in  accordance  with  the 
proposed  stipulations,  to  leave  the  fort 
by  noon  on  the  15th,  should  he  not, 
previous  to  that  time,  "  receive  control 
ling  instructions"  from  his  Government, 
or  additional  supplies.  The  messenger 
had  arrived  at  one  o'clock  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  12th,  and  the  answer  was 
written  at  half-past  two.  At  the  re 
quest  of  Chesnut  and  his  companions,  it  LE  ROY  I-.,I-K 
was  handed  to  them  unsealed. 

Anderson  was  ignorant  of  what  his  Government  had  been  doing  for  his 
relief  during  the  last  few  days.  lie  had  notice  of  its  intentions,  but  his 
special  messenger,  Lieutenant  Talbot,  who  had  been  sent  to  Washington 
after  the  notice  wras  given,  had  not  been  allowed  by  the  authorities  at 
Charleston  to  return  to  the  fort.1  These  authorities  had  better  information 
than  Anderson.  Scouts  had  discovered,  (hiring  the  previous  evening,  the 
Pawnee  and  the  Harriet  Lane  outside  the  bar,  and  had  reported  the  fact  to 
Beauregard.  That  there  might  be  no  delay,  that  officer  had  directed  his 
aids,  sent  to  Anderson,  to  receive  an  open  reply  from  him,  and  if  it  should 
not  be  satisfactory,  to  exercise  discretionary  powers  given  them.  They  con 
sulted  a  few  minutes  in  the  room  of  the  officer  of  the  guard,  and,  deciding 
that  it  was  not  satisfactory,  at  twenty  minutes  past  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning,"  they  addressed  a  note  to  Anderson,  saying: — 
"By  authority  of  Brigadier-General  Beauregard,  commanding  the 
provisional  forces  of  the  Confederate  States,  we  have  the  honor  to  notify  you 
that  he  will  open  the  fire  of  his  batteries, on  Fort  Sumter  in  one  hour  from 
this  time."  They  immediately  left  the  fort,  when  the  flag  was  raised,  the 
postern  was  closed,  the  sentinels  were  withdrawn  from  the  parapet,  and 
orders  were  given  by  the  commander,  that  the  men  should  not  leave  the 
bomb-proofs  without  special  orders. 

The  night  of  the  llth  of  April,  1861,  will  be  long  remembered  by  the 
then  dwellers  in  Charleston.  It  became  known  early  in  the  evening  that  a 
demand  for  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter  would  be  made.  Orders  had  been 
issued  for  all  the  military  in  the  city,  and  surgeons,  to  hasten  to  their  respec 
tive  posts.  The  telegraph  called  four  full  regiments  of  a  thousand  men  each 
from  the  country.  Conveyances  for  wounded  men  were  prepared,  and  every 

1  Governor  Pickens  professed  to  give  his  permission  with  great  cheerfulness  for  Talhot  to  po  to  Washing 
ton.  A  perfidious  trick  was  practiced.  At  Florence,  the  car  in  which  Talbot  was  seated  was  detached,  by  order, 
it  is  saM.  of  the  authorities  at  Charleston,  and  the  train  went  on,  thus  detaining  Anderson's  messenger  while 
they  were  preparing  to  attack  Fort  Sumter. 


April  12, 
1S61. 


320  ATTACK   ON   FORT   SUMTER. 

thing  necessary  to  meet  the  demands  of  suffering  caused  by  battle  was  made 
ready.  At  midnight,  seven  discharges  from  heavy  cannon  aroused  all  sleepers. 
They  were  signals  for  the  assembling  of  all  the  reserves  immediately.  The 
people  rushed  to  the  streets  in  alarm.  The  roll  of  the  drum,  the  tramp  of 
horses,  and  the  rumbling  of  wagons  were  heard  in  every  direction,  while 
from  the  southwestern  horizon  a  heavy  thunder-storm  was  approaching.  The 
streets  were  soon  crowded  with  people,  who  hurried  to  East  Bay  Batterv 
and  other  places,  and  watched  eagerly  for  an  attack  on  Fort  Sumter. 

"  In  the  town — through  every  street, 
Trump,  tramp,  went  the  feet, 
For  the}7  said  the  Federal  fleet 

Hove  in  sight ; 

And  down  the  wharves  they  ran, 
Every  woman,  child,  and  man, 

To  the  fight." 

r 

Hours  passed  on,  and  all  w^as  quiet.  The  disappointed  inhabitants  made 
their  way  slowly  back  toward  their  homes,  and  very  soon  the  gathering 
thunder-storm  burst  over  the  city. 

Patiently,  firmly,  almost  silently,  the  little  band  in  Fort  Sumter  awaited 
the  passage  of  that  pregnant  hour.  Each  man  could  hear  his  own  heart  beat 
as  the  expiring  moments  brought  him  nearer  to  inevitable  but  unknown  perils. 
Suddenly  the  dull  booming  of  a  gun  at  a  signal-battery  on  James  Island, 
near  Fort  Johnson,  was  heard,1  and  a  fiery  shell,  sent  from  its  broad  throat, 
went  flying  through  the  black  night  and  exploded  immediately  over  Fort 
Sumter.  It  was  a  malignant  "  shooting  star,"  coursing  through  the  heavens 
like  those,  in  appearance,  which  in  the  olden  time  affrighted  the  nations.  It 
was  one  of  fearful  portent,  and  was  the  "forerunner"  of  terrible  calamities. 
Then,  no  man  was  wise  enough  to  interpret  its  full  augury. 

The  sound  of  that  mortar  on  James  Island  was  the  signal  for  battle.  It 
awakened  the  slumberers  in  Charleston.  The  streets  of  the  city  were  again 
thronged  with  an  excited  populace.  After  a  brief  pause,  the  heavy  cannon 
on  Cummings's  Point,  comprising  Battery  Stevens  (so  named  in  honor  of  the 
inventor),  opened  fire  upon  Fort  Sumter.  To  the  late  Edmund  Ruffin,2  of 
Virginia,  belongs  the  infamy  of  firing  its  first  shot,  and  the  first  hurled  against 
that  fort,  the  mute  representative » of  the  nationality  under  whose  benign 
overshadowing  he  had  reposed  in  peace  and  security  for  more  than  seventy 
years.  He  had  hastened  to  Morris  Island  when  hostilities  seemed  near,  and 
when  asked  there  to  what  company  he  belonged,  he  replied,  "  To  that  in 
wh|bh  there  is  a  vacancy."3  He  was  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Palmetto 
Guard,  and  implored  the  privilege  of  firing  the  first  gun  on  Fort  Sumter.  It 
was  granted,  and  he  at  once  acquired  Ephesian  fame.  That  wretched  old 
man  appears  in  history  only  as  a  traitor  and  a  suicide4 — a  victim  to  the 
wicked  teachings  of  stronger  and  wiser  men. 

That  first  shot  from  Cummings's  Point  was  followed  quickly  by  others 
from  the  Floating  Battery,  whfth  lay  beached  on  Sullivan's  Island,  under  the 


1  That  signal-gun  was  fired  by  Lieutenant  H.  S.  Farley.  2  See  page  48. 

3  Charleston  Mercury,  April  13,  1861.  4  See  note  1,  page  4S. 


THE*  GARRISON  OF  FORT  SUMTER.  321 

•command  of  Lieutenants  Yates  ami  Harleston  ;  from  Fort  Moultrie,  com- 
maiuled  by  Colonel  Hipley ;  from  a  powerful  masked  battery  on  Sullivan's 
Island,  hidden  by  sand-hills  and  bushes,  called  the  Dahlgren  Battery,1  under 
Lieutenant  J.  U.  Hamilton  ;  and  from  nearly  all  the  rest  of  the  semicircle  of 
military  works  arrayed  around  Fort  Sumter  for  its  reduction.  Full  thirty- 
heavy  guns  and  mortars  opened  at  once.  Their  fire  was  given  with  remark 
able  vigor,  yet  the  assailed  fort  made  no  reply.  The  tempest  of  lightning, 
wind,  and  rain  that  had  just  been  skurrying  through  the  heavens,  leaving 
behind  it  heavy  clouds  and  a  drizzling  mist,  and  the  angry  storm  of  shot  and 
shell,  seemed  to  make  no  impression  on  that  "  Bastion  of  the  Federal  Union." 
For  two  hours  and  more,  Fort  Sumter  seemed  to  the  outside  world  as  silent 
as  the  grave,  bravely  bearing  the  brunt  of  assault  with  wonderful  fortitude 
or  the  stolidity  of  paralysis.  This  silence  mortified  the  insurgents,  for  they 
longed  for  the  glory  of  victory  after  resistance.  A  contemporary  poet  sang  : — 

"  The  morn  was  cloudy,  and  dark,  and  .irray, 
When  the  first  columbiad  bla/.ed  away. 
Showing  that  there  \va.s  the  devil  to  pay 
With  the  braves  on  Morris  Island; 
They  tired  tlu-ir  cannon  airain  and  »i;ain, 
Hopini;  that  Major  Anderson's  men 
Would  answer  back,  but  'twas  all  in  vain, 
At  lirst,  on  Morris  Island/'3 

It  had  been  plainly  seen  by  Anderson  and  his  officers  that  the  barbette 
and  area  guns  could  not  lie  used,  if  all  the  batteries  of  the  insurgents  should 
open  upon  the  fort  at  the  same  time.'  This  was  a  fatal  misfortune,  for  the 
barbattti  guns  could  have  hurled  heavy  crushing  shot  upon  the  Floating 
Battery  and  the  armored  work  on  Cummings's  Point.  On  the  parade,  in  the 
fort,  were  five  heavy  columbiads,  arranged  for  throwing  shells.  These,  too, 
'would  have  been  effective,  but  they  could  not  be  manned  with  safety.  For 
this  reason,  Anderson  gave  his  orders  for  the  men  to  remain  in  the  bomb- 
proofs,  lie  had  men  sufficient  to  work  only  nine  guns  well,  and  it  was 
necessary  to  guard  against  casualties  as  effectually  as  possible. 

At  half-past  six  o'clock,  the  garrison  were  summoned  to  breakfast  in  the 
usual  manner,  and  they  ate  as  hearty  a  meal  as  their  scanty  supplies  would 
nllow,  little  disturbed  by  the  terrible  uproar  around  them.  It  was  now  broad 
daylight.  The  officers  and  men  in  Fort  Sumter  were  arranged  in  three 
reliefs.  The  first  was  commanded  by  Captain  Poubleday,  the  second  by 
Surgeon  Crawford,  ami  the  third  by  Lieutenant  Snyder.  Thus  prepared 
they  went  to  work,  under  the  most  trying  disadvantages.  They  had  plenty 


1  This  battery  was  composed  of  two  heavy  Pahlirren  euns,  which  h.iil  hecn  sent  from  the  Tredejrar  Works 
ftt  Richmond,  and  arrived  at  Charleston  on  the  '2^th  of  March.  Five  10-inch  mortars  were  put  into  the  same 
battery  with  the  Pahljrrens.  On  the  same  day.  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  powder,  sent  from  IVnsaeola,  readied 
Charleston,  and  twenty  thousand  pounds  from  Wilmincton,  North  Carolina.  At  that  time  neither  Virginia  nor 
North  Carolina  had  passed  ordinances  of  secession.  See  Charleston  Mercury.  April  18.  1S61. 
a  From  The  Battle  of  Morri*  I»land :  a  "Cheerful  Trairedy."  in  Vanity  Fair.  April  '27.  1*61 
1  Fort  Sumter  was  armed  at  this  time  with  fifty-three  effective  truns.  Of  these,  twenty-seven  wer* 
mounted  en  fmrhfttf,  twenty-one  were  in  the  lower  tier  of  casemates,  and  five  were  on  the  parade.  The  em 
brasures  of  the  second  tier  of  casemates  had  been  filled  with  masonry.  One  of  the  puns  on  the  parade  was  a 
10-inch  columbiad,  arranged  to  throw  shells  into  Charleston.  (See  pasre  18(1.)  The  others  were  4-inch  colum 
biads,  to  throw  shells  upon  the  Cummines's  Point  Battery.  Then-  were  only  seven  hundred  cartridges  when 
the  action  commenced. — Engineer**  Journal  of  the  Bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter :  l>y  Captain  J.  G.  Foster. 

VOL.  I.— 21 


322  DEFENSE  OF  FORT  SUMTER. 

of  powder,  but  few  cartridges  made  up.  They  had  no  scales  for  weighing 
powder,  and  only  six  needles  for  sewing  cartridge-bags.  They  had  no  instru 
ments  for  sighting  the  guns;  and  other  deficiencies  was  numerous.  The 
wood-work  of  the  barracks  and  officers'  quarters  was  exposed  to  ignition  by 
the  bursting  bomb-shells,  every  moment.  The  garrison  was  composed  of 
only  about  eighty  men  ;  the  insurgents  numbered  several  thousands.  The 
odds  were  fearful,  but,  leaning  trustfully  on  the  arm  of  the  Almighty,  the 
commander  determined  to  resist.  At  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he 
ordered  a  reply  to  the  attack.  The  first  gun  was  fired  from  the  battery  at 
the  right  gorge  angle,  at  the  Stevens  Battery  on  Morris  Island,  by  Captain 
(afterward  Major-Gen eral)  Abner  Doubleday.  A  fire  from  the  fort  upon  all 
of  the  principal  attacking  batteries  immediately  followed;  and  for  four  hours 
the  contest  was  kept  up  so  steadily  and  vigorously  on  the  part  of  Fort 
Sumter,  that  the  insurgents  suspected  that  it  had  been  stealthily  re-enforced 
during  the  night. 

The  first  solid  shot  from  Fort  Sumter,  hurled  at  Fort  Moultrie,  was  fired 
by  Surgeon  (afterward  Major-General)  S.  W.  Crawford.  It  lodged  in  the 
sand-bags,  and  was  carried  by  a  special  reporter  of  the  Charleston  Mercury 
to  the  office  of  tha^t  journal.  It  was  a  32-pound  shot,  and  was  soon  afterward 
forwarded  by  Beauregard,  it  is  said,  to  Marshal  Kane,  of  Baltimore,  who 
appears  as  a  worthy  recipient  of  the  gift  from  such  hands.  The  writer  saw 
that  shot  at  the  police  head-quarters  in  the  old  City  Hall  on  Holliday  Street, 
in  Baltimore,  when  he  Anderson's  order  for 

visited  that  building  in  j^BJfc^  the    men    to    remain    in 

December,  1864,  where       \^^f^^m^fMS\  ^e   bomb-proofs    could 

it    was     carefully     pre-  iS^HjjP' '/S^'lal  no^  res*ram  them  when 

served,  with  the  original  |^pB^^^^MIt_  the  firing  commenced, 
presentation  label  upon  I  I  The  whole  garrison, 

it,  namely,  "  To  George         ill|  1       officers    and  men,   were 

P.  Kane,  Marshal  of  l||jj_ ___.---— ^=^==^  filled  with  the  highest 
Police,  Baltimore,  from  BOUND  gnoT  FROM  FOKT  SUMTER  excitement  and  enthusi- 
.Fort  Sumter"  asm  by  the  events  of 

the  morning,  and  the  first  relief  had  been  at  work  but  a  few  minutes  when 
the  other  two  joined  in  the  task.  Hence  it  was  that  the  fort  was  enabled  to 
assail  all  of  the  principal  insurgent  batteries  at  the  same  time.  The  surgeon 
(Crawford),  musicians,  engineers,  and  workmen,  inspired  by  example,  fell  in 
and  toiled  vigorously  with  the  soldiers.  There  were  no  idle  hands.  Yet 
after  four  hours  of  hard  and  skillful  labor,  it  was  evident  that  Fort  Sumter 
could  not  seriously  injure  the  works  opposed  to  it.  One  of  Fort  Moultrie's 
guns  had  been  silenced  for  a  while  ;  its  embrasures  were  injured,  its  barracks 
were  riddled,  and  three  holes  were  torn  in  its  flag.  A  shot  had  penetrated 
the  Floating  Battery ;  but  the  iron-plated  battery  (Stevens)  on  Cummings's 
Point  was  absolutely  invulnerable.  It  was  uninjured  at  the  end  of  the  en 
gagement,  though  frequently  hit  by  heavy  shot. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  firing  of  the  assailants  was  becoming  more  accurate 
and  effective.  At  first,  many  of  their  shot  actually  missed  Fort  Sumter,  arid 
those  that  struck  it  were  so  scattering  that  there  seemed  no  chance  for 
breaching  the  walls.  But  the  firing  became  more  and  more  concentrated, 
and  began  to  tell  fearfully  upon  the  walls  and  the  parapets.  Some  of  the 


ATTEMPTED   RELIEF   OF   FORT   SUMTER. 


323 


barbette  guns  were  dismounted  or  otherwise  disabled,1  and  at  length  the 
fearful  cry  of  Fire  !  was  raised.     The  barracks  were  burning. 

From  the  hour  when  the  garrison  had  been  made  to  expect  relief,  their 
eyes  had  been  turned  much  and  anxiously  toward  the  sea.  And  now,  when 
the  tempest  of  war  was  beating  furiously  upon  them,  and  not  three  days' 
supply  of  food  was  left,  they  looked  out  from  the  oceanward  port-holes  more 
anxiously  than  ever.  At  noon  on  that  fearful  day,  Surgeon  Crawford,  who 
had  volunteered  to  ascend  to  the  parapet,  amid  the  storm  of  missiles,  to  make 


T    <  A.NNON  SHOT   OX    KOKT   SfMTER.7 

observations,  reported,  to  the  infinite  delight  of  the  garrison,  that-  through 
the  vail  of  the  misty  air  he  saw  vessels  bearing  the  dear  old  flag.  They 
were  a  part  of  Fox's  relief  squadron,  namely,  the  P<nruef,  ten  guns;  the 
Harriet  L<t)tc,  five  guns,  and  the  transport  ll<ilti<:  They  signaled  greetings 
by  dipping  their  flags.  Sumter  could  not  respond,  for  its  ensign  was 
entangled  in  the  halliards,  which  had  been  cut  by  the  enemy's  shot,  but  it  was 
Btill  waving  defiantly  at  about  half-mast.  The  vessels  could  not  cross  the 
bar.  The  sinuous  and  shifting  channels  were  always  difficult,  in  fine  weather; 


1  Alluding  to  the  firing  from  Fort  Moultrie  upon  Fort  Sumter.  the  niarlftton  Mtrcury  of  the  13th  said  :— 
"Many  of  its  shells  dropped  into  that  fort,  and  Lieutenant  John  Mitchell,  the  worthy  son  of  that  patriot  sire 
who  has  so  nobly  vindicated  the  cause  of  the  South,  has  the  honor  of  dismounting  two  of  its  parapet  guns  by  a 
single  shot  from  one  of  the  coin  m  triads,  which,  at  tin-  time,  he  had  the  office  of  directing."  The  "patriot  sire" 
here  spoken  of  was  John  Mitchell,  an  Irish  revolutionist,  who  was  smt  to  Australia  as  a  traitor  to  the  British 
Government,  was  paroled,  violated  his  parole,  and  t-M-api-d  to  tin-  United  States,  tlu-  asylum  for  the  oppressed, 
Here  he  pursued  his  vocation  of  newspaper  editor,  first  in  New  York  and  tlu-n  in  the  Slave-labor  States,  whera 
he  upheld  Slavery  as  a  righteous  system,  advocated  the  reopening  of  the  horrible  African  Slave-trade,  joined 
the  conspirators,  and.  through  the  newspaper  press  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  became  one  of  the  most  malignant 
of  the  revilers  of  the  Government  whose  protection  he  had  sought  and  received.  Lieutenant  Mitchell  after 
ward  perished  in  Fort  Sumter.  A  London  correspondent  of  the  Xew  York  Tribune,  in  a  graphic  account  of 
this  young  man.  says  that  he  met  him  in  Charleston  in  1*60,  u  when  he  boasted  of  having  assisted  to  murder  an 
Abolitionist,  by  lynching.'1 

3  This  little  picture  is  from  a  photograph  taken  by  an  operator  in  Charleston  immediately  after  the  evacun- 
tion  of  the  fort.  It  shows  the  appearance,  at  that  time,  of  the  portion  of  the  gorge  of  Fort  Sumter  nearest 
Cumuiings's  Point,  and  the  effect  of  the  cannonade  and  bombardment  from  the  irou-chid  battery  there. 


324  TOIL  AND   SUFFERINGS   IN   FORT   SUMTER. 

now  the  buoys  had  been  removed,  ships  laden  with  stones  had  been  sunken 
therein,  and  a  blinding  storm  was  prevailing. 

The  battery  on  Cummings's  Point  became  very  formidable  in  the  after 
noon.  The  guns  were  rifled.  A  Blakely  cannon,  already  mentioned,  was 

specially  mischievous,  and  heavy 
shot,  aimed  accurately  at  the 
embrasures,  were  extremely  de 
structive  and  annoying.  The 
gunners  in  Sumter  on  that  side 
were  frequently  stunned,  or 
otherwise  injured,  by  splinters 
of  the  masonry.  In  every  part 
of  the  fort  in  which  they  were 
engaged  they  worked  without 
intermission,  and  received  food 
and  drink  at  their  guns.  As 
BLAKELY  GUN.I  the  hours  wore  away,  they  be 

came  very  weary.     The    supply 

of  cartridges  began  to  fail,  and  before  sunset  all  the  guns  were  abandoned 
but  six.  These  were  worked  continually,  but  not  rapidly,  until  dark,  when 
the  port-holes  were  closed,  and  the  little  garrison  was  arranged  for  alter 
nate  repose,  and  work,  and  watching.  Several  men  had  been  wounded,  but 
not  one  was  mortally  hurt.  So  closed  the  first  day  of  actual  war  between 
the  servants  of  the  OLIGARCHY  and  those  of  the  PEOPLE. 

The  night  of  the  12th  was  dark  and  stormy,  with  high  wind  and  tide. 
The  telegraph  was  not  yet  silenced,  and  it  had  carried  tidings  of  the  fight  aR 
over  the  land  before  sunset.  Thousands  of  anxious  heads,  hundreds  of  miles 
away  from  Sumter,  were  laid  upon  their  pillows  that  night,  and  thousands 
of  prayers  went  up  to  the  Almighty  for  the  salvation  of  the  Republic.  In 
Charleston  and  in  its  harbor  there  was  but  little  sleep.  All  night  long  the 
mortars  of  the  insurgents  kept  up  a  slow  bombardment  of  the  fort,  sufficient 
to  deprive  the  wearied  garrison  of  all  but  intermittent  slumbers.  Anderson 
continually  expected  an  attack  from  armed  men  in  boats,  and  was  prepared 
for  their  reception.  He  hoped  to  welcome  other  boats  filled  with  friends 
and  stores.  He  was  disappointed  in  all  his  expectations.  The  naval  com 
manders  outside  did,  as  we  have  observed,  take  measures  to  send  in  relief, 
T)ut  the  storm  kept  them  from  performing  their  errand  of  mercy  until  it  was 
too  late.2 

The  storm  ceased  before  the  dawri.a     Only  a  few  vanishing  clouds  flecked 
the  morning  sky.     The  sun  rose  in  splendor.     Already  the  can- 
" A^ 12'     nonade   and   bombardment   had  been   renewed    with    increased 
vigor  and  additional  terrors.     Red-hot  shot  were  hurled  into  the 
fort.      One  passed  along  the  course  of  a  water-pipe  through  the  wall  that 
masked  the  magazine  for  fixed  ammunition.     Fortunately,  it  did  not  pene 
trate  the  inner  wall.     By  that  shield  the  fiery  demon  was  foiled.     Four  times 


1  This  is  a  view  of  the  English  rifled  cannon  that  produced  the  chief  destructive  effects  on  Fort  Sumter 
daring  the  siege.     Its  projectiles  are  seen  in  front  of  its  carriage. 

2  See  page  309. 


FORT   SUMTER   ON   FIRE. 

\ 


325 


on  Friday  the  buildings  in  the  fort  had  been  set  on  fire,  and  each  time  the 
flames  were  extinguished.  Now  the  barracks  and  officers'  quarters  were 
again  and  again  ignited.  They  could  not  be  saved,  and  no  attempt  to  do  so 
was  made,  for  precious  lives  would  have  been  imperiled  by  the  act.  Means 
for  that  purpose  had  been  diminished.  On  the  previous  day,  three  of  the 
iron  cisterns  over  the  hall-ways  had  been  destroyed  by  the  shots  of  the  insur 
gents,  by  which  the  quarters  below  had  been  deluged  and  the  flames  checked, 
Now  there  was  no  resource  of  the  kind.  The  garrison  must  be  starved  out 
within  three  days,  and  shelter  would  be  no  longer  needed,  so  the  buildings 
were  abandoned  to  the  flames.  The  safety  of  the  magazine,  and  the  salvation 
of  sufficient  powder  to  last  until  the  15th,  became  the  absorbing  care  of  the 
commander.  Blankets  and  flannel  shirts  were  used  for  making  cartridges; 
and  every  hand  within  the  fort. was  fully  employed.  On  that  morning  the 


last  parcel  of  rice  had  been  cooked,  and  nothing  was  left  for  the  garrison  to 
eat  but  salt  pork. 

The  flames  spread,  and  the  situation  of  the  garrison  became  extremely 
distressing.  The  heat  was  almost  intolerable.  The  fire  approached  the 
magazine,  when  its  doors  were  closed  and  locked.  In  fearful  eddies  the 
glowing  embers  were  scattered  about  the  fort.  The  main  gate  took  fire, 
and  very  soon  the  blackened  sally-port  was  open  to  the  besiegers.  The 
powder  brought  out  into  the  service  magazine  was  so  exposed  to  the  flames, 
that  ninety  barrels  of  it  were  thrown  into  the  sea  by  Lieutenant  Snyder  and 
Surgeon  Crawford. 

Out  of  Sumter  immense  volumes  of  smoke  rose  sluggishly  on  the  still  air. 


1  This  is  from  a  photopraph  taken  immediately  after  the.  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter.  It  is  a  view  of  that 
portion  of  the  officers'  quarters  to  the  left  of  the  pateway,  and  of  that  of  the  men's  quarters  nearest  the 
powder-magazine,  the  entrance  to  which  was  at  the  junction  of  these  two  bui^'iiiirs.  In  front  of  this  entrance 
are  seen  the  ruins  of  a  traverse.  The  pateway  or  sally-port  is  also  seen,  the  \ioors  of  which  were  burned 
In  the  foreground  is  seen  the  great  lantern  that  was  taken  down  from  the  top  of  the  fort,  where  it  was  use*) 
as  a  beacon. 


326  THE  FLAG  OF  FORT  SUMTER. 

The  assailants  knew  that  the  fort  was  on  fire,  and  that  its  inmates  were 
dwellers  in  a  heated  furnace,  yet  they  inhumanly  intensified  the  fury  of  the 
attack  from  all  points.1  The  heat  and  vapor  became  stifling,  and  the  garrison 
were  compelled,  frequently,  to  lie  upon  the  ground,  with  wet  cloths  on  their 
faces,  to  prevent  suifocation  by  smoke.2  Yet  they  would  not  surrender. 
They  bravely  kept  the  old  flag  flying.  Eight  times  its  staff  had  been  hit  with 
out  serious  injury ;  now,  at  twenty  minutes  before  one  o'clock,  it  was  shot 
away  near  the  peak,  and  the  flag,  with  a  portion  of  the  staff,  fell  down  through 
the  thick  smoke  among  the  gleaming  embers.  Through  the  blinding,  scorch 
ing  tempest,  Lieutenant  Hall  rushed  and  snatched  up  the  precious  ensign, 
before  it  could  take  fire.  It  was  immediately  carried  by  Lieutenant  Snyder 
to  the  ramparts,  and,  under  his  direction,  Sergeant  Hart,  who  for  weeks 
had  been  Major  Anderson's  faithful  servant  and  friend,  but  was  a  non-com 
batant  by  agreement,3  sprang  upon  the  sand-bags,  and  with  the  assistance  of 
Lyman,  a  mason  from  Baltimore,  fastened  the  fragment  of  the  staff  there, 
and  left  the  soiled  banner  flying  defiantly,4  while  shot  and  shell  were  filling 
the  air  like  hail.  Almost  eighty-five  years  before,  another  brave  and  patriotic 
Sergeant  (William  Jasper)  had  performed  a  similar  feat,  in  Charleston 
harbor,  near  the  spot  where  Fort  'Moultrie  now  stands.5  One  was  assisting 
in  the  establishment  of  American  nationality,  the  other  in  maintaining  it. 

At  half-past  one  o'clock,  the  notorious  Senator  Wigfall  (who,  as  soon  as  he 
had  received  his  salary  from  the  National  Treasury,  had  hastened  to  Charles 
ton,  and  there  became  a  volunteer  aid  on  the  staff  of  General  Beauregard) 
arrived  at  Sumter  in  a  boat  from  Cummings's  Point,  accompanied  by  one 
white  man  and  two  negroes.  Leaving  the  boat  at  the  wharf,  Wigfall  passed 
around  the  fort  until  he  came  to  the  first  embrasure,  or  port-hole,  through 
which  he  saw  private  John  Thompson,  of  the  fort.  The  Texan  was  carrying 
a  white  handkerchief  on  the  point  of  his  sword,  as  a  flag  of  truce.  He  asked 
permission  to  enter  the  embrasure,  but  was  denied.  "I  am  General  Wigfall," 
he  said,  "and  wish  to  see  Major  Anderson."  The  soldier  told  him  to  stay 
there  until  he  could  see  his  commander.  "  For  God's  sake  let  me  in  !"  cried 
the  conspirator,  "I  can't  stand  it  out  here  in  the  firing."  The  privilege 
was  denied  him  for  the  moment.  He  then  hurried  around  to  the  sally-port, 
at  which  place  he  had  asked  an  interview  with  Anderson.  Finding  the 
passage  strewn  with  the  burning  timbers  of  the  gate,  the  poor  fellow,  in 
utter  despair,  ran  around  the  fort,  waving  his  white  handkerchief  imploringly 
toward  his  fellow-insurgents,  to  prevent  them  from  firing.  It  was  useless. 
The  missiles  fell  thick  and  fast,  and  he  was  permitted  to  crawl  into  an  embra- 


1  Captain  Foster,  in  his  report,  says: — "As  soon  as  the  flames  and  smoke  burst  from  the  roof  of  the  quar 
ters,  the  enemy's  batteries  redoubled  the  rapidity  of  their  fire,  firing  red-hot  shot  from  most  of  their  guns." 

8  Afterward,  on  the  occasion  of  his  being  presented  with  a  sword  by  the  citizens  of  Taunton,  Massachu 
setts,  Major  Anderson,  alluding  to  the  inhumanity  of  his  assailants,  said: — "It  is  one  of  the  most  painful 
recollections  of  that  event,  that  when  our  barracks  were  on  fire,  and  the  men  were  compelled  to  cover  their 
fuces  with  wet  handkerchiefs,  and  lie  with  their  faces  upon  the  ground,  to  avoid  suffocation,  instead  of  sending 
a  white  flag,  with  assistance  to  extinguish  the  flames,  then  threatening  us  wijh  destruction,  they  rapidly 
increased  their  fire  upon  us  from  every  battery,  in  total  disregard  of  every  feeling  of  humanity.11 

3  See  page  134. 

4  See  the  device  on  the  Sumter  Medal,  near  the  close  of  this  chapter,  in  which  Hart  is  represented  in  the 
act  of  planting  the  fla^-staff. 

*  For  a  full  account  of  this,  and  attending  circumstances,  see  Lossing's  Pictorial  Field-book  of  the  Revo 
lution,  ii.  550. 


A    REPRESENTATIVE   OF   THE  CONSPIRATORS.  327 

sure,  after  lie  had  given  up  his  sword  to*  a  private  soldier  there.  He  was 
almost  exhausted  by  fatigue  and  affright. 

At  his  place  of  entrance,  Wigfall  met  Captain  J.  G.  Foster,  Lieutenant  J. 
C.  Davis,  and  Surgeon  S.  W.  Crawford,  all  of  whom  were  afterward  general 
officers  in  the  Army ;  also  Lieutenant  R.  K.  Meade.  Trembling  with  excite 
ment,  he  said  : — "  I  am  General  Wigfall ;  I  come  from  General  Beauregard, 
who  wants  to  stop  this  bloodshed.  You  are  on  fire,  and  your  flag  is  down  ; 
let  us  stop  this  firing."  One  of  the  officers  replied :  "  Our  flag  is  not  down, 
Sir.  It  is  yet  flying  from  the  ramparts."  Wigfall  saw  it  where  Peter  Hart 
and  his  comrade  had  nailed  it,  and  said  :  "  Well,  well,  I  want  to  stop  this." 
Holding  out  his  sword  and  handkerchief,  he  said  to  one  of  the  officers : — 
"Will  you  hoist  this?"  "Xo,  Sir,"  replied  the  officer;  "it  is  for  you, 
General  Wigfall,  to  stop  them."  "  Will  any  of  you  hold  this  out  of  the 
embrasure  ?"  he  asked.  No  one  offering,  he  said  :  "  May  I  hold  it,  then  ?" 
"  If  you  wish  to,"  was  the  cool  reply.  Wigfall  sprang  into  the  embrasure, 
or  port-hole,  and  waved  the  white  flag  several  times.  A  shot  striking  near 
frightened  him  away,  when  he  cried  out  excitedly :  "  Will  you  let  SOUK;  one 
show  this  flag?"  Corporal  Charles  Bringhurst,  by  permission,  took  the 
handkerchief  and  waved  it  out  of  the  port-hole,  but  he  soon  abandoned  the 
perilous  duty,  exclaiming:  "I  won't  hold  that  flag,  for  they  don't  respect  it. 
They  are  firing  at  it."  Wigfall  replied,  impatiently:  "They  fired  at  me  two 
or  three  times,  and  I  stood  it;  I  should  think  you  might  stand  it  once." 
Turning  to  Lieutenant  Davis,  he  said:  "If  you  will  show  a  white  flag  from 
your  ramparts,  they  will  cease  firing." — "It  shall  be  done,"  said  Davis,  "if 
you  request  it  for  the  purpose,  and  that  alone,  of  holding  a  conference  with 
Major  Anderson." 

The  commander,  in  the  mean  time,  with  Lieutenant  Snyder  and  Surgeon 
Crawford,  had  passed  out  of  the  sally-port  to  meet  Wigfall.  He  was  not 
there,  and  they  returned,  and  just  as  Davis  had  agreed  to  display  a  white 
flag,  they  came  up.  Wigfall  said  to  Major  Anderson  :  "  I  come  from  General 
Beauregard,  who  wishes  to  stop  this,  Sir." — "  Well,  Sir !"  said  Anderson, 
rising  upon  his  toes  and  settling  firmly  upon  his  heels,  as  he  looked  the 
traitor  in  the  face,  with  sharp  inquiry.  "  You  have  defended  your  flag 
nobly,  Sir,"  continued  Wigfall;  "you  have  done  all  that  can  be  done,  Sir. 
Your  fort  is  on  fire.  Let  us  stop  this.  Upon  what  terms  will*  you  evacuate 
the  fort,  Sir?"  Anderson  replied  :  "  General  Beauregard  already  knows  the 
terms  upon  which  I  will  evacuate  this  fort,  Sir.  Instead  of  noon  on  the  loth, 
I  will  go  now.'' — "I  understand  you  to  say,"  said  Wigfall,  eagerly,  "that  you 
will  evacuate  this  fort  now,  Sir,  upon  the  same  terms  proposed  to  you  by 
General  Beauregard  ?"  Anderson  answered  :  "  Yes,  Sir ;  upon  those  terms 
only,  Sir."— " Then,"  said  Wigfall,  inquiringly,  "the  fort  is  to  be  ours?"— 
"Yes,  Sir;  upon  those  conditions,"  answered  Anderson.  "Then  I  will 
return  to  General  Beauregard,"  said  Wigfall,  and  immediately  left.1  Believ 
ing  what  had  been  said  to  himHo  be  true,  Major  Anderson  allowed  a  white 
flag  to  be  raised  over  the  fort. 


1  This  account  of  WipfalFs  adventure  I  derived  from  the  written  statements  of  Captain  (afterward  General) 
Seymour,  Surgeon  (afterward  General)  Crawford,  and  private  John  Thompson,  and  from  the  verbal  statements 
of  Major  (afterward  Major-Genoral)  Anderson. 


328  ASSAULT   ON   FORT    SUMTER   ENDED. 

At  a  little  before  two  o'clock,  Colonels  Chesnut,  Pryor,  Miles  (W.  P., 
who  was  a  volunteer  aid  on  Beauregard's  staff),  and  Captain  Lee,  went  over 
to  Sumter  directly  from  the  presence  of  their  commanding  general,  who  was 
at  Fort  Moultrie,  to  inquire  the  meaning  of  the  white  flag.  When  informed 
of  the  visit  of  Wigfall,  they  exchanged  significant  glances  and  smiles,  and 
Colonel  Chesnut  frankly  informed  Major  Anderson  that  the  Texan  conspira 
tor  had  not  seen  Beauregard  during  the  last  two  days.  Wishing  to  secure 
for  himself  alone  the  honor  of  procuring  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter, 
Wigfall  had,  by  misrepresentations,  obtained  leave  from  the  commander  on 
Morris  Island  to  go  to  the  beleaguered  fort.  He  went  there  with  a  white 
flag  in  his  hand  and  a  black  falsehood  on  his  lips,  and  played  a  most  ludicrous 
part.  He  was  an  acknowledged  and  cherished  leader  of  the  rebellion,  and 
was  an  admirable  representative  of  the  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged,  for 
it  was  the  offspring  of  falsehood  and  fraud. 

Assured  of  Wigfall's  mendacity,  the  deceived  and  indignant  commander 
said  to  the  new  deputation : — "  That  white  flag  shall  come  down  imme 
diately."  They  begged  him  to  leave  matters  as  they  were  until  they  could 

see  Beauregard.     He  did  so,  and  the  firing  ceased. 

"  Ai86i 18'  ^e  bombardment  on  Saturday  a  was  seen  by  thousands  of 

spectators.  About  three  thousand  insurgent  troops  were  engaged 
in  the  work,  while  almost  double  that  number  were  held  in  reserve — mere 
spectators.  Beside  these  observers  were  the  inhabitants  of  Charleston,  who 
covered  the  roofs  of  houses,  the  Battery,  the  wharves,  and  every  place  where 
a  view  might  be  obtained.  It  was  like  a  holiday  in  that  city.  The  Bat 
tery  was  crowded  with  women,  gayly  dressed ;  and  to  most  of  the  inhabi 
tants  it  had  only  the  significance  of  a  sublime  spectacle. 

During  the  afternoon  and  early  evening,  several  deputations  from  Beaure 
gard  visited  Major  Anderson,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  from  him  better 
terms  than  he  had  proposed.  He  was  firm.  They  offered  him  assistance  in 
extinguishing  the  flames  in  Sumter.  He  declined  it,  regarding  the  offer  as 
an  adroit  method  of  asking  him  to  surrender,  wThich  he  had  resolved  never  to- 
do.  Finally,  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  Major  D.  R. 
Jones,  accompanied  by  Colonels  Miles  and  Pryor,  and  Captain  Hartstene,1 
arrived  at  the  fort  with  a  communication  from  Beauregard,  which  contained 
an  agreement"  for  the  evacuation  of  the  fort  according  to  Anderson's  terms, 
namely,  the  departure  of  the  garrison,  with  company  arms  and  property,  and 
all  private  property,  and  the  privilege  of  saluting  and  retaining  his  flag.2 
Anderson  accepted  the  agreement,  and  detailed  Lieutenant  Snyder  to  accom- 


1  Captain  Hartstene  had  been  an  excellent  officer  in  the  National  Navy,  and  had  some  fame  as  an  explorer 
of  the  Arctic  seas,  in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin.     He  had  resigned  his  commission,  abandoned  his  flag,  and 
entered  the  service  of  its  enemies.     He  was  now  a  volunteer  aid  to  Beauregard.     His  kindness  to  the  garrison 
was. conspicuous. 

2  A  ludicrous  incident  occurred  at  this  interview.     Colonel  Pryor,  armed  with  sword,  pistols,  and  bowie- 
knife,  and  assuming  the  air  of  a  man  who  possessed  the  fort  and  all  within  it,  seeing  a  tumbler  on  a  table,  and 
what  he  supposed  to  be  a  whisky-bottle  near  it,  poured  out  of  the  latter  a  sufficient  quantity  of  liquid  to  half 
fill  the  former,  and  drank  it,  supposing  it  to  be  "old  Bourbon.'"     The  taste  not  agreeing  with  its  appearance,, 
he  inquired  if  it  was  water,  when  Surgeon  Crawford  informed  him  that  he  had  swallowed  a  strong  solution  of 
the  iodide  of  potassium,  a  dangerous  poison.      Pryor,  with  face  pale  with  terror,  begged  the  surgeon  to  giv<* 
him  relief  at  once.     His  weapons  were  laid  aside,  a  powerful  emetic  was  administered,  and  in  the  course  of  an 
hour  or  so,  that  infamous  Virginian  went  on  his  way  rejoicing  in  his  deliverance.     Surgeon  Crawford,  wearing 
the  stars  of  a  mnjor-general.  met  the  traitor,  just  at  the  close  of  the  war,  in  a  really  sadder  condition  than 
when  he  administered  the  friendly  emetic. 


THE   DEFENDERS   OF  FORT   SUMTER.  329 

pany  Captain  Hartstene  to  the  little  relief-squadron  outside,  to  make  arrange 
ments  for  the  departure  of  the  garrison.  A  part  of  that  night,  the  brave 
defenders  of  Fort  Sumter1  enjoyed  undisturbed  repose.  Not  one  of  their 
number  had  been  killed  or  very  seriously  hurt  during  the  appalling  bombard 
ment  of  thirty-six  hours,  when  over  three  thousand  shot  and  shell  were 
hurled  at  the  fort.2  The  same  extraordinary  statement  was  made  concerning 
the  insurgents.  It  was  too  extraordinary  for  ready  belief,  and  for  a  long 
time  there  was  doubt  about  the  matter,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  grave 
journalists  and  sparkling  satirists  had  food  for  many  a  telling  paragraph.* 
Testimony  seems  to  show  that  it  was  true.4 

Governor  Pickens  watched  the  bombardment  on  Saturday  morning  with 
a  telescope,  and  that  evening  he  made  a  most  extraordinary  speech  to  the 
excited  populace  from  the  balcony  of  the  Charleston  Hotel.  "  Thank  God !" 


1  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  defenders  of  Fort  Snmter: — 

OFFICERS. — Major  Robert  Anderson;  Captains.  J.  G.  Foster  and  Abner  Doubledav ;  First  Lieutenants, 
Jefferson  C.  Davis,  George  W.  Snyder.  Truman  Seymour  (then  brevet  captain),  Theodore  Talbot  (then  assistant 
adjutant-general),  and  Norman  «I.  Hall;  Second  Lieutenant,  Richard  K.  Mead;  and  Assistant  Surgeon  Samuel 
W.  Crawford. 

NON-COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. — Quartermaster-Senreant.  William  II.  Hamner;  Sergeants,  James  E.  Gall- 
way,  John  Henshaw,  John  Cannody.  John  Me.Mahon.  John  Otto.  Eugene  Sheibner.  James  Chester,  William  A. 
Ham,  and  Thomas  Kiernan;  Ordnance-Sergeant,  James  Kearney;  Corporals,  Christopher  Costolow.  Charles 
BringlmrsU  Henry  Ellerbrook,  Owen  McGuire.  and  Francis  J.  Oakes;  Musicians,  Robert  Foster  and  Charles 
Hall;  Artificers,  Henry  Straudt,  John  E.  Noack,  and  Philip  Andermann;  Confidential  Mail  and  Market  Man, 
Peter  Hart. 

PRIVATES. — Patrick  Murphy,  Tedeschi  Onoratto.  Peter  Rice,  Henry  Schmidt,  John  I'rquhart,  Andrew 
Wickstrom,  Edward  Brady,  Barney  Cain,  John  Doran.  Dennis  Johnson.  John  Kehoe,  John  Klein.  John  Lana- 
gan.  John  Larochc,*  Frederick  Limner,  John  Magill.  Frederick  Meier.  James  Moore.  William  Morter.  Patrick 
Neilan,  John  Nixon.  Michael  O'Donald,  Hobert  Roe.  William  Walker.  Joseph  Wall,  Edmund  Walsh.  Henry  II. 
Walter,  Herman  Will,  Thomas  Wishnowski,  Casper  Wutterpel.  Cornelius  Baker.  Thomas  Carroll.  Patrick 
Clancy,  John  Davis,  James  Digdam.  George  Fielding,  Edward  Gallway.  James  Gibbons,  James  Hays,  Daniel 
Hough,  John  Irwin,  James  McDonald,  Samuel  Miller,  John  Newport.  George  Pint-hard,  Frank  Rivers.  Lewis 
Schroeder,  Carl  A.  Sellman,  John  Thompson,  Charles  II.  Tn/.er.  William  Wit/mann. 

All  of  the  officers  but  three  were  highly  promoted  during  the  war.  Major  Anderson  was  commissioned  a 
brevet  Major-General ;  Captains  Foster  and  Doubledav  were  raised  to  full  Major-Generals :  Lieutenants  Davis, 
Seymour,  and  Hall,  were  commissioned  Brigadiers;  and  Surgeon  Crawford  received  the  same  appointment. 
Lieutenant  Snydcr  died  in  November  following,  and  Lieutenant  Talbot  died  in  April,  lsV2.  Lieutenant  Meade 
resigned  his  commission  and  joined  the  insurgents.  Major  Anderson  performed  gallant  service  in  the  war  with 
Mexico.  Captain  Seymour  had  been  an  extensive  traveler.  His  ascent  of  Poj>ocatapetl,  in  Mexico,  the  highest 
mountain  in  North  America,  has  been  frequently  mentioned.  Captain  Foster  was  severely  wounded  at  Molino 
del  Hey,  in  Mexico;  Lieutenant  Davis  was  in  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista;  and  Lieutenant  Talbot  had  crossed  the 
Rocky  Mountains  with  Fremont's  first  expedition. 

3  Captain  Foster,  in  his  report,  said  that  of  the  10-inch  shells,  thrown  from  seventeen  mortars,  one-half  went 
within  or  exploded  over  the  parapet  of  the  fort,  and  only  about  ten  buried  themselves  in  the  soft  earth  of  the 
parade  without  exploding.  This  statement  shows  how  impossible  it  was  to  man  the  barbette  and  area  guns. 

3  The  London  Tinifx,  alluding  to  the  bombardment,  the  conflagration,  et  cirttra.  without  causing  serious 
personal  injury,  said:— "Many  a  'difficulty'  at  a  bar  has  cost  more  bloodshed.     Was  this  a  preconcerted  feat  of 
conjury  ?    Were  the  rival  Presidents  saluting  one  another  in  harmless  fireworks  to  amuse  the  groundlings?    The 
whole  affair   is   utterly  inexplicable.  .  .  .  The  result  is  utterly  different  from  all   we  are  accustomed  to   hear 
of  the  Americans.    There,  'a  word  and  a  blow'  has  been  the  rule.      In  this  case,  the  blow,  when  it  does  at  last 
come,  falls  like  snow,  and  lights  as  gently  as  thistle-down."1 

Vanity  Fair,  a  humorous  weekly  sheet  then  published  in  New  York,  contained  the  following  stanzas,  in  a 
poem  called  The  JSattle  of  Morrix  Ma  ml.  already  quoted  from  in  the  text: — 

"  Then  came  the  comforting  piece  of  fun, 
Of  counting  the  noses,  one  by  one. 
To  see  if  any  thing  had  been  done 
On  glorious  Morris  Island. 
'Nobody  hurt!'  the  cry  arose; 
There  was  not  missing  a  single  nose, 
And  this  was  the  sadly  ludicrous  close 
Of  the  Battle  on  Morris  Island." 

4  "  It  is  said  that  the  only  living  creature  killed  in  the  conflict  was  a  fine  horse  belonging  to  General  Dun- 
novant.  which  had  been  hitched  behind  Fort  Moultrie."— Duyckinck's  War  for  the  Union,  i.  115. 


330  REJOICINGS   IN  CHARLESTON. 

he  exclaimed,  "  the  war  is  open,  and  we  will  conquer  or  perish.  .  .  .  We 
have  humbled  the  flag  of  the  United  States.  I  can  here  say  to  yon,  it  is  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  this  country  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  have  been 
humbled.  That  proud  flag  was  never  lowered  before  to  any  nation  on  the 
earth.  We  have  lowered  it  in  humility  before  the  Palmetto  and  Confederate 
flags ;  and  we  have  compelled  them  to  raise  by  their  side  the  white  flag,  and 
ask  for  an  honorable  surrender.  The  flag  of  the  United  States  has  triumphed 
for  seventy  years;  but  to-day,  the  13th  of  April,  it  has  been  humbled,  and 
humbled  before  the  glorious  little  State  of  South  Carolina."  The  populace 
were  wild  with  delight,  and  while  brave  soldiers  were  sleeping  in  Fort 
Sumter,  the  insurgents  were  indulging  in  a  saturnalia  of  excitement  in  the 
rebellious  city. 

On  the  following  day — the  holy  Sabbath — the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  was 
commemorated  in  the  churches  of  Charleston.  The  venerable  "  Bishop  of 
the  Diocese,  wholly  blind  and  physically  feeble,"  said  a  local  chronicler,1 
"  was  led  by  the  Rector  to  the  sacred  desk,"  in  old  St.  Philip's  Church,  when 
he  addressed  the  people  with  a  few  stirring  words.  Speaking  of  the  battle, 
he  said  : — "  Your  boys  were  there,  and  mine  were  there,  and  it  was  right 
that  they  should  he  there"  He  declared  it  to  be  his  belief  that  the  con 
test  had  been  begun  by  the  South  Carolinians  "in  the  deepest  conviction 
of  duty  to  God,  and  after  laying  their  cause  before  God — and  God  had  most 
signally  blessed  their  dependence  on  Him."  Bishop  Lynch,  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  spoke  exultingly  of  the  result  of  the  conflict ;  and  a  Te 
Deum  Avas  chanted,  in  commemoration  of  the  event,  in  the  Cathedral  of  St. 
John  and  St.  Finbar,  where  he  was  officiating. 

On  Sunday  morning,0  long  before  the  dawn,  Major  Anderson  and  his 
command  began  preparations  for  leaving  the  fort.  These  were 
*  Ais6o14'  completed  at  an  early  hour.  Lieutenant  Snyder  and  Captain 
Hartstene  soon  returned,  accompanied  by  Captain  Gillis,  com 
mander  of  thePocahontas;  and  at  about  the  same  time  the  Charleston  steamer 
Isabel,  provided  by  the  military  authorities  at  that  city  for  carrying  the 
garrison  out  to  the  Baltic,  where  Mr.  Fox  was  waiting  to  receive  them, 
approached  the  fort.  When  every  thing  was  in  readiness,  the  battle-torn 
flag  which  had  been  unfurled  over  Fort  Sumter  almost  four  months  before, 
with  prayers  for  the  protection  of  those  beneath  it,  was  raised  above  the 
ramparts,  and  cannon  commenced  saluting  it.  It  was  Anderson's  intention 
to  fire  one  hundred  guns,  but  only  fifty  were  discharged,  because  of  a  sad  acci' 
dent  attending  the  firing.  Some  fixed  ammunition  near  the  guns  was 
ignited,  and  an  explosion  instantly  killed  private  Daniel  Hough,  mortally 
wounded  private  Edward  Gallway,  and  injured  some  others.  The  Palmetto 
Guard,2  which  had  been  sent  over  from  Morris  Island,  with  the  venerable 


1  The  Battle  of  Fort  Sumter  and  First  Victory  of  the  Southern  Troops:  a  pamphlet  published  in  Charles 
ton  soon  after  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter.     The  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  alluded  to  was 
Thomas  Frederick  Davis,  D.  D.,  then  and  now  (1S65)  residing  at  Camden.  South  Carolina. 

2  The  Palmetto  Guard  received  honors  as  the  chief  instrument  in  the  reduction  of  Fort  Sumter.     "The 
mothers,  wives,  sisters,  and  sweethearts  of  the  Guard,"  said  the  Charleston  Mercury  of  the  1st  of  May,  "  contri 
buted  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  a  gold  medal  to  that  corps.'1     It  was  com 
pleted  at  that  date,  the  devices  on  it  having  been  made  with  a  graver  instead  of  a  die.     On  one  side  was  a 
Palmetto-tree,  with  a  rattle-snake  in  coil  and  rattles  sprung.     Over  the  tree  the  name  of  the  company,  and 
around  the  border  the  words :  "  From  their  mothers,  sisters,  wives,  and  daughters."    On  the  other  side  was  a 


EVACUATION   OF   FORT   SUMTER. 


331 


Edmund  Ruflm  as  color-bearer,  entered  the  fort  when  the  salute  was  ended 
and  the  garrison  had  departed,  and  buried  the  dead  soldier  with  military 
honors.  Two  private  soldiers  of  the  company  erected  a  board  at  the  head 
of  his  grave.1 

When  the  flag  was  lowered,  at  the  close  of  the  salute,  the  garrison,  in 
full  dress,  left  the  fort,  and  embarked  on  the  Isabel,  the  band  playing 
*'  Yankee  Doodle."  When  Major  Anderson  and  his  officers  left  the  sally 
port,  it  struck  up  "  Hail  to  the  Chief."  The  last  one  who  retired  was  Sur 
geon  Crawford,  who  attended  poor  Galhvay  until  the  latest  moment  possible. 
Soon  afterward  a  party  from  Charleston,  composed  of  Governor  Pickens  and 
suite,  the  Executive  Council,  General  Beauregard  and  his  aids,  and  several 
distinguished  citizens,  went  to  Fort  Sumter  in  a  steamer,  took  formal  posses- 


UUIN8    OK    KOUT    Bl'MTKK    IN 


sion  of  the  abandoned  stronghold,  and  raised  the  Confederate  and  Palmetto 
flags  over  it.3  It  had  been  craruateJ,  not  surrendered.  The  sovereignty  of 
the  Republic,  symbolized  in  the  flag,  had  not  been  yielded  to  the  insurgents. 
That  flag  had  been  lowered,  but  not  given  up — dishonored,  but  not  captured. 
It  was  borne  away  by  the  gallant  commander,  with  a  resolution  to  raise  it 


picture  of  the  Stevens  Battery  in  the  foreground,  with  the.  State  Hat:,  pun  No.  1  just  fired;  Fort  Sumter,  over 
which  the  National  flag  was  just  falling,  and  a  squadron  in  the  distance.  Above  was  the  motto:  "None  but  th« 
Brave  deserve  the  Fair."  Below:  "April  12th  and  13th.  1861."  A  richly  engraved  border  surrounded.  th» 
whole.  The  engraving  was  by  a  German  named  Bornemunn. 

1  Chiirltxton  Mercury,  May  2,  1S(51." 

a  The  editor  of  the  C/utrl?#ton  Mtrcury,  who  was  one  of  the  party  who  first  entered  Sumter  after  the 
evacuation,  described  the  appearance  of  the,  interior.  "Every  point  and  every  object."  he  said,  "to  which  the 
eye  was  turned,  except  the  outer  walls  and  casemates,  which  are  still  strong,  bore  the  impress  of  ruin.  Brooded 
over  by  the  desolation  of  ages,  it  could  scarcely  have  been  developed  t<>  a  more  full  maturity  of  ruin.  It  were 
as  if  the  Genius  of  Destruction  had  tasked  its  energies  to  make  the  thing  complete.  The  walls  of  the  inter 
nal  structures,  roofless,  bare,  blackened,  and  perforated  by  shot  and  shell,  hung  in  fragments,  and  seemed  in 
instant  readiness  to  totter  down.  Near  the  center  of  the  parade-ground  was  the  hurried  grave  of  one  who  had 
fallen  from  the  recent  casualty.  To  the  left  of  the  entrance  was  a  man  who  seemed  to  be  at  the  verge  of  death. 
In  the  ruins  to  the  right  there  was  another.  The  shattered  flag-staff,  pierced  by  four  balls,  lay  sprawling  on  the 
ground.  The  parade-ground  was  strewn  with  fragments  of  shell  and  dilapidated  buildings.  At  least  four  guns 
were  dismounted  on  the  ramparts;  and  at  every  step  the  way  was  impeded  by  portions  of  the  broken  structure." 
See  sketch  of  the  interior  of  Fort  Sututer  on  page  325. 


332 


RECEPTION   OF   THE   DEFENDERS   OF  FORT   SUMTER. 


again  over  the  battered  fortress,  or  be  wrapped  in  it  as  his  winding-sheet 
at  the  last.     Precisely  four  years  from  that  day," — after  four  years 
^  Tsos       of  terrible  civil  war — Major  Anderson,  bearing  the  title  of  Major- 
General  in  the  Armies  of  the  United  States,   again  raised  that 
tattered  flag  over  all  that  remained  of  Fort  Sumter — a  heap  of  ruins.1 

The  Isabel  lay  under  the  battered  walls  of  the  fort,  waiting  for  a  favoring 
tide,  until  Monday   morning,6  when  she  conveyed   the   garrison 
1861 15     *°  tne  ^a^lc->  then  commanded  by  Captain  Fletcher.     The  insur 
gent  soldiers  had  been  so  impressed  with  the  gallantry  of  the 
defense  of  the  fort,  that,  as  the  vessel  passed,  they  stood  on  the  beach  with 
uncovered  heads,  in  token  of  profound  respect.2     After  the  surrender,  every 
courtesy  was   extended   to   Major  Anderson  and   his   men  by  the  military 
authorities  at  Charleston. 

When  all  the  garrison  were  on  board  the  Baltic,  the  precious  flag,  for 
which  they  had  fought  so  gallantly,  was  raised  to  the  mast-head  and  saluted 
with  cheers,  and  by  the  guns  of  the  other  vessels  of  the  little  relief-squadron. 
It  was  again  raised  when  the  Baltic  entered  the  harbor  of  New  York,  on  the 
morning  of  the  18th,  and  was  greeted  by  salutes  from  the  forts  there,  and  the 
plaudits  of  thousands  of  welcoming  spectators.  Off  Sandy  Hook,  Major 
Anderson  had  written  a  brief  dispatch  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  saying :- — 
"  Having  defended  Fort  Sumter  for  thirty-four  hours,  until  the  quarters  were 

entirely  burned,  the  main  gates 
destroyed  by  fire,  the  gorge 
wall  seriously  injured,  the  mag 
azine  surrounded  by  flames, 
and  its  doors  closed  from  the 
effects  of  heat,  four  barrels  and 
four  cartridges  of  powder  only 
being  available,  and  no  pro 
visions  but  pork  remaining,  I 
accepted  terms  of  evacuation 
offered  by  General  Beauregard, 
being  the  same  offered  by  him 
on  the  llth  inst.,  prior  to  the 
commencement  of  hostilities, 
and  marched  out  of  the  fort 
Sunday  afternoon,  the  14th  in 
stant,  with  colors  flying  and  drums  beating,  bringing  away  company  and 
private  property,  and  saluting  my  flag  with  fifty  guns."3  This  was  imme 
diately  forwarded  to  the  War  Department. 

The  praises  of  Major  Anderson,  his  officers  and  men,  were  unbounded. 
The  gratitude  of  the  American  people  was  overflowing ;  and  honors  were 
showered  upon  the  commander  without  stint.  Already  the  citizens  of 


GOLD    BOX    PRESENTED   TO    ANDERSON. 


1  See  picture  of  the  ruins  on  the  preceding  page.  2  Charleston  Mercury. 

3  Major  Anderson  to  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War,  April  18,  1861.  I  am  indebted  for  the  facts  concern 
ing  the  occupation  and  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter,  to  statements  made  to  me  by  Major  Anderson  during  several 
interviews,  and  to  his  official  correspondence,  in  manuscript,  which  he  kindly  lent  me,  by  permission  of  the 
War  Department.  Also,  to  the  very  interesting  Manuscript  Diary  of  Surgeon  (afterward  Major-General)  S.  W. 
Crawford,  and  the  official  report  of  Lieutenant  (afterward  Major-General)  J.  G.  Foster. 


HONORS   CONFERRED   OX   MAJOR  ANDERSON. 


333 


Taunton,  Massachusetts,  impressed  with  a  sense  of  his  patriotism  and 
prowess,  had  voted  him  an  elegant  sword,  the  handle  of  which  is  of  carved 
ivory,  surmounted  by  a  figure  of  Liberty.  The  scabbard  was  of  beautiful 
design  and  workmanship,  wrought  of  the  richest 
gold  plate,  and  ornamented  with  a  view  of  Fort 
Surnter,  and  with  military  emblems.1  The  authori 
ties  of  Xew  York  presented  him  with  the  freedom 
of  the  city  in  an  elegant  Gold  Box,  in  the  form  of 
a  casket,  oblong  octagonal  in  shape.5  The  citizens 
of  New  York  presented  to  him  a  beautiful  gold 
medal,  appropriately  inscribed;"  and  those  of  Phila 
delphia  gave  him  a  very  elegant  sword,  the 
handle  and  upper  part  of  the  scabbard  of  which 
are  delineated  in  the  engraving.4  From  other 
sources,  such  as  societies  and  legislative  bodies, 
he  received  pleasing  testimonials  of  the  good-will 
of  his  countrymen.  Finally,  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  the  State  of  JV^r  York  ordered" 
the  execution  of  a  series  of  medals,  of 
an  appropriate  character,  to  be  pre 
sented  to  Major  Anderson,  and  to  each 
officer,  non-commissioned  officer,  and  soldier  en 
gaged  in  the  defense  of  Fort  Sumter.  These  were 
of  four  classes.  The  first,  for  presentation  to. 
•Major  Anderson,  was  six  inches  in  diameter,  bear 
ing,  on  one  side,  a  medallion  portrait  of  the  com 
mander,  and  on  the  other  the  Genius  or  Guardian  Spirit  of  America  rising 
from  Fort  Sumter.  with  the  American  flag  in  the  left  hand,  and  the  flaming 
torch  of  war  in  the  right.  The  idea  symbolized  was  the  loyal  spirit  of 
the  country,  calling  upon  all  patriots  to  arouse  and  resent  the  insult  to  the 


ANPEKSoN  S    RWORD. 


1  On  the  scabbard  was  the  following  Inscription: — "-Deo  duct,  ftrro  com-itn ntf."  Upon  tho  handle,  on  a 
aolid  gold  shield,  was  the  following  inscription  :—"Et  decuK  tt  pretium  recte.  The  citieens  of  Taunton,  Massa 
chusetts  to  Major  Hubert  A  rule  man,  ['.  &  A.  A  tribute  to  hi*  courage  and  fidelity.  Acquirit  <jui  tact  us." 

This  sword  was  presented  to  Major  Anderson  at  the  Brevoort  House,  New  York,  by  W.  0.  Levering,  on 
the  22d  of  April. 

4  This  box,  represented  on  the  preceding  page,  was  five  and  a  half  inches  in  length,  two  inches  in  width,  and 
not  quite  three  inches  in  depth.  Its  whole  surface,  excepting  the  place  of  the  inscription,  was  elaborately  wrought 
in  arabesque  figures,  giving  it  a  very  rich  appearance.  On  the  top  of  the  clasp  was  an  American  eagle  about  to 
soar.  On  the  top  of  the  lid  were  two  figures.  One  represented  Major  Anderson,  kneeling  on  one  knee  in  the 
attitude  of  the  recipient  of  knighthood.  In  one  hand  ho  clasps  a  flag-staff,  over  which  droops  the  American 
iMisign.  In  tho  other  hand  lie  holds  a  sword.  Near  him  stands  a  figure  of  Liberty,  with  her  right  hand  pointing 
toward  heaven,  and  with  the  left  hand  placing  a  laurel  crown  on  the  head  of  the  kneeling  hero.  On  the  front 
of  the  box  was  tho  following  inscription:— "The  freedom  of  the  city  of  Ni^  York  conferred  upon  Major  ROBERT 
AMDKKSOX  by  its  corporate  authorities,  in  recognition  of  his  gallant  conduct  in  defending  Fort  Sumter  against 
the  attack  of  the  rebels  of  South  Carolina,  April  12,  1>61." 

3  The  gold  medal  was  two  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter.     On  one  side  was  a  representation  of  the  bombard 
ment  of  a  fort  on  fire;  on  the  other  a  wreath  of  laurel,  just  within  the  outer  rim.  clasped  by  the  American  shield. 
Inside  of  this  wreath  the  words,  "  Prudent  fid  (Us  et  midair  inricta?  Jidflitati*  prcemium."    Then  there  was  a 
little  circle  of  thirty-four  stars,  within  and  across  the  face  of  which  were  the  words : — "  To  Major  ROBERT  ANDER 
SON,  IT.  S.  A.,  from  tho  citizens  of  New  York  City,  as  a  slight  tribute  to  his  patriotism.'1 

4  The  handle  and  guard  of  this  sword  were  set  with  stones.     The  guard  was  open  basket-work  at  the  broad 
part,  in  which  was  a  shield  of  blue  enamel  bearing  the  cipher,  in  script,  of   Major  Anderson,  neatly  wrought 
in  gold  and  set  in  brilliants.     On  the  handle  were  three  lozenge-shaped  amethysts  bordered  with  brilliants.     The 
scabbard  is  heavy  gilt.     At  the  first  belt-ring  are  seen  the  arms  of  Pennsylvania  on  an  escutcheon,  and  between 
them  the  words:— "The  city  of  Philadelphia  to  ROHKRT  ANDERSON,  r.  S.  A..  April  '22.  l-f>l.     A  loyal  city  to  a 
loyal  soldier,  the  hero  of  Fort  Sumter."     At  the  next  belt-ring  the  arms  of  Pennsylvania  on  another  escutcheon. 


334 


DEFENDERS   OF   FORT   SUMTER  HONORED. 


flag  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  Republic,  by  the  attack  on  the  fort.1  The 
second  class,  for  presentation  to  the  officers,  was  of  the  same  design,  but 
only  four  inches  in  diameter.2  The  third  class,  three  and  a  half  inches  in 

diameter,  bore  on  one  side  the  me 
dallion  portrait  of  Major  Anderson, 
and  on  the  other,  Peter  Hart  raising 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  on  the  burning 
fort.3  This  is  represented  in  the  en 
graving  below.  The  fourth  class,  for 
the  common  soldiers,  was  two  inches  in 
diameter,  and  the  same  as  the  third  in 
design  and  inscription.  These  medals 
were  all  of  bronze. 

The  President  of  the  United  States 
gave  Major  Anderson  a  more  substan 
tial  evidence  of  appreciation,  by  honor 
ing  him  with  the  rank  and 
pay  of  a  brigadier-general,a 
precisely  one  month  after 
his  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter.  At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Garrett 
Davis  (Congressman)  and  other  leading  Kentuckians,  he  was  then  appointed 
to  command  in  that  State ;  but  his  terrible  experience  in  Fort  Sumter  had 
prostrated  his  nervous  system,  and  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  active 


OBVERSE    OF   THE    FIRST   AND     SECOND    CLASS   MEDALS. 


May  14, 
1861. 


FORT   SUMTER   MEDAL. — THIRD    AND    FOURTH    CLASS. 

service.  He  was  placed  upon  the  retired  list  in  the  autumn  of  1863,  and  the 
following  year  he  was  breveted  a  major-general.  We  shall  hereafter  meet 
his  gallant  officers  in  high  rank,  and  in  the  performance  of  noble  deeds, 
during  the  great  war  that  ensued. 

1  On  the  portrait  side  were  the  words :— "  ROBERT  ANDERSON,  1861."     On  the  other  side  were  the  words  :— 
"  The  Chamber  of  Commerce,  New  York,  honors  the  Defender  of  Fort  Sumter— the  patriot,  the  hero,  and  the 
man." 

2  The  same  words  around  the  portrait.     On  the  other  side  the  words :— "  The  Chamber  of  Commerce,  New 
Tork,  honors  the  Defenders  of  Fort  Sumter— first  to  withstand  treason."    This  was  for  the  officers. 

3  See  pajre  326.     The  inscription  on  this  was  precisely  the  same  as  on  the  second  class.     These  were  for  the 
non-commissioned  officers.      These  medals  wore  designed  and  executed  by  Charles  Muller,  sculptor,  of  New 
York  City.     They  occupied  the  artist  and  several  assistants  during  the  period  of  five  months. 


THE   LOYAL   PEOPLE   AROUSED. 


335 


CHAPTER    XIY. 


THE   GKEAT    UPRISING   OF   THE   PEOPLE. 


HE  attack  on  Fort  Sumter  had  been  looked  for,  and 
yet,  tidings  of  the  fact  fell  on  the  ears  of  the  loyal 
people  of  the  country  as  an  amazing  surprise.  It 
was  too  incredible  for  belief.  It  was  thought  to  be  a 
"sensation  story"  of  the  newspapers. 

The  story  was  true ;  and  when  the  telegraph  de 
clared  that  the  old  flag  had  been  dishonored,  and  that 
"  a  banner,  with  a  strange  device,"  was  floating  over 
that  fortress,  which  everybody  thought  was  impreg 
nable,  and  the  story  was  believed,  the  latent  patriot 
ism  of  the  nation  was  instantly  and  powerfully 
aroused.  It  seemed  as  if  a  mighty  thunderbolt  had 
been  launched  from  the  hand  of  the  Omnipotent,  and 
sent  crashing,  with  fearful  destructiveness,  through 

every  party  platform — every  partition  wall  between  political  and  religious 
sects — every  bastile  of  prejudice  in  which  free  thoughts  and  free  speech  had 
been  restrained,  demolishing  them  utterly,  and  opening  a  way  instantly  for 
the  unity  of  all  hearts  in  the  bond  of  patriotism,  and  of  all  hands  mailed  for 
great  and  holy  deeds.  Heart  throbbed  to  heart  ;  lip  spoke  to  lip,  with  a 
oneness  of  feeling  that  seemed  like  a  Divine  inspiration  ;  and  the  burden  of 
thought  was, 

"  Stand  by  the  Flag  !  nil  doubt  and  treason  scorning, 

Believe,  with  courage  tinn  and  faith  sublime, 
That  it  will  float  until  the  eternal  morning 
Pales,  in  its  glories,  all  the  lights  of  Time!" 

The  Sabbath  day  on  which  Anderson  and  his  men  went  out  of  Fort  Sumter 
was  a  day  of  wild  excitement  throughout  the  Union.  Loyalists  and  dis 
loyalists  were  equally  stirred  by  the  event — the  former  by  indignation,  the 
latter  by  exultation.  The  streets  of  cities  and  villages,  every  place  of  public 
resort,  and  even  the  churches,  were  filled  with  crowds  of  people,  anxious  to 
obtain  an  answer  to  the  question  in  every  mind — What  next  ?  That  question 
was  not  long  unanswered.  Within  twenty-four  hours  from  the  time  when 
the  Stripes  and  Stars  were  lowered  in  Charleston  harbor,  the  President  of 
the  United  States  had  filled  every  loyal  heart  in  the  land  with  joy  and 
patriotic  fervor,  by  a  call  for  troops  to  put  down  the  rising  rebellion.  That 
call  answered  the  question. 


336  THE   PRESIDENT   CALLS   OUT    THE   MILITIA. 

In  a  proclamation  issued  on  the  15th,"  the  President  declared  that  the 
a  A  rii  isci  ^aws  °^  t^ie  RePu°lic  na(i  been  f°r  some  time,  and  were  then,  op 
posed  in  the  States  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  "  by  combinations  too  powerful  to  be 
suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  or  by  the  powers 
vested  in  the  marshals  by  law  ;"  and  he  therefore,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in 
him  vested  by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  called  forth  the  militia  of  the 
several  States  of  the  Union,  to  the  aggregate  number  of  seventy-five  thou 
sand,  in  order  to  suppress  those  combinations  and  to  cause  the  laws  to  be 
duly  executed.  The  President  appealed  to  all  loyal  citizens  to  "favor, 
facilitate,  and  aid  this  eifort  to  maintain  the  honor,  the  integrity,  and  exist 
ence  of  our  National  Union,  and  the  perpetuity  of  popular  government,  and 
to  redress  wrongs  already  long  enough  endured."  He  deemed  it  proper  to 
say,  that  the  first  service  assigned  to  the  forces  thereby  called  forth  w^ould 
probably  be  "  to  repossess  the  forts,  places,  and  property  which  had  been 
seized  from  the  Union  ;"  and  he  assured  the  people  that  in  every  event  the 
utmost  care  would  be  observed,  consistently  with  the  objects  stated,  to 

"  avoid  any  devastation,  any  destruction 
of,  or  interference  with  property,  or  any 
disturbance  of  peaceful  citizens  of  any 
part  of  the  country."  He  commanded 
the  persons  composing  the  combinations 
mentioned  to  disperse,  and  retire  peace 
ably  to  their  respective  abodes,  within 
twenty  days  from  the  date  of  his  proc 
lamation.1 

Impressed  with  the  conviction  that 
the  then  condition  of  public  affairs  de 
manded  an  extraordinary  session  of  the 
Congress,  he,  in  the  same  proclamation, 
summoned  the  Senators  and  Represen- 
CAMERON.  tatives  to  assemble  at  their  respective 

chambers  in  Washington   City,  at  noon 

on  Thursday,  the  4th  day  of  July  next  ensuing,  then  and  there  to  consider 
and  determine  such  measures  as,  in  their  wisdom,  the  public  safety  might 
seem  to  demand. 

Simultaneously  with  the  President's  Proclamation,  the  Secretary  of  War, 
under  the  authority  of  an  Act  of  Congress,  approved  in  February,  1795,2 
issued  a  telegraphic  dispatch  to  the  Governors  of  all  the  States  of  the  Union, 
excepting  those  mentioned  in  the  proclamation,  requesting  each  of  them  to 
cause  to  be  immediately  detailed  from  the  militia  of  his  State  the  quota 
designated  in  a  table,  which  he  appended,  to  serve  as  infantry  or  riflemen 
for  a  period  of  three  months  (the  extent  allowed  bylaw3),  unless  sooner 


1  Proclamation  of  President  LINCOLN,  April  15, 1861. 

2  See  The  Military  Laws  of  the  United  States:  by  John  F.  Callan,  page  108.     G.  W.  Childs,  Philadelphia, 
1868.     The  President's  authority  for  the  proclamation  may  be  found  in  the  second  and  third  sections  of  the 
Act  approved  February  28,  1 795. 

3  The  law  declared  that  the  militia  should  not  be  "compelled  to  serve  more  than  three  months  after  arrival 


RESPONSES   OF   DISLOYAL   GOVERNORS.  337 

discharged.  lie  requested  each  to  inform  him  of  the  time  when  his  quota 
might  be  expected  at  its  rendezvous,  as  it  would  be  there  met,  as  soon  as 
practicable,  by  an  officer  or  officers,  to  muster  it  into  the  service  and  pay  of 
the  United  States.1  He  directed  that  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  United 
States  should  be  administered  to  every  officer  and  man ;  and  none  were  to 
be  received  under  the  rank  of  a  commissioned  officer  who  was  apparently 
under  eighteen,  or  over  forty-five  years  of  age,  and  not  in  physical  health 
and  vigor.  He  ordered  that  each  regiment  should  consist,  on  an  aggregate 
of  officers  and  men,  of  seven  hundred  and  eighty,  which  would  make  a  total, 
under  the  call,  of  seventy-three  thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety-one. 
The  remainder  of  the  seventy-five  thousand  called  for  was  to  be  composed 
of  troops  in  the  District  of  Columbia.2 

The  President's  Proclamation,  and  the  requisition  of  the  Secretary  of 
War,  were  received  with  unbounded  favor  and  enthusiasm  in  the  Free-labor 
States ;  while  in  six  of  the  eight  Slave-labor  States  included  in  the  call,  they 
were  treated  by  the  authorities  with  words  of  scorn  and  defiance.  The 
exceptions  were  Maryland  and  Delaware.  In  the  other  States  disloyal  Gov 
ernors  held  the  reins  of  power.  u  I  have  only  to  say/'  replied  Governor 
Letcher,  of  Virginia,  "  that  the  militia  of  this  State  will  not  be  furnished  to 
the  powers  at  Washington  for  any  such  use  or  purpose  as  they  have  in  view. 
Your  object  is  to  subjugate  the  Southern  States,  and  a  requisition  made 
upon  me  for  such  an  object — an  object,  in  my  judgment,  not  within  the 
province  of  the  Constitution. or  the  Act  of  1795 — will  not  be  complied  with. 
You  have  chosen  to  inaugurate  civil  war,  and,  having  done  so,  we  will  meet 
it  in  a  spirit  as  determined  as  the  Administration  has  exhibited  toward  the 
South."  Governor  Ellis,  of  North  Carolina,  answered  : — "  Your  <Iispatch  is 
received,  and  if  genuine,  which  its  extraordinary  character  leads  me  to 
doubt,  I  have  to  say  in  reply,  that  I  regard  the  levy  of  troops,  made  by  the 
Administration  for  the  purpose  of  subjugating  the  States  of  the  South,  as  in 
violation  of  the  Constitution,  and  a  usurpation  of  power.  I  can  be  no  party 
to  this  wicked  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  to  this  war  upon  the 
liberties  of  a  free  people.  You  can  get  no  troops  from  North  Carolina." 
Governor  Magoffin,  of  Kentucky,  replied: — "Your  dispatch  is  received.  I 
say  emphatically  that  Kentucky  will  furnish  no  troops  for  the  wicked  pur 
pose  of  subduing  her  sister  Southern  States."'  Governor  Harris,  of  Ten 
nessee,  said : — "  Tennessee  will  not  furnish  a  single  man  for  coercion,  but 
fifty  thousand,  if  necessary,  for  the  defense  of  our  rights,  or  those  of  our 
Southern  brethren."  Governor  Rector,  of  Arkansas,  replied  : — "  In  answer 


at  the  place  of  rendezvous,  in  any  one  year.'1     It  was  hoped  that  three  months  would  be  sufficient  time  to  put 
down  the  insurrection. 

1  The  quota  for  each  State  was  as  follows.     The  figures  denote  the  number  of  regiments. 

Maine 1 

New  Hampshire 1 


Pennsylvania. ..  16 


Missouri 4 


Ohio 13 

Indiana...  ..   6 


Delaware 1 

Vermont 1   1    Tennessee •_' 

Massachusetts 2  {    Maryland 4  Illinois <5 

Rhode  Island 1   I    Virginia 3  |  Michigan 1 

Connecticut 1  i    North  Carolina 2  Iowa 1 

New  York 17  ;    Kentucky ...  4  Minnesota 1 

New  Jersey 6  ;    Arkansas 1  Wisconsin 1 

*  Letter  of  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War,  to  the  Governors  of  States,  April  15,  1861. 
VOL.  I.— 22 


338  OPPONENTS   OF  A   WAR  POLICY. 

to  your  requisition  for  troops  from  Arkansas  to  subjugate  the  Southern 
States,  I  have  to  say  that  none  will  be  furnished.  The  demand  is  only 
adding  insult  to  injury.  The  people  of  this  Commonwealth  are  freemen,  not 
slaves,  and  will  defend,  to  the  last  extremity,  their  honor,  their  lives,  and 
property,  against  Northern  mendacity  and  usurpation."  Governor  Jackson, 
of  Missouri,  responded  : — "  There  can  be,  I  apprehend,  no  doubt  that  these 
men  are  intended  to  make  war  upon  the  seceded  States.  Your  requisition, 
in  my  judgment,  is  illegal,  unconstitutional,  and  revolutionary  in  its  objects, 
inhuman  and  diabolical,  and  cannot  be  complied  with.  Not  one  man  will 
the  State  of  Missouri  furnish  to  carry  on  such  an  unholy  crusade." 

There  is  such  a  coincidence  of  sentiment  and  language  in  the  responses 
of  the  disloyal  governors,  that  the  conviction  is  pressed  upon  the  reader  that 
the  conclave  of  conspirators  at  Montgomery  was  the  common  source  of  their 
inspiration. 

Governor  Hicks,  of  Maryland,  appalled  by  the  presence  of  great  dangers, 
and  sorely  pressed  by  the  secessionists  on  every  side,  hastened,  in  a  procla 
mation,  to  assure  the  people  of  his  State  that  no  troops  would  be  sent  from 
Maryland  unless  it  might  be  for  the  defense  of  the  National  Capital,  and 
that  they  (the  people)  wrould,  in  a  short  time,  "  have  the  opportunity  afforded 
them,  in  a  special  election  for  members  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
to  express  their  devotion  to  the  Union,  or  their  desire  to  see  it  broken  up." 
Governor  Burton,  of  Delaware,  made  no  response  until  the  26th,  when  he 
informed  the  President  that  he  had  no  authority^  to  comply  with  his  requi 
sition.  At  the  same  time  he  recommended  the  formation  of  volunteer  com 
panies  for  the  protection  of  the  citizens  and  property  of  Delaware,  and  not 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  The  Governor  would  thereby  control  a 
large  militia  force.  How  he  would  have  employed  it,  had  occasion  required, 
was  manifested  by  his  steady  refusal,  while  in  office,  to  assist  the  National 
Government  in  its  struggle  with  its  enemies. 

In  the  seven  excepted  Slave-labor  States  in  which  insurrection  prevailed, 
the  proclamation  and  the  requisition  produced  hot  indignation,  and  were 
assailed  with  the  bitterest  scorn.  Not  in  these  States  alone,  but  in  the 
border  Slave-labor  States,  and  even  in  the  Free-labor  States,  there  were 
vehement  opposers  of  the  war  policy  of  the  Government  from  its  inception.1 
One  of  the  most  influential  newspapers  printed  west  of  the  Alleghanies, 
which  had  opposed  secession  valiantly,  step  by  step,  with  the  keen  cimeter 
of  wit  and  the  solid  shot  of  argument,  and  professed  to  be  then,  and  through 
out  the  war,  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the  Union,  hurled  back  the  proclaina- 


1  The  utterances  of  two  of  the  leading  newspapers  in  the  city  of  New  York,  whose  principal  editors  were 
afterward  elected  to  the  National  Congress,  gave  fair  specimens  of  the  tone  of  a  portion  of  the  Northern  press 
at  that  time.  The  New  York  Express  said : — "  The  South  can  never  be  subjugated  by  the  North,  nor  can 
any  marked  successes  be  achieved  against  them.  They  have  us  at  every  advantage.  They  fight  upon  their 
uwn  soil,  in  behalf  of  their  dearest  rights — for  their  public  institutions,  their  homes,  and  their  property.  .  .  . 
The  South,  in  solf-preservation,  has  been  driven  to  the  wall,  and  forced  to  proclaim  its  independence.  A  servile 
insurrection  and  wholesale  slaughter  of  the  whites  will  alone  satisfy  the  murderous  designs  of  the  Abolition 
ists.  The  Administration,  egged  on  by  the  halloo  of  the  Black  Republican  organs  of  this  city,  has  sent  its 
mercenary  forces  to  pick  a  quarrel  and  initiate  the  work  of  desolation  and  ruin.  A  call  is  made  for  an  army 
of  volunteers,  under  the  pretense  that  an  invasion  is  apprehended  of  the  Federal  Capital ;  and  the  next  step 
will  be  to  summon  the  slave  population  to  revolt  and  massacre." 

The  New  York  Daily  News,  assuming  to  be  the  organ  of  the  Democratic  party,  said  : — "  Let  not  this  per- 
f  dious  Administration  invoke  the  sacred  names  of  the  Union  and  the  Constitution,  in  the  hope*  of  cheating 
fools  into  the  support  of  the  war  which  it  has  begun.  .  .  .  He  is  no  Democrat  who  will  enter  the  Army,  or 


ATTITUDE   OF  CONSERVATIVES.  339 

tion,  to  the  great  delight  and  encouragement  of  the  conspirators,  and  the 
dismay  of  the  friends  of  American  nationality,  in  the  following  words : — 

"The  President's  Proclamation  has  reached  us.  We  are  struck  with 
mingled  amazement  and  indignation.  The  policy  announced  in  the  Procla 
mation  de-serves  the  unqualified  condemnation  of  every  American  citizen.  It 
is  unworthy  not  only  of  a  statesman,  but  of  a  man.  It  is  a  policy  utterly 
hare-brained  and  ruinous.  If  Mr.  Lincoln  contemplated  this  policy  in  his 
Inaugural  Address,  he  is  a  guilty  dissembler ;  if  he  has  conceived  it  under 
the  excitement  aroused  by  the  seizure  of  Fort  Sumter,  he  is  a  guilty  Hotspur. 
In  either  case,  he  is  miserably  unfit  for  the  exalted  position  in  which  the 
enemies  of  the  country  have  placed  him.  Let  the  people  instantly  take  him 
and  his  Administration  into  their  own  hands,  if  they  would  rescue  the  land 
from  bloodshed  and  the  Union  from  sudden  and  irretrievable  destruction."1 

Thus  spoke  the  organ  of  the  "Conservatives"  of  the  great  and  influential 
State  of  Kentucky,2  and,  indeed,  of  the  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  below 
the  Ohio.  Its  voice  was  potential,  because  it  represented  the  feelings  of  the 
dominant  class  in  the  Border  Slave-labor  States.  From  that  hour  the  politi 
cians  of  Kentucky,  with  lew  exceptions,  endeavored  to  hold  the  people  to  a 
neutral  attitude  as  between  the  National  Government  and  the  insurgents. 
They  were  successful  until  the  rank  perfidy  of  the  conspirators  and  the 
destructive  invasions  of  the  insurgent  armies  taught  them  that  their  only 
salvation  from  utter  ruin  was  to  be  found  in  taking  up  arms  in  support  of 
the  Government.  The  effect  of  that  neutral  policy,  which,  in  a  degree,  was 
patriotic,  because  it  seemed  rtecessary  to  prevent  the  State  from  being 
properly  ranked  with  the  " seceding"  States,  will  be  observed  hereafter. 

There  seemed  to  be  calmness  only  at  Montgomery,  the  head-quarters  of 
the  conspirators.      These  men  were  intoxicated  with   apparent  success  at 
Charleston.      In   profound  ignorance  of  the   patriotism,  strength,   courage, 
temper,  and  resources  of  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States,  and  in  their 
pride  and  arrogance,  created  by  their  sudden  possession  of  immense  power 
which  they  had  wrested  from  the  people,  they  coolly  defied   the  National 
Government,  whose  reins  of  control  they  expected  soon  to  hold.     Already 
the   so-called   Secretary   of  War  of  the   confederated    conspirators    (L.    P. 
Walker)  had*  revealed  that  expectation,  in  a  speech  from  the  balcony  of  the 
Exchange  Hotel  in  Montgomery,  in  response  to  a  serenade  given 
to  Davis  and  himself,  on  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  Fort     '  ^J."1  ^ 
Sumter  was  attacked."     "Xo  man,"  he  said,  "can  tell  when  the 
war  this  day  commenced3  will  end;  but  I  will  prophesy  that  the  nag  which 


volunteer  to  aid  this  diabolical  policy  of  civfl  war."  These  utterances  found  echoes  in  many  places.  We 
may  notice  hero  only  one,  that  of  a  newspaper  published  in  Rancor,  Maine.  After  declaring  that  the  South 
Carolinians  were  simply  imitators  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic,  it  said  :— "  When  the  Government  at  Wash 
ington  calls  for  volunteers  to  carry  on  the  work  of  subjugation  and  tyranny,  under  the  specious  phrases  of 
•enforcing  the  laws,1  retaking  and  'protecting  the  public  property,'  and  collecting  the  revenue,  let  every 
Democrat  fold  his  arms  and  bid  the  minions  of  Tory  despotism  do  a  Tory  despot's  work." — Quoted  by  Whit 
ney  in  his  History  oftht  War  for  the  Preservation  of  the  Federal  Cnion,  i.  313. 

1  JMuiKville.  Journal,  April  1<(  1S61. 

1  Kentucky  was  largely  represented,  at  that  time,  by  men  prominent  in  public  life.  It  was  the  native 
State  of  President  Lincoln  ;  Jefferson  Davis  ;  the  late  Vice-President  Breekenridjre  ;  Senator  John  J.  Crittenden  ; 
James  Guthrie,  Chairman  of  the  committee  on  resolutions  in  the  Peace  Convention  at  Washington ;  Major 
Anderson;  Joseph  Holt,  late  Secretary  of  War;  General  Harncy,  and  several  others  of  less  note. 

3  During  the  war  it  was  often  asserted  by  the  conspirators,  and  by  the  opponents  of  the  war  in  the  Free- 


340 


ARROGANCE   OF   THE   CONSPIRATORS. 


now  flaunts  the  breeze  here  will  flq#t  over  the  dome  of  the  old  Capitol  at 
Washington  before  the  first  of  May.  Let  them  try  Southern  chivalry  and 
test  the  extent  of  Southern  resources,  and  it  may  float  eventually  over 
Faneuil  Hall  in  Boston."1  Already  Hooper,  the  Secretary  of  the  Mont 
gomery  Convention,2  had  replied  to  the  question  of  the  agent  of  the  Asso 
ciated  Press  in  Washington,  "  What  is  the  feeling  there  ?"  by  saying  : — 

"  Davis  answers,  rough  and  curt, 

With  mortar,  Paixhan,  and  petard ; 
'  Sumter  is  ours  and  nobody  hurt . 

We  tender  Old  Abe  our  Beau-regard.'  "3 

Already  General  Pillow,  of  Tennessee,  had  hastened  to  Montgomery  and 
offered  the  "  Confederate  Government "  ten  thousand  volunteers  from  his 


STREET   VIEW    IN    MONTGOMERY    IN    1SG1. — THE    STATE    HOUSE. 

State ;  and  assurances  had  come  by  scores  from  all  parts  of  the  "  Confed 
eracy,"  and  of  the  Border  Slave-labor  States,  that  ample  aid  in  men  and 
money  would  be  given  to  the  "  Southern  cause."  And  an  adroit  knave 
named  Sanders,  who  had  been  a  conspicuous  politician  of  the  baser  sort  in 
the  North,  and  who  was  in  Montgomery  as  the  self-constituted  representative 
of  the  "Northern  Democracy,"  "drinking  with  the  President  [Davis], 
shaking  hands  and  conversing  with  ^  crowds  at  the  hotels,  and  having  long 


labor  States,  that  the  conflict  was  commenced  by  the  National  Government.     This  authoritative  declaration  of 
the  War  Minister  of  the  "  Confederacy" — "  the  war  this  day  commenced"— rsettles  the  question. 

1  Eobert  Toombs  once  boasted,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  that  he  would  yet  call  the  roll  of  his 
slaves  on  Bunker's  Hill. 

2  See  page  249. 

3  The  Charleston  Mercury  of  the  16th  said: — "Jefferson  Davis  replies  to  President  Lincoln  as  follows: — 

"With  mortar,  Paixhan,  and  petard, 
We  tender  Old  Abe  our  Beau-regard." 


THE   PEOPLE   DECEIVED    BY   DEMAGOGUES.  341 

talks  with  the  Cabinet,"1  had  assured  Davis  and  his  associates  that  his  party 
would  "  stand  by  the  South  at  all  hazards,"  and  that  there  would  be  such  a 
"  divided  North,"  that  war  would  be  impossible.2  Thus  surrounded  by  an 
atmosphere  of  sophistry  and  adulation,  which  conveyed  to  their  ears  few 
accents  of  truth  or  reason  ;  confident  of  the  support  of  kings,  and  queens,  and 
emperors  of  the  Old  World,  who  would  rejoice  if  a  great  calamity  should 
overtake  the  menacing  Republic  of  the  West,  and  sitting  complacently  at  the 
feet  of  "  King  Cotton," 

•'  The  mightiest  monarch  of  all," 

these  men  received  the  President's  Proclamation  with  "  derisive  laughter,"3 
and  for  the  moment  treated  the  whole  affair  as  a  solemn  farce.4 

The  press  in  the  so-called  "Confederate  States,"  inspired  by  the  key-note 
at  Montgomery,  in  dissonance  with  which  they  dared  not  be  heard,  more 
vehemently  than  ever,  and  without  stint  ridiculed  the  u  Yankees,"  as  they 
called  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States.  They  were  spoken  of  as  cowards, 
ingrates,  fawning  sycophants;  a  race  unworthy  of  a  place  in  the  society  of 
"  Southern  gentlemen ;"  infidels  to  God,  religion,  and  morality ;  mercenary  to 
the  last  degree,  and  so  lacking  in  personal  and  moral  courage,  that  "one 
Southron  could  whip  five  of  them  easily,  and  ten  of  them  at  a  pinch/'5  The 


1  Montgomery  Correspondence  of  the  Charletton  ^Mercury,  April  10,  1S61. 

2  To  impress  his  new  political  associates  with  oxalte<l  ideas  of  his  pojver  as  a  "  Democratic  leader"  in  tho 
North,  Sunders  sent,  by  telegraph,  the  following  pompous  dispatch  to  his  political  friends  in  New  York: — 

"  MONTGOMERY,  April  14. 
"To  Mayor  Wuon,  DEAN  HUHMOND.  and  Ar<;rsTK  BEI..MONT:— 

"  A  hundred  thousand  mercenary  soldiers  cannot  occupy  and  hold  Pensaeola.     The  entire  South  arc  under 
arms,  and  the  negroes  strengthen  the  military.     Pence  must  come  quickly,  or  it  must  be  conquered.     Northern 
Democrats  standing  by  the  South  will  not  be  held  res|H>nsible  for  Lincoln's  acts,  unless  indorsing  them.     State 
Sovereignty  must  be  fully  recognized.     Protect  your  social  and  commercial  ties  by  resisting  Republican  Federal 
•Egression.     Philadelphia  should  repudiate  the  var  action  of  the   Pennsylvania  Legislature.     The  commerce  of 
Rhode  Island  aud  New  Jersey  is  safe,  when  distinguished.     Hoist  your  flag ! 
11  Davis*  s  answer  is  rough  and  curt — 
' Sumtor  is  ours,  and  nobody  hurt; 
With  mortar.  Paixhan.  and  petard. 
I  We  tender  Old  Abe  our  Beau -regard.' 

"GEORGE  N.  SANDERS.** 

This  man,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter,  was  a  conspicuous  actor  in  the  most  infamous  work  of  the  con 
spirators  during  the  war  that  ensued. 

3  Pi  rut   Yftir  of  the  War:  by  K.  A.  Pollard,  page  09. 

*  The  following  advertisement  is  copied  from  the  first  inside  business  column  of  the  Mobile  Advertiser  of 
April  16,  now  before  me  : — 

"  75,000  COFFINS  WANTED. 

"  Proposals  will  be  received  to  supply  the  Confederacy  witli  75,000  BLACK  COFFINS. 

"  f3T~  No  proposals  will  be  entertained  coming  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line.     Direct  to 

-JEFF.  DAVIS,  Montgomery,  Ala, 
"  Ap.  16,  It." 

This  was  Intended  as  an  intimation  that  the  75.000  men  called  for  by  President  Lincoln  would  each  need  a 
coffin.  It  has  been  alleged,  by  competent  authority,  that  Davis,  in  the  folly  of  his  madness,  sanctioned  the  pub 
lication  of  this  advertisement,  to  show  contempt  for  the  National  Government. 

6  The  Mobile  Adrertiner,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  respectable  of  the  Southern  newspapers,  held  the 
following  language:— "The  Northern  'soldiers'  are  men  who  prefer  enlisting  to  starvation;  scurvy  fellows  from 
the  back  slums  of  cities,  whom  Falstaff  would  not  have  marched  through  Coventry  with.  I5ut  these  are  not 
soldiers— least  of  all  to  meet  the  hot-blooded,  thoroughbred,  impetuous  men  of  the  South.  Trencher  soldiers, 
who  enlisted  to  war  upon  their  rations,  not  on  men.  They  arc  such  as  marched  through  Baltimore  [the  Massa 
chusetts  Sixth,  admirably  clothed,  equipped,  and  disciplined,  and  composed  of  some  of  the  best  young  men  of 
New  England],  squalid,  wretched,  ragged,  and  half-naked,  as  the  newspapers  of  that  city  report  them.  Fellows 
who  do  not  know  the  breech  of  a  musket  from  its  muzzle,  and  had  rather  filch  a  handkerchief  than  fight  an  enemy 
in  manly  combat.  White  slaves,  peddling  wretches,  small-change  knaves  and  vagrants,  the  dregs  and  offscour 
ings  of  the  populace;  these  arc  the  levied  'forces'  whom  Lincoln  suddenly  arrays  as  candidates  for  the  honor 
of  being  slaughtered  by  gentlemen — such  as  Mobile  sends  to  battle.  Let  them  come  South,  and  we  will  put 
our  negroes  to  the  dirty  work  of  killing  them.  But  they  will  not  come  South.  Not  a  wretch  of  them  will  live 
on  this  side  of  the  border  longer  than  it  will  take  us  to  reach  the  ground  and  drive  them  on".'' 


342  BOASTINGS   OF   LOYAL   NEWSPAPERS. 

most  absurd  stories  were  told  concerning  starvation,  riots,  and  anarchy  in 
the  Free-labor  States,  by  the  brawling  politicians,  the  newspapers,  and  the 
men  in  public  office  who  were  under  the  absolute  control  of  the  conspirators  ;' 
and  every  thing  calculated  to  inflame  the  prejudices  and  passions  and  inflate 
the  pride  of  the  people — inspire  an  overweening  confidence  in  their  own 
prowess  and  the  resources  of  their  so-called  government — and  to  fill  them 
with  contempt  and  hatred  for  "  the  North,"  was  used  with  great  prodigality. 
A  military  despotism  was  suddenly  erected.  It  was  supreme  in  power  and 
inexorable  in  practice ;  more  withering  to  true  manhood  and  more  destructive 
of  national  prosperity  than  any  written  about  by  historians.  It  prevailed 
from  this  time  until  the  close  of  the  terrible  war  that  ensued.  It  took  the 
place  of  civil  government  everywhere,  permitting  only  the  skeleton  of  the 
latter  to  exist.  Press,  pulpit,  courts  of  law,  were  all  overshadowed  by  its 
black  wing;  and  its  fiat  produced  that  "united  South"  about  which  the 
conspirators  and  their  friends  prated  continually.  It  raised  great  armies, 
that  fought  great  battles  so  valiantly,  that  American  citizens  everywhere 
contemplate  with  honest  pride  their  courage  and  endurance,  while  loathing 
the  usurpers  who,  by  force  and  fraud,  compelled  the  many  to  combat  for 
wrong  for  the  benefit  of  the  few. 

The  foolish  boastings  of  the  newspaper  press  in  the  Slave-labor  States 
were  imitated  by  many  of  the  leading  journals  in  the  Free-labor  States. 
x<  The  nations  of  Europe,"  said  one,2  "  may  rest  assured  that  Jeff.  Davis  & 
Co.  will  be  swinging  from  the  battlements  at  Washington  at  least  by  the 
4th  of  July.  We  spit  upon  a  later  and  longer  deferred  justice." — "Let  us 
make  quick  work,"  said  another.3  "  The  '  rebellion,'  as  some  people  desig 
nate  it,  is  an  unborn  tadpole.  Let  us  not  fall  into  the  delusion,  noted  by 
Hallam,  of  mistaking  a  '  local  commotion '  for  a  revolution.  A  strong,  active 
'pull  together'  will  do  our  work  effectually  in  thirty  days."  Another4  said 
that  "no  man  of  sense  could  for  a  moment  doubt  that  this  much-ado-about- 
nothing  would  end  in  a  month,"  and  declared  that  "  the  Northern  people  are 
simply  invincible.  The  rebels — a  mere  band  of  ragamuffins — will  fly  like 
chaff  before  the  wind  on  our  approach."  A  Chicago  newspaper5  said  : — "  Let 
the  East  get  out  of  the  way ;  this  is  a  war  of  the  West.  We  can  fight  the 
battle,  and  successfully,  within  two  or  three  months  at  the  furthest.  Illinois 
can  whip  the  South  by  herself.  We  insist  on  the  matter  being  turned  over 
to  us."  Another6  in  the  West  said: — "The  rebellion  will  be  crushed  out 
before  the  assemblage  of  Congress." 

There  were  misapprehensions,  fatal  misapprehensions,  in  both  sections. 
Neither  believed  that  the  other  would  fight.  It  was  a  sad  mistake.  Each 


1  A  contributor  to  De  Brno's  Review  for  February,  1S61,  wrote  as  follows: — 

"Our  enemies,  the  stupid,  sensual,  ignorant  masses  of  the  North,  who  are  foolish  as  they  are  depraved, 
could  not  read  the  signs  of  the  times,  did  not  dream  of  disunion,  but  rushed  on  as  heedlessly  as  a  greedy  drove  of 
hungry  hogs  at  the  call  of  their  owners.  They  were  promised  plunder,  and  find  a  famine;  promised  '  bread,  and 
were  given  a  stone.1  Our  enemies  are  starving  and  disorganized.  The  cold,  naked,  hungry  masses  are  at  war 
with  their  leaders.  They  are  mute,  paralyzed,  panic-stricken,  and  have  no  plan  of  action  for  the  future. 
Winter  has  set  in,  which  will  aggravate  their  sufferings,  and  prevent  any  raid  into  or  invasion  of  the  South. 
They  who  deluded  them  must  take  care  of  them.  The  public  lands  will  neither  feed  nor  clothe  them ;  they 
cannot  plunder  the  South,  and  are  cut  off  by  their  own  wicked  folly  from  the  trade  of  the  South,  which  alone 
could  relieve  and  sustain  them.''  And  so  the  readers  uf  this  magazine  were  wickedly  deceived. 

5  Xeio  York  Tribune.  *  Philadelphia  Press.  6  Cincinnati  Commercial, 

8  New  York  Times.  5  Chicago  Tribune. 


UPRISING   OF   THE   LOYAL    PEOPLE.  343 

appealed  to  the  Almighty  to  witness  the  rectitude  of  its  intentions,  and 
each  was  quick  to  discover  coincident  omens  of  Heaven's  approval.  u  God 
and  justice  are  with  us,"  said  the  loyalists,  u  for  we  contend  for  union, 
nationalit/,  and  universal  freedom." — u  God  is  equally  with  us,"  said  the 
insurgents,  "  for  we  contend  for  rightful  separation,  the  supreme  sovereignty 
of  our  respective  States,  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  Divine  institution  of 
Slavery."  And  when,  on  the  Sunday  after  the  promulgation  of  the  Presi 
dent's  summons  for  troops  to  put  down  rising  rebellion,  the  first  Lesson  in  the 
Morning  Service  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Churches  of  the  land  was  found 
to  contain  this  battle-call  of  the  Prophet : — "  Proclaim  ye  this  among  the 
Gentiles ;  Prepare  war,  wake  up  the  mighty  men,  let  all  the  men  of  war 
draw  near ;  let  them  come  up  :  beat  your  plowshares  into  swords,  and  your 
pruning-hooks  into  spears :  let  the  weak  say,  I  am  strong,"1  the  loyalists 
said :  "  See  how  Revelation  summons  us  to  the  conflict !"  and  the  insurgents 
answered,  "  It  is  equally  a  call  for  us ;''  adding,  "  See  how  specially  we  are 
promised  victory  in  another  Lesson  of  the  same  Church  ! — '  f  trill  remove  far 
off  from  yon  the  Northern  «rt/ii/,  and  will  drive  him  into  a  land  barren  and 
desolate,  with  his  face  toward  the  east  sea,  and  his  hinder  part  toward  the 
utmost  sea.  .  .  .  Fear  not,  O  land  !  be  glad  and  rejoice :  for  the  Lord  will  do 
great  things.'"  In  this  temper  multitudes  of  the  people  of  the  Republic, 
filled  with  intelligent  convictions  of  the  righteousness  of  the  cause  they 
had  respectively  espoused,  left  their  peaceful  pursuits  in  the  pleasant  spring 
time,  and  the  alluring  ease  of  abounding  prosperity,  ;nd  prepared  f<»r  war, 
with  a  feeling  that  it  would  be  short,  and  little  more  than  an  exciting 
though  somewhat  dangerous  holiday  pastime.  No  one  seemed  to  think  that 
it  was  the  beginning  of  a  sanguinary  war  that  might  cost  the  Nation  a  vast 
amount  of  blood  and  treasure. 

The  uprising  of  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States  in  defense  of  Nation 
ality  was  a  sublime  spectacle.  Nothing  like  it  had  been  seen  on  the  earth 
since  the  preaching  of  Peter  the  Hermit  and  of  Pope  Urban  the  Second 
filled  all  Christian  Europe  with  religious  zeal,  and  sent  armed  hosts,  with  the 
cry  of  "God  wills  it!  God  wills  it!"  to  rescue  the  sepulcher  of  Jesus  from 
the  hands  of  the  infidel.  Men,  women,  and  children  felt  the  enthusiasm 
alike;  and,  as  if  by  concerted  arrangement,  the  National  flag  was  every 
where  displayed,  even  from  the  spires  of  churches  and  cathedrals.  In  cities, 
in  villages,  and  by  wayside  taverns  all  over  the  country,  it  was  unfurled  from 
lofty  poles  in  the  presence  of  large  assemblages  of  the  people,  who  were 
addressed  frequently  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  orators  in  the  land.  It 
adorned  the  halls  of  justice  and  the  sanctuaries  of  religion;  and  the  "Red, 
White,  and  Blue,"  the  colors  of  the  flag  in  combination,  became  a  common 
ornament  of  women  and  a  token  of  the  loyalty  of  men.  Every  thing  that 
might  indicate  attachment  to  the  Union  was  employed  ;  and  in  less  than  a 
fortnight  after  the  President's  Proclamation  went  forth,  the  post-offices  were 
made  gay  with  letter  envelopes  bearing  every  kind  of  device,  in  brilliant 
colors,  illustrative  of  love  of  country  and  hatred  of  rebellion.  The  use  of 
these  became  a  passion.  It  was  a  phenomenon  of  the  times.  Not  less  than 

1  Joel  lii.  9,  10. 

*  Joel  ii.  20,  21.      Letter  of  W.  T.  Walthall,  of  Mobile,  to  the  editor  of  the  Church  Journal,  May  17,  1861. 


344 


UPRISING   OF   THE   DISLOYAL   PEOPLE. 


four  thousand  different  kinds  of  Union  envelopes  were  produced  in  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks.  Sets  of  these  now  find  a  careful  depository  in  the 
cabinets  of  the  curious. 


^nYOU  MAY  PLANT  YOUR  SEED  IN  PEACE, FOR.  OLD 
VIRGINIA  W1LLHAVETO  BEAR.  THE  BRUNT  OF  BATTLE-' 


POOR  OLD  SIMPLEVIRGINIA 


\J- 


tTNION  ENVELOPE.1 

The  uprising  in  the  Slave-labor  States  at  this  time,  though  less  general 
and  enthusiastic,  was  nevertheless  marvelous.  The  heresy  of  State  Su 
premacy,  which  Calhoun  and  his  followers  adroitly  called  State  rights, 
because  the  latter  is  a  sacred  thing  cherished  by  all,  was  a  political  tenet 
generally  accepted  as  orthodox.  It  had  been  inculcated  in  every  conceivable 
form  and  on  every  conceivable  occasion  ;2  and  men  who  loved  the  Union  and 
deprecated  secession  were  in  agreement  with  the  conspirators  on  that  point. 
Hence  it  was  that  in  the  tornado  of  passion  then  sweeping  over  the  South, 
where  reason  was  discarded,  thousands  of  intelligent  men.  deceived  by  the 
grossest  misrepresentations  respecting  the  temper,  character,  and  intentions 
of  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States,  flew  to  arms,  well  satisfied  that  they 
were  in  the  right,  because  resisting  what  they  believed  to  be  usurpation,  and 
an  unconstitutional  attempt  at  the  subjugation  of  a  free  people,  on  the  part 
of  the  National  Government. 

The  writer  was  in  New  Orleans  at  the  time  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter, 
in  quest  of  knowledge  respecting  the  stirring  military  events  that  occurred 
in  that  vicinity  at  the  close  of  the  year  1814  and  the  beginning  of  1815.  He 
was  accompanied  by  a  young  kinswoman.  We  arrived  there  on 
^e  lot*V*  having  traveled  all  night  on  the  railway  from  Grand 
Junction,  in  Tennessee.  At  Oxford,  Canton,  Jackson,  and  other 
places,  we  heard  rumors  of  an  expected  attack  on  the  fort.  These  were 
brought  to  us  by  a  physician,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  Secession  Con- 


fee"1' 


1  This  specimen  of  the  Union  envelopes  has  been  chosen  from  several  hundreds  of  different  kinds  in  pos 
session  of  the  author,  because  it  contains,  in  its  design  and  words,  a  remarkable  prophecy.     The  leaders  of  the 
rebellion  in  the  more  Southern  States  comforted  their  people  with  the  assurance,  when  it  was  seen  that  war 
was  inevitable,  that  it  could  not  reach  their  homes,  for  in  the  Border  Slave-labor  States,  and  especially  in  Vir 
ginia,  would  be  the  battle-fields.     It  was  indeed  so,  until  in  the  last  year  of  the  war;  and  "  Poor  Old  Virginia,"1 
as  Governor  Pickens  predicted,  had  to  bear  the  brunt.     She  was  the  Mother  of  Disunion,  and  the  hand  of 
retributive  justice  was  laid  heavily  upon  her. 

2  See  note  1,  page  63. 

* 


EXCITEMENT    IN   NEW   ORLEANS. 


345 


vention  of  Mississippi — a  man  of  sense,  moderation,  and  courtesy,  who  was 
our  pleasant  traveling  companion  from  Decatur,  in  Northern  Alabama,  to 
Magnolia,  in  Mississippi,  where  we  parted  with  him  at  breakfast.  In  the 
same  car  we  met  a  Doctor  Billings,  of  Yicksburg,  who  had  been  for  several 
years  a  surgeon  in  the  Mexican  army,  and  was  then  returning  to  the  city  of 
Mexico,  to  carry  out  the  preliminaries  of  a  scheme  of  leading  men  in  the 
Southwest  for  seizing  some  of  the  richest  portions  of  Mexico.  Wine  or  some 
thing  stronger  had  put  his  caution  asleep,  and  he  communicated  his  plans 
freely.  lie  was  a  Knight  of  the  Golden  Circle,  and  was  charged  with  the 
duty  of  procuring  from  the  Mexican  Congress  permission  for  American 
citizens  to  construct  a  railway  from  the  Rio  Grande,  through  Chihuahua  and 
Sonora,  to  the  Gulf  of  California.  He  intended  to  get  permission  to  com 
mence  the  work  immediately,  with  five  thousand  men,  armed  ostensibly  for 
defense  against  the  Indians.  Once  in  the  country,  these  men  would  seize  and 
hold  possession  of  those  States  until  sufficiently  re-enforced  to  make  the 
occupation  permanent.  This  was  to  be  the  end  of  the  railway  enterprise.  It 
was  to  be  a  movement,  in  co-operation  with  the  secessionists  of  Texas,  to 
open  the  way  for  the  extension  toward  Central  America  of  that  grand 
empire  to  be  established  on  the  foundation  of  Slavery,  whose  political 
nucleus  was  at  Montgomery.1  Hillings  left  New  Orleans  for  Mexico  a.  few 
days  afterward.  His  scheme  failed.  • 

We  found  much  excitement  in  Xew  Orleans.  The  politicians  were  giving 
out  ominous  hints  of  great  events  near  at  hand.  Ben.  McCulloclr  was  at 
the  St.  Charles  Hotel,  having  arrived  on  tlie 
6th,  and  was  much  of  the  time  in  consultation 
with  the  leading  secessionists.  Howell  Cobb3 
was  also  there.  I  called  on  some  of  the  active 
politicians  for  local  -information,  but  found 
them  too  intently  engaged  in  matters  of  imme 
diate  and  pressing  importance  to  listen  or  reply 
to  many  questions.  On  the  following  morning, 
intelligence  that  Fort  Sumter  had  been  at 
tacked  was  brought  by  the  telegraph.  The 
absorbing  occupation  of  the  politicians  was 
explained.  They  foreknew  the  event.  All 
day  long  the  spaces  around  the  bulletin-boards 
were  crowded  by  an  excited  multitude,  as  dis 
patch  after  dispatch  <?ame  announcing  the  pro 
gress  of  the  conflict. 

At  an  early  hour  on  Saturday,  we  left  the 
city  in  a  barouche  for  Jackson's  battle-field 
below.  We  passed  the  head-quarters  of  the 
celebrated  Washington  Artillery,4  who  were  afterward  in  the  battle  at  Bull's 
Run.  They  were  on  parade,  in  the  uniform  in  which  they  afterward  ap 
peared  on  the  field.  We  rode  down  the  levee  as  far  as  Villere's,  where 
Pakenham  and  other  British  officers  had  their  head-quarters  in  1815;  and 
returning,  stopped  to  visit  and  sketch  the  remains  of  the  famous  old  battle. 


WASHINGTON    AKTILLERT. 


See  page  1ST. 


*  See  page  267. 


See  page  44. 


4  See  page  181. 


346  FORT   PICKENS   TO   BE   ASSAILED. 

ground.  At  a  little  past  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  while  sitting  on  the 
"base  of  the  unfinished  monument  commemorative  of  the  conflict,  making  a 
drawing  of  the  plain  of  Chalmette,  where  it  occurred,  we  heard  seven  dis 
charges  of  heavy  guns  at  the  city— the  number  of  the  States  in  the  Con 
federacy.  "  Fort  Sumter  is  doubtless  gone,"  I  said  to  my  companion.  It 
was  so.  The  news  had  reached  the  city  at  that  hour,  and  under  the  direc 
tion  of  Hatch,  the  disloyal  Collector  of  the  port  of  New  Orleans,1  the  guns 
of  the  McClelland^  which  the  insurgents  had  seized,  were  fired  in  honor  of 
the  event. 

On  our  return  to  the  city,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  we  found  it  alive 
with  excitement.  The  Washington  Artillery  were  just  marching  by  the 
statue  of  Henry  Clay,  on  Canal  Street,  and  members  of  many  other  corps, 
some  of  them  in  the  brilliant  and  picturesque  Zouave  uniform,  were  hurrying, 
singly  or  in  squads,  to  their  respective  places  of  rendezvous.  The  cry  in  all 
that  region  then  was  :  "  On  to  Fort  Pickens !"  The  seizure  of  that  strong 
hold  was  of  infinite  importance  to  the 
insurgents ;  and  to  that  end  the  conspira 
tors  at  Montgomery  called  the  military 
power  of  the  Confederacy  to  hasten  to 
Pensacola  before  Fort  Pickens  should  be 
re-enforced. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday.  The  bul 
letin-boards  were  covered  with  the  most 
exciting  telegraphic  placards  early  in  the 
morning.  Among  others  seen  on  that  of 
the  Delta,  was  one  purporting  to  be  a 
copy  of  a  dispatch  from  Richmond,  saying 
substantially  that  "Ben.  McCulloch,  with 
ten  thousand  men,  was  marching  on 

LOUISIANA  ZOUAVE.  Washington !"      I    had   seen    the    chief 

editor  of  the  Delta  with  McCulloch  on  the 

previous  evening.  Another  declared  that  General  Scott  had  resigned,  and 
liad  offered  his  services  to  his  native  State,  Virginia.  Many  similar  mis 
representations  were  posted,  calculated  to  inspire  the  people  with  hope -and 
enthusiasm  and  to  promote  enlistments,  while  they  justified  the  charge  of  the 
Union  men,  that  those  pretended  dispatches,  and  a  host  of  others,  originated 
in  New  Orleans.  Around  the  bulletin-boards  were  exultant  crowds,  some 
times  huzzaing  loudly ;  and  at  the  usual  hour  for  Divine  Service,  the  solemn 
music  of  the  church  bells  tolling  was  mingled  with  the  lively  melody  of  the 
fife  and  drum.2  Many  citizens  were  seen  wearing  the  secession  rosette  and 
badge ;  and  small  secession  flags  fluttered  from  many  a  window.  The 
banner  of  the  so-called  Southern  Confederacy — the  "Stars  and  Bars"3 — 


1  See  page  1S5. 

3  A  sturdy  old  negro,  named  Jordan  Noble,  celebrated  in  New  Orleans  as  a  drummer  at  the  battle  near  there 
in  January,  1815,  and  who  went  as  such  to  Mexico  under  General  Taylor,  was  now  drumming  for  the  volunteers. 
He  accompanied  New  Orleans  troops  to  Virginia,  and  was  at  the  first  battje  of  Bull's  Run. 

3  See  page  256.  "We  protest  against  the  word  'stripes,1  as  applied  to  the  broad  bars  of  the  flag  of  our  Con 
federacy.  The  word  is  quite  appropriate  as  applied  to  the  Yankee  ensign  or  a  barber's  pole ;  but  it  does  not 
correctly  describe  the  red  and  white  divisions  of  the  flag  of  the  Confederate  States.  The  word  is  bars — we  have 
removed  from  under  the  stripes." — Montgomery  Mail,  March,  1S61. 


EFFECT  OF  THE  PRESIDENT'S  CALL  FOR  TROOPS. 


347 


was  everywhere  seen,  but  nowhere  the  flag  of  the  Union.  The  latter  would 
not  be  tolerated.  The  reign  of  terror  had  commenced  in  earnest.  The 
voices  of  Union  men  were  silenced  ;  and  the  fact  of  a  revolution  accom 
plished  seemed  painfully  apparent  when  we  saw  these  strange  banners,  and 
heard,  in  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church/  a  prayer  for  "  the  President  of 
the  Confederate  States  of  America." 

On    Monday,    the     President's    call    for    seventy- 
five    thousand   men    was    placarded    on    the    bulletin- 
boards.     That  proclamation  was  unexpected.     It  exhib 
ited  an  unsuspected   resoluteness   in  the  Government 
that  threatened  trouble  for  the  insurgents.     The  effect 
was  marked.      The  groups  around   the  placards  were 
no  longer  jubilant.     There   was  visible   uneasiness  in 
the    mind    of  every   looker-on,   and   all   turned   away 
thoughtful.     There   was   a  menace   of  war,    and  war 
would  ruin  the  business  of  New  Orleans.     Even   the 
marching  of  troops  through  the  streets  when  they  de 
parted   for    Pensacola   failed    to    excite    much    enthu 
siasm ;  and  when,  on  the  17th,  the  subscription-books 
for  the    fifteen    millions    of   dollars    loan,    authorized 
by  the    Convention   of  conspirators  at    Montgomery,1 
were    opened,    there    were    very    few    Junta-fide    bids 
for    large    amounts.       But    that     proclamation    gave 
heart-felt    satisfaction    to    the    Union    men    of    New 
Orleans,  and  they  were  counted  by  thousands  among 
the    best    citizens.      These    were    silent    then.      The 
editor    of    the    Trite    Ddttt,   a    Union    journal,    had 
been    compelled   to    fling    out    the    secession    flag,    to 
prevent  the  demolition  of  his  office  by  a   mob.      u  No  one  dares  to 
out  now,''  said  the  venerable  Jacob    Barker,  the  banker,  as    he   stealthily 
placed  in  the  writer's  hand  a  broadside,  which  he  had  had  printed 
on  his  eighty-first  birthday,"  as  a  gift  of  good  for  his  country 
men,  containing  a  series  of  argumentative  letters  against  seces 
sion,  first  published  in  a  Natchez  newspaper.     "  If,"  said  another,  one  of  the 
oldest  citizens   of  New  Orleans,  "  the  Northern  people  shall  respond  to  that 
call,  and  the  United  States  shall   '  repossess  and   hold '  the  forts  and  other 
public   property — if  the    power   of  the  Government   shall   pull   down    the 
detested  secession  flags  now  flaunting  in  our  faces  over  our  Mint  and  Custom 
House,   and  show  that  it  has  power  to  maintain  the   old   banner   in    their 
places,3  the  Union  men  in  the  South  will  take  Kentucky   hemp,  and   hang 
every  traitor  between  the  Gulf  and  the  Ohio  and  Potomac  !" 


SECESSION    RUSETTE    AND 
UADOE.2 


i  See  page  263. 

a  The  rosette  was  made  of  bine  satin  ribbon,  surrounding  a  disk,  containing  two  circles.  On  one  wore  the 
•words,  "OUR  FIRST  PRKIMDKNT.  TIIK  RIGHT  MAN  ix  THE  RIGHT  PLACE.""  On  the  other,  seven  stars  and  the 
•words  "JEFF.  DAVIS."  On  the  badge  of  white  satin  was  printed,  in  proper  colors,  the  u  Confederate  "  flag. 
Over  it  were  the  words,  "TiiE  SOUTH  FOREVER.  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERATION."  Be.ow  it,  "JEFF.  DAVIS.  PRESI 
DENT.  A.  II.  STEPHENS.  VICE-PRESIDENT." 

8  The  last  time  the  National  Flag  had  been  publicly  displayed  in  New  Orleans  was  on  Washington's  Birth 
day,  the  22d  of  February.  A  citizen  flung  out  one  on  Front  Levee  Street,  on  which  were  two  clasped  hands 
and  the  words,  "  United  we  stand  ;  divided  we  fall."  The  enraged  secessionists  went  to  pull  it  down,  but  found 
armed  men  there  to  defend  it.  and  it  was  kept  flying  until  evening,  when  it  was  taken  down  voluntarily. 


348  EXPERIENCE    IN   MISSISSIPPI   AND   TENNESSEE. 

We  left  New  Orleans  for  the  North  on  the  morning  of  Wednesday, 
the  17th,"  and  spent  that  night  at  the  little  village  of  Canton,  in 

"j'jjj11'  Mississippi.  We  went  out  in  search  of  a  resident  of  the  place, 
whom  we  had  met  at  Niagara  Falls  the  previous  summer.  He 
was  absent,  A  war-meeting  was  gathering  in  the  Court  House,  on  the 
village  green,  when  we  passed,  and  a  bugle  was  there  pouring  forth  upon  the 
evening  air  the  tune  of  the  Marseillaise  Hymn  of  the  French  Revolution.1 
We  had  observed  that  every  National  air  which  hitherto  had  stirred  the 
blood  of  all  Americans  was  discarded  throughout  the  "  Confederacy,"  and 
that  the  performance  of  any  of  them  was  presumptive  evidence  of  treason  to 
the  traitors.  We  felt  great  desire  to  respond  to  the  bugle  witH  Yankee 
Doodle  or  Star-spangled  Banner,2  but  prudence  counseled  silence. 

We  went  on  to  Grand  Junction  the  next  morning,  where  we  were  detained 
thirty-six  hours,  in  consequence  of  our  luggage  having  been  carried  to 
Jackson,  in  Tennessee.  All  along  the  road,  we  had  seen  recruiting-officers 
gathering  up  men  here  and  there  from  the  sparse  population,  to  swell  the 
ranks  ,of  the  insurgents  assembling  at  Pensacola  under  General  Bragg,  who 
had  abandoned  the  old  flag.  The  negroes  were  quietly  at  work  in  the  fields, 
planting  cotton,  little  dreaming  of  their  redemption  from  Slavery  being  so 
nigh. 

The  landlord  of  the  "Percey  House"  at  Grand  Junction  was  kind  and 
obliging,  and  made  our  involuntary  sojourn  there  as  agreeable  as  possible. 
We  were  impatient  to  go  forward,  for  exasperation  against  Northern  men 
was  waxing  hot.  We  amused  ourselves  nearly  half  a  day,  "assisting,"  as  the 
French  say,  at  the  raising  of  a  secession  flag  upon  a  high  pole.  It  was  our 
first  and  last  experience  of  that  kind.  After  almost  five  hours  of  alternate 
labor,  rest,  and  consultation,  during  which  time  the  pole  was  dug  up,  pros 
trated,  and  re-erected,  because  of  defective  halliards,  the  flag  was  "flung  to 
the  breeze,"  and  was  saluted  by  the  discharge  of  a  pocket-pistol  in  the  hands 
of  a  small  boy.  This  was  followed  by  another  significant  amusement  at  which 
we  "assisted."  At  Grand  Junction,  four  railway  trains,  traveling  respec 
tively  on  the  New  Orleans  and  Jackson  and  the  Charleston  and  Memphis 
roads,  which  here  intersect,  met  twice  a  day,  and  the  aggregation  of  passen 
gers  usually  formed  a  considerable  crowd.  On  one  of  these  occasions  we 
heard  two  or  three  huzzas,  and  went  out  to  ascertain  the  cause.  A  man  of 

1  This  stirring  hymn  was  parodied,  and  sung  at  social  gatherings,  at  places  of  amusement,  and  in  the  camps 
throughout  the  "  Confederacy."  The  following  is  the  closing  stanza  of  the  parody  :— 

"With  needy,  starving  mobs  surrounded, 

The  zealous,  blind  fanatics  dare 
To  offer,  in  their  zeal  unbounded, 

Our  happy  slaves  their  tender  care. 
The  South,  though  deepest  wrongs  bewailing, 
Long  yielded  all  to  Union's  name ; 
But  INDEPENDENCE  now  we  claim, 
And  all  their  threats  are  unavailing. 
To  arms !  to  arms !  ye  brave ! 
The  avenging  sword  unsheathe! 
March  on !  inarch  on  ! 
All  hearts  resolved 
On  Victory  or  Death  !" 

a  A  Charleston  correspondent  of  the  Richmond  Examiner  said,  just  before  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter, 
"Let  us  never  surrender  to  the  North  the  noble  song,  the  'Star-spangled  Banner.'  It  is  Southern  in  its  origin ; 
in  its  association  with  chivalrous  deeds,  it  is  ours."  See  Frank  Moore's  Rebellion  Record,  i.  20. 


TREASON   OF   GENERAL   PILLOW.  349 

middling  stature,  with  dark  hair,  and  whiskers  slightly  sprinkled  with  white, 
apparently  fifty  years  of  age,  was  standing  on  a  bale  of  cotton,  haranguing 
the  listeners : — "  Every  thing  dear  to  you,  fellow-citizens,"  he  exclaimed,  *4  is 
in  peril,  and  it  is  your  duty  to  arm  immediately  in  aid  of  the  holy  Southern 
cause.  The  Northern  Goths  and  Vandals — offscourings  of  the  Yankee  cities 

O 

— two  hundred  thousand  strong,  are  gathering  north  of  the  Ohio  to  invade 
your  State,  to  liberate  your  slaves  or  incite  them  to  insurrection,  to  ravish 
your  daughters,  to  sack  your  cities  and  villages,  to  lay  waste  your  planta 
tions,  to  plunder  and  burn  your  dwellings,  and  to  make  you  slaves  to  the 
vilest  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth/'     He  had  spoken  in  this  strain  about 
three  minutes,  when  the  conductor's  summons, 
"All  aboard!"  dispersed  the  audience,  and  the 
speaker    entered    a   car    going   westward    to 
Memphis.     The  orator  was  General  Gideon  J. 
Pillow,  who  played  an  •  inglorious  part  in  the 
war  that  ensued.     He  had  just  come  from  the 
presence  of  Jefferson  Davis  at  Montgomery. 
Although  his  State  (Tennessee)  had  lately,  by 
an  overwhelming  vote,  pronounced  for  Union, 
this  weak  but  mischievous  man,  the  owner  of 
hundreds  of  acres  of  cotton  lands  in  the  Gulf 
and    Trans-Mississippi   States,   and    scores    of 
slaves,  was  working  with  all  his  might,  with  the 
traitorous    Governor    of    the    Commonwealth 
(Harris),   to   excite   the   people  to   revolt,    by 

such  false  utterances  as  we  have  just  noticed.1  He  was  ambitious  of  military 
fame,  and  had  already,  as  we  have  observed,  offered  to  Jefferson  Davis  the 
services  of  ten  thousand  Tennessee  soldiers,  without  the  least  shadow  of 


1  On  the  day  after  his  harangue  at  Grand  Junction,  Pillow  was  in  Memphis,  where  he  assumed  the  character 
of  a  military  chief,  and  issued  a  sort  of  proclamation,  dated  April  '20.  in  which  he  said  :  "All  organized  military 
companies  of  f<K>t,  cavalry,  and  artillery  will  be  needed  for  the  defense  of  the  Southern  States  asrainst  invasion 
by  the  tyrant  who  has  established  a  military  despotism  in  the  city  of  Washington.  These  forces  will  be  received 
In  companies,  battalions,  or  regiments,  aa  they  may  themselves  organize,  and  will  be  received  into  the  service 
of  the  Confederate  States  (for  Tennessee  has  no  other  place  of  shelter  in  this  hour  of  peril),  and  the  officers  com 
missioned  with  the  rank  of  command  with  which  they  are  tendered  for  the  field. 

"They  will  not  be  required  for  the  defense  of  the  Southern  coast  Kentucky  and  Virginia  will  be  the  fields 
of  coritlict  for  the  future.  The  city  of  Memphis  is  safe  acainst  the  possibility  ot  approach  from  the  Gulf,  and 
will  be  equally  so  by  the  construction  of  a  battery  of  '24  and  32  pounders  at  Randolph,  and  the  point  indicated 
to  the  Committee  of  Safety,  above  the  city.  Such  batteries,  with  the  plunging  fire,  could  sink  any  sized  fleets 
of  steamboats  laden  with  Northern  troops.  If  such  batteries  are  promptly  constructed,  Memphis  will  nevor 
even  be  threatened. 

"The  object  of  seizin?  Cairo  by  the  Lincoln  Government  (if  it  should  bo  done,  ns  I  take  it  for  granted  it 
will)  will  be  to  cut  otf  supplies  of  subsistence  from  the  Northwest,  to  prevent  the  approach  through  the  Ohi* 
of  Southern  troops,  and  to  cut  off  Missouri  from  Southern  support;  and  when  she  is  thus  isolated,  to  invade 
and  crush  her.  The  safety  of  Missouri  requires  that  she  should  seize  and  hold  that  position  at  whatever  cost. 
Without  it,  she  will  soon  cea*e  to  breathe  the  air  of  freedom. 

"All  the  forces  Rendered  from  Tennessee,  to  the  amount  of  fifty  thousand  men,  will  be  received  as  they  are 
fitted  by  their  state  of  drill  for  the  field.  Sooner,  they  would  not  be  efficient,  and  they  will  not  be  called  into 
the  service  without  proper  provision  for  subsistence  and  the  best  arms  within  the  resources  of  the  government. 
The  entire  South  must  now  unite  and  make  common  cause  for  its  safety — no  matter  about  the  political  relations 
of  the  States  at  present — else  all  will  be  crushed  by  the  legion  of  Northern  Goths  and  Vandals  with  which  they 
are  threatened. 

"The  revolution  which  is  on  us.  and  invasion  which  is  at  our  doors,  will  unite  the  Southern  States  with  or 
without  formal  ordinances  of  separation.  I  speak  not  without  authority. 

"  I  desire  to  receive  official  reports  from  all  organized  corps  of  the  State — giving  me  the  strength  of  the  ni'iV 
and  file  of  each  separate  organization.  These  reports  will  reach  me  at  Nashville" 


350 


ALARMING   RUMORS. 


authority.1  Inquiring  of  a  leading  Nashville  secessionist,  on  the  evening  after 
hearing  Pillow's  harangue,  what  authority  the  General  had  for  his  magnificent 
offer,  he  smiled  and  said,  in  a  manner  indicative  of  the  disesteem  in  which 
the  conspirator  was  held  in  his  own  State,  "  The  authority  of  Gid.  Pillow." 
In  the  course  of  the  war  that  ensued,  which  this  disloyal  Tennessean 
strove  so  hard  to  kindle,  the  hand  of  retributive  justice  fell  upon  him,  as  upon 
all  of  his  co-workers  in  iniquity,  with  crushing  force. 

Our  detention  at  Grand  Junction  was  fortunate  for  us.  "We  intended  to 
travel  eastward  through  East  Tennessee  and  Virginia  to  Richmond,  and 
homeward  by  way  of  Washington  and  Baltimore.  The  car  in  which  we  left 
our  place  of  detention  was  full  of  passengers,  many  of  them  from  the  North, 
and  all  of  them  excited  by  the  news  in  the  Memphis  papers  of  that  morning. 

The  telegraphic  dispatches  from  the 
East  were  alarming  and  distressing, 
and  the  tone  of  the  papers  containing 
them  was  exultant  and 
*  AiP86i.19'  defiant-  It  was  asserted 
that  on  the  day  before,* 
eight  hundred  Massachusetts  troops 
had  been  captured,  and  more  than 
one  hundred  killed,  while*  trying  to 
pass  through  Baltimore.  The  an 
nunciation  was  accompanied  by  a 
rude  wood-cut,  made  for  the  occasion, 
representing  the  National  flag  tat 
tered  and  humbled  beneath  the 
secession  banner,  that  was  waving 
over  a  cannon  discharging.2  It  was 
also  announced  that  Harper's  Ferry 
had  been  seized  and  was  occupied  by 
the  insurgents ;  that  the  New  York 
Seventh  Regiment,  in  a  fight  with 
Marylanders,  had  been  defeated  with  great  loss  ;  that  Norfolk  and  Washing 
ton  would  doubtless  be  in  the  hands  of  the  insurgents  in  a  day  or  two  ;  that 
General  Scott  had  certainly  resigned  his  commission  and  offered  his  ser 
vices  to  Virginia  ;3  ,and  that  President  Lincoln  was  about  to  follow  his 

1  See  page  340. 

2  At  about  the  same  time,  according  to  an  informant  of  the  Philadelphia  North  American  (May  9,  1S61), 
the  National  flag  was  more  flagrantly  dishonored  in  Memphis.     A  pit  was  dug  by  the  side  of  the  statue  of 
General  Jackson,  in  the  public  square  at  Memphis.    Then  a  procession,  composed  of  about  five  hundred  citizens, 
approached  the  spot  slowly,  headed  by  a  band  of  music  playing  the  "  Dead  March."    Eight  men,  bearing  a 
coffin,  placed  it  in  the  pit  or  grave,  when  the  words,  "Ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust,'1  were  pronounced,  and  the 
grave  filled  up.     The  coffin  contained  nothing  but  the  American  flag!     It  was  an  act  significant  of  an  eternal 
separation  from  the  Union. 

3  This  story  was  so  persistently  iterated  and  reiterated,  that  it  was  believed.     Scott  was  eulogized  by  the 
press  in  the  interest  of  the  conspirators.     "And  now,"  said  the  Neiv  Orleans  Picayune,  "how  many  of  those 
gallant  men  who,  in  various  positions,  have  for  years  gloried  in  Winiield  Scott,  will  linger  in  the  ranks  of  the 
army  which,  in  losing  him,  has  lost  its  ablest  and  most  signal  ornament?"    The  slander  was  soon  set  at  rest  by 
the  old  hero  himself.    Senator  Crittenden,  at  his  home  in  Kentucky,  anxiously  inquired  of  him  whether  there 
was  any  truth  in  the  story,  and  instantly  received  the  following  dispatch : — 

"WASHINGTON,  April  20, 1861. 
"Hon.  J.  J.  CRITTENDEX: — I  have  not  resigned.     I  have  not  thought  of  resigning.     Always  a  Union  man. 

'•  WINFIKLD  SCOTT." 
Commenting  on  this  answer,  a  Virginia  newspaper,  differing  from  its  confrere,  tho  Picayune,  in  its  esti- 


WOOD-CUT   FROM    A    MEMPHIS    NEW6PAPEK. 


CONSPIRATORS   IX   COUNCIL.  351 

example.1     At  Decatur  we  were  met  by  still  more  alarming  rumors,  under 
lying  which  there  was  evidently  some  truth,  and  we  thought  it  prudent  to 
turn  our  faces  northward.     Had  we  not  been  detained  at  Grand  Junction,  we 
should  tlien  have  been  in  Virginia,  possibly  in  Washington  or  Baltimore,  sub 
jected  to  the  annoyances  of  that  distressing  week  when  the  Xational  Capital  was 
cut  off  from  all  communication  with  the  States  north  and  east  of  it. 
We  spent  Sunday  in  Columbia,  Tennessee  ;  Monday,  at  Nashville ;     "  ^"j 28' 
and  at  four  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning,"  departed  for  Louisville. 

At  Columbia  we  received  the  first  glad  tidings  since  we  left  New  Orleans. 
There  we  met  a  bulletin  from  the  Nashville  Union  and  American,  containing 
ne\vs  of  the  great  uprising  "in  the  Free-labor  States — the  rush  of  men  to 
arms,  and  the  munificent  offers* of  money  from  city  corporations,  banking 
institutions,  and  private  citizens,  all  over  the  country.  Our  faith  in  the 
patriotism  of  the  people  was  amazingly  strengthened ;  and  when,  on  the 
following  day,  at  Franklin  and  one  or  two  other  places,  Pillow,  who  was  our 
fellow-passenger,  repeated  his  disreputable  harangue  at  Grand  Junction,  and 
talked  of  the  poverty,  the  perfidy,  the  acquisitiveness,  aiul  the  cowardice  of 
the  "Northern  hordes  of  Goths  and  Vandals,"  he  seemed  like  a  mere  harle 
quin,  with  cap  and  bells,  trying  to  amuse  the  people  with  cunning  antics. 
And  so  the  people  seemed  to  think,  for  at  Franklin,  where  there  was  quite  a 
large  gathering,  there  was  not  a  single  response  to  his  foolish  speech.  Nobody 
seemed  to  be  deceived  by  it. 

Pillow  was  again  our  fellow-passenger  on  Tuesday  morning,  when  we  left 
Nashville.  We  had  been  introduced  to  him  the  day  before,  and  lie  was  our 
traveling-companion,  courteous  and  polite,  all  the  way  to  Louisville.  When 
we  crossed  the  magnificent  railway  bridge  that  then  spanned  the  Green 
Kiver  at  Mumfordsvillr,  in  Kentucky,  he  leaned  out  of  the  car  window  and 
viewed  it  with  great  earnestness.  I  spoke  of  the  beauty  and  strength  of  the 
struct ure,f  when  he  replied  :  *'  I  am  looking  at  it  with  a  military  eye,  to  see 
how  we  may  destroy  it,  to  prevent  Northern  troops  from  invading  Tennessee." 
He  seemed  to  be  persuaded  that  a  vast  host  were  mustering  on  the  Ohio 
border,  lie  was  evidently  on  his  way  to  Louisville  to  confer,  doubtless  by 
appointment,  with  leading  secessionists  of  Kentucky,  on  the  sub 
ject  of  armed  rebellion.  The  register  of  the  4i  Gait  House  ?'6  in 
that  city  showed  that  Pillow,  Governor  Magoflin,  Simon  B.  Buckner,  and 
other  secessionists  were  at  that  house  on  that  evening.2 

We  did  not  stop  at  Louisville,  but  immediately  crossed  the  Ohio  River  to 
Jeffersonville,  and  took  passage  in  a  car  for  Cincinnati.  The  change  was 
wonderful.  For  nearly  three  weeks  we  had  not  seen  a  National  flag,  nor 
heard  a  National  air,  nor  scarcely  felt  a  thrill  produced  by  a  loyal  sentiment 
audibly  uttered ;  now  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  seen  everywhere,  National 
melodies  were  heard  on  every  hand,  and  the  air  was  resonant  with  the  shouts 


mate  of  Scott's  character,  said,  after  calling  him  "a  driveling  old  fop."  "  With  the  red-hot  pencil  of  infamy,  he 
bus  written  on  his  wrinkled  brow  the  terrible,  damning  words,  "Traitor  to  his  native  State !'  "—Atnngdon 
iJemocrut. 

>  These  dispatches  produced  the  greatest  exultation  throughout  the  South  and  Southwest.  Salvos  of 
cannon  and  the  ringing  of  bells  attested  the  general  joy.  The  editor  of  the  Natchez  Frte  Trader  said,  after 
describing  the  rejoicings  there,  "  The  pen  fails  to  make  the  record  a  just  one.  We  are  hoarse  with  shouting  and 
exalted  with  jubilaiu-y." 

'  Letter  of  General  Leslie  Coombs  to  the  author. 


352 


EXCITEMENT   IN   CINCINNATI. 


of  loyal  men.  Banners  were  streaming  from  windows,  floating  over  house 
tops,  arid  fluttering  from  rude  poles  by  the  waysides.  Little  children  waved 
them  with  tiny  huzzas,  as  our  train  passed  by,  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity 
with  young  men  hastening  to  enroll  themselves  for  the  great  Union  Army 
then  forming. 

Cincinnati  was  fairly  iridescent  with  the  Red,  White,  and  Blue.  From 
the  point  of  the  spire  of  white  cut  stone  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral, 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  in  the  air,  the  loyal  Archbishop  Purcell 
had  caused  to  be  unfurled,  with  "  imposing  ceremonies,"  it  was  said,  a  mag 
nificent  National  flag,  ninety  feet  in  length  ;'  and  on  the  clay  of  our  visit,  it 
seemed  as  if  the  whole  population  were  on  the  streets,  cheering  the  soldiers 


STREET   SCENE   IN   CINCINNATI,    IN    APRIL,    1861. 

as  they  passed  through  the  city.*  There  was  no  sign  of  doubt  or  lukewarm- 
ness.  The  Queen  City  gave  ample  tokens  that  the  mighty  Northwest,  whose 
soil  had  been  consecrated  to  freedom  forever  by  a  solemn  act  of  the  Congress 
of  the  old  Confederation,3  was  fully  aroused  to  a  sense  of  the  perils  that, 
threatened  the  Republic,  and  .was  sternly  determined  to  defend  it  at  all 
hazards.  How  lavishly  that  great  Northwest  poured  out  its  blood  and  trea 
sure  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  will  be  observed  hereafter. 

As  we  journeyed  eastward  through  Ohio,  by  way  of  Columbus,  Newark, 
and  Steubenville,'  to  Pittsburg,  the  magnitude  and  significance  of  the  great 


1  "The  'ceremonies1  attending  the  raising  of  the  flag,"  wrote  the  Archbishop  in  a  letter  to  the  author,  July 
23,  1S65,  in  reply  to  a  question  concerning  it,  '•  consisted  of  the  hurrahs,  the  tears  of  hope  and  joy,  the  prayer 
for  success  from  the,  blessing  of  God  on  our  cause  and  arms  by  our  Catholic  people  and  our  fellow-citizens  of 
various  denominations,  who  saluted  the  flag  with  salvos  of  artillery.    The  flag  was  really  ninety  feet  long,  and 
broad  in  proportion.     One  of  less  dimensions  would  not  have,  satisfied  the  enthusiasm  of  our  people." 

2  The  scene  depicted  in  the  engraving  was  on  Fourth  Street,  the  fashionable  and  business  thoroughfare  of 
Cincinnati,  in  the  vicinity  of  Pike's  Opera  House.     The  view  is  from  a  point  near  the  Post-office. 

3  See  the  famous  Ordinance  passed  on  the  13th  of  July,  1TS7.  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  eight  State* 
then  represented  in  Congress,  namely,  Massachusetts.  Nev-  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware.  Virginia.  North  Caro 
lina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia.     IP  that  ordinance,  the  most  perfect  freedom  of  person  and  property  was 
decreed.     See  Journals  of  Congress,  Folweire  edition,  xii.  58. 


LOYALTY   IN  THE   FREE-LABOR   STATES.  353 

uprising   became   hourly   more    and   more    apparent.      The    whole   country 
seemed  to  have  responded  to  the  call : — 

"  Lay  down  the  ax,  flin£  by  the  spade; 

Leave  in  its  track  the  toiling  plow: 
The  rifle  and  the  bayonet-blade 

For  arms  like  yours  were  fitter  now; 
And  let  the  hands  that  ply  the  pen 

Quit  the  liirht  task,  and  learn  to  wield 
The  horseman's  erooked  brand,  and  rein 

The  charger  on  the  battle-field."1 

In  the  evening  we  saw  groups  drilling  in  military  maneuvers  in  the  dim 
moonlight,  with  sticks  and  every  kind  of  substitute  for  a  musket.  Men 
were  crowding  the  railway  cars  and  other  vehicles,  as  they  pressed  toward 
designated  places  of  rendezvous ;  and  at  every  station,  tearful  women  and 
children  were  showering  kisses,  and  farewells,  and  blessings  upon  their  loved 
ones,  who  cheered  them  with  assurances  of  speedy  return.  Pittsburg,  with 
its  smoke  and  forges,  was  bright  with  banners,  and  more  noisy  with  the 
drum  than  with  the  tilt-hammer.  All  the  way  over  the  great  Alleghany 
range,  and  down  through  the  beautiful  valleys  of  the  Juniata  and  Susque- 
hanna,  we  observed  the  people  moving  to  "the  music  of  the  Union." 
Philadelphia — staid  and  peaceful  Philadelphia — the  Quaker  City — was  gay 
and  brilliant  with  the  ensigns  of  war.  Her  streets  were  filled  with  resident 
and  passing  soldiery,  and  her  great  warm  heart  was  throbbing  audibly  with 
patriotic  emotions,  such  as  stirred  her  more  than  fourscore  years  before, 
when  the  Declaration  of  Independence  went  out  from  her  venerated  State 
House.  Her  Mayor  (Henry)  had  just  said :— "  By  the  grace  of  Almighty  God, 
treason  shall  never  rear  its  head  or  have  a  foothold  in  Philadelphia.  I  call 
upon  you  as  American  citizA'ns  to  stand  by  your  flag,  and  protect  it  at  all 
hazards."8  The  people  said  Amen!  and  no  city  in  the  Union  has  a  brighter 
record  of  patriotism  and  benevolence  than  Philadelphia.  New  Jersey  was  also 
aroused.  Burlington, Trenton, Princeton,  Brunswick,  Kahway,  Elizabethtown, 
Newark,  and  Jersey  City,  through  which  we  passed,  were  alive  with  enthu 
siasm.  And  when  we  had  crossed  the  Hudson  River,  and  entered 
the  great  city  of  New  York,"  with  its  almost  a  million  of  inhabi-  "JJjJ/' 
tants,  it  seemed  as  if  we  were  in  a  vast  military  camp4  The 
streets  were  swarming  with  soldiers.  Among  the  stately  trees  at  the  Bat 
tery,  at  its  lower  extremity,  white  tents  were  standing.  Before  its  iron  gates 
sentinels  were  passing.  Kude  barracks,  filled  \\i\\\  men,  were  covering 
portions  of  the  City  Hall  Park;  and  heavy  cannon  were  arranged  in  line 
near  the  fountain,  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  soldiers,  many  of  them  in 
the  gay  costume  of  the  Zouave.  Already  thousands  of  volunteers  had  gone 
out  from  among  the  citizens,  or  had  passed  through  the  town  from  other  parts 
of  the  State,  and  from  New  England  ;  and  already  the  commercial  metropo 
lis  of  the  Republic,  whose  disloyal  Mayor,  less  than  four  months  before, 
had  argued  officially  in  favor  of  its  raising  the  standard  of  secession  and 

1  Our  Country's  Call:  by  William  Cullen  Bryant 

*  Speech  of  Mayor  Henry  to  a  crowd  of  citizens  who  were  about  to  attack  the  printine-ofilce  of  The  Pal 
metto  Flag,  a  disloyal  sheet.  on  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Chestnut  Streets.     The  Mayor  exhorted  the  citizens 
to  refrain  from  violence.     The  proprietor  of  the  obnoxious  sheet  displayed  the  American  flap.     The  Mayor 
hoisted  it  over  tho  building,  and  the  crowd  dispersed. 
VOL.  I.— '23 


354 


ATTITUDE   OF   NEW   YORK   CITY. 


Ais6i.2°' 


revolt,1  had  spoken  out  for  the  Union  in  a  monster  meeting  of  men  of  all 
political  and  religious  creeds,  gathered  around  the  statue  of  Washington, 
at  Union  Square/  where  all  party  feeling  was  kept  in  abeyance, 
an^  omV  one  sentiment  —  THE  UNION  SHALL  BE  PRESERVED  —  was 
th?  burden  of  all  the  oratory. 

That  New  York 
meeting,  the  type 
of  others  all  over  the 
land,  had  a  peculiar 
significance,  and  a 
vast  and  salutary  in 
fluence.  That  city 
had  been  regarded 
as  eminently  "  con 
servative"  and  friend 
ly  to  "the  South," 
on  account  of  the 
many  ties  of  commer 
cial  interest.  Politi 
cally  it  was  opposed 
to  the  Administra 
tion  by  thirty  thou 
sand  majority.  The 
voice  of  the  metropo 

lis,  at  such  a  crisis,  was  therefore  listened  for  with  the  most  anxious  solicitude. 
It  could  not  keep  silence.  Already  the  insurgents  had  commenced  their 
movements  for  the  seizure  of  the  seat  of  Government.  Harper's  Ferry  and 
the  Gosport  Navy  Yard  were  just  passing  into  the  hands  of  rebellious  men. 
Already  the  blood  of  Union  soldiers  had  been  spilt  in  Baltimore,  and  the  cry 
had  come  up  from  below  the  Roanoke  :  "Press  on  toward  Washington!" 
Already  the  politicians  of  Virginia  hacL  passed  an  Ordinance  of 
Secession,6  and  were  inviting  the  troops  from  the  Gulf  States  to 
their  soil.  The  secessionists  of  Maryland  were  active,  and  the  National 
Capitol,  with  its  archives,  was  in  imminent  peril  of  seizure  by  the  insur 
gents.  It  was  un&er  such  a  condition  of  public  affairs  that  the  meeting  had 
assembled,  on  the  20th  of  April.  Places  of  business  were  closed,  that  all 
might  participate  in  the  proceedings.  It  was  estimated,  that  at  least  one 
hundred  thousand  persons  were  in  attendance  during  the  afternoon.  Four 
stands  were  erected  at  points  equidistant  around  Union  Square;  and  the  soiled 
and  tattered  flag  that  Anderson  had  brought  away  from  Fort  Sumter,  was 
mounted  on  a  fragment  of  its  staff,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  statue 
of  Washington.  The  meeting  was  organized  by  the  appointment  of  a 
President  at  each  of  the  four  stands,  with  a  large  number  of  assistants  ;2 
and  it  was  addressed  by  representative  men  of  all  political  parties,  who, 


THE   BATTERY,    NEW    YORK,    IN    MAY,    1S61. 


1  See  page  205. 

2  The  four  Presidents  were  John  A.  Dix,  ex-Gorernor  Hamilton  Fish,  ex-Mayor  William  F.  Havemeyer, 
<vnd  Moses  H.Grinnell.     These  were  assisted  by  numerous  vice-presidents  and  secretaries,  wio  were  chosen 
from  among  men  holding  opposing  opinions. 


THE   GREAT   MEETING   AT   UNION    SQUARE. 


355 


as  we  have  observed,  were  in  perfect  agreement  on  this  occasion,  in  a  de 
termination  to  support  the  Government  in  maintaining  its  authority.1 

John  A.  I)ix,  a  life-long  Democrat,  and  lately  a  member  of  Buchanan's 
Cabinet,  presided  at  the  principal  stand,  near  the  statue  of  Washington. 
The  meeting  was  then  opened  by  prayer  by  the  venerable  Gardiner  Spring, 
D.  D.,  when  the  President  addressed  a  few  sentences  to  the  multitude,  in 
which  he  spoke  of  the  rebellion  being  without  provocation  on  the  part  of 
the  Government,  and  said  : — "  I  regard  the  pending  contest  with  the  seces 
sionists  as  a  death-struggle  for  constitutional  liberty  and  law — a  contest 
which,  if  successful  on  their  part,  could  only  end  in  the  establishment  of  a 
despotic  government,  and  blot  out,  whenever  they  were  in  the  ascendant, 
every  vestige  of 
national  freedom. 
.  .  We  stand  be 
fore  the  statue,  of 
the  Father  of  his 
Country.  The  flag 
of  the  Union  which 
floats  over  it,  hung 
above  him  when 
he  presided  over 
the  Convention  by 
which  the  Consti 
tution  was  framed. 
The  great  work  of 
his  life  has  been 
rejected,  and  the 
banner  by  which 
his  labors  were  con 
secrated  has  been 
trampled  in  the 
dust.  If  the  in 
animate  bron/c,  in  which  the  sculptor  has  shaped  his  image,  could  be 
changed  for  the  living  form  which  led  the  armies  of  the  devolution  to 
victory,  he  would  command  us,  in  the  name  of  the  hosts  of  patriots  and 
political  martyrs  who  have  gone  before,  to  strike  for  the  defense  of  the 
Union  and  the  Constitution." 

Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  a  venerable  leader  of  the  Democratic  party,  said : — 
"We  are  called  upon  to  <«-(.  This  is  no  time  for  hesitation  or  indecision — 
no  time  for  haste  or  excitement.  It  is  a  time  when  the  people  should  rise  in 
the  majesty  of  their  might,  stretch  forth  their  strong  arm,  and  silence  the 
angry  waves  of  tumult.  It  is  a  question  between  Union  and  Anarchy — 
between  law  and  disorder." 

Senator  Baker,  of  Oregon,  a  leading  member  of  Congress,  who  after 
ward  gave  his  life  for  his  countrv  at  Ball's  Bluff,  made  an  eloquent  speech. 
"  Young  men  of  Xew  York,"  he  said — "  Young  men  of  the  United  States — 


NEW    YORK.    ON   THK    20TII    OF    AI'RII..    IS61. 


1  An  account  of  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting,  containing  the  names  of  the  officers,  and  abstracts  of  the 
several  speeches,  may  be  found  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Rebellion  Record,  edited  by  Frank  Moore. 


356  THE  GRISTS   COMPREHENDED. 

you  are  told  this  is  not  to  be  a  war  of  aggression.  In  one  sense,  that  is  true  *, 
in  another,  not.  We  have  committed  aggression  upon  no  man.  In  all 
the  broad  land,  iu  their  rebel  nest,  in  their  traitor's  camp,  no  truthful  man 
can  rise  and  say  that  he  has  ever  been  disturbed,  though  it  be  but  for  a  single 
moment,  in  life,  liberty,  estate,  character,  or  honor.  The  day  they  began 
this  unnatural,  false,  wicked,  rebellious  warfare,  their  lives  were  more 
secure,  their  property  more  secure  by  us — not  by  themselves,  but  by  us — 
guarded  far  more  securely  than  any  people  ever  have  had  their  lives  and 
property  secured,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world.  We  have  committed  no 
oppression,  have  broken  no  compact,  have  exercised  no  unholy  power ;  have 
been  loyal,  moderate,  constitutional,  and  just.  We  are  a  majority  of  the 
Union,  and  we  will  govern  our  own  Union,  within  our  own  Constitution,  in 
our  own  way.  We  are  all  Democrats.  We  are  all  Republicans.  We 
acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  within  the  rule  of  the  Constitu 
tion  ;  and  under  that  Constitution,  and  beneath  that  flag,  let  traitors  beware. 
...  I  propose  that  the  people  of  this  Union  dictate  to  these  rebels  the  terms 
of  peace.  It  may  take  thirty  millions ;  it  may  take  three  hundred  millions. 
What  then  ?  We  have  it.  Loyally,  nobly,  grandly  do  the  merchants  of 
New  York  respond  to  the  appeal  of  the  Government.  It  may  cost  us  seven 
thousand  men ;  it  may  cost  us  seventy-five  thousand  men  in  battle  ;  it  may 
cost  us  even  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men.  What  then  ?  We  have 
them.  The  blood  of  every  loyal  citizen  of  this  Government  is  dear  to  me. 
My  sons,  my  kinsmen,  the  young  men  who  have  grown  up  beneath  my  eye 
and  beneath  my  care,  they  are  all  dear  to  me ;  but  if  the  country's  destiny, 
glory,  tradition,  greatness,  freedom,  government — written  Constitutional  Gov 
ernment — the  only  hope  of  a  free  people — demand  it,  let  them  all  go.  I  am 
not  here  now  to  speak  timorous  words  of.,peace,  but  to  kindle  the  spirit  of 
manly,  determined  war.  ...  I  say  my  mission  here  to-day  is,  to  kindle  the 
heart  of  New  York  for  war.  The  Seventh  Regiment  is  gone.  Let  seventy  and 
seven  more  follow.  .  .  .  Civil  War,  for  the  best  of  reasons  upon  one  side, 
and  the  worst  upon  the  other,  is  always  dangerous  to  liberty — always  fearful, 
always  bloody ;  but,  fellow-citizens,  there  are  yet  worse  things  than  fear, 
than  doubt  and  dread,  and  danger  and  blood.  Dishonor  is  worse.  Perpetual 
anarchy  is  worse.  States  forever  commingling  and  forever  severing  is  worse. 
Traitors  and  secessionists  are  worse.  To  have  star  after  star  blotted  out — • 
to  have  stripe  after  stripe  obscured — to  have  glory  after  glory  dimmed — to 
have  our  women  weep  and  our  men  blush  for  shame  throughout  genera 
tions  yet  to  come ;  that  and  these  are  infinitely  worse  than  blood. 

"  The  President  himself,"  continued  the  eloquent  speaker,  "  a  hero  without 
knowing  it — and  I  speak  from  knowledge,  having  known  him  from  boyhood 
—the  President  says,  '  There  are  wrongs  to  be  redressed,  already  long  enough 
endured.'  And  we  inarch  to  battle  and  to  victory,  because  we  do  not  choose 
to  endure  these  wrongs  any  longer.  They  are  wrongs  not  merely  against 
us;  not  against  you,  Mr.  President;  not  against  me,  but  against  our  sons  and 
against  our  grandsons  that  surround  us.  They  are  wrongs  against  our 
ensign ;  they  are  wrongs  against  our  Union  ;  they  are  wrongs  against  our  Con 
stitution  ;  they  are  wrongs  against  human  hope  and  human  freedom.  .  .  . 
While  I  speak,  following  in  the  wake  of  men  so  eloquent,  so  conservative,  so 
eminent,  so  loyal,  so  well  known — even  while  I  speak,  the  object  of  your 


SPEECHES   OF  REPRESENTATIVE   DEMOCRATS.  357 

meeting  is  accomplished.  Upon  the  wings  of  the  lightning  it  goes  out 
throughqut  the  world  that  New  York,  the  very  heart  of  a  great  State,  with 
her  crowded  thoroughfares,  her  merchants,  her  manufacturers,  her  artists — 
that  New  York,  by  one  hundred  thousand  of  her  people,  declares  to  the 
country  and  to  the  world,  that  she  will  sustain  the  Government  to  the  last 
dollar  in  her  treasury — to  the  last  drop  of  your  blood.  The  National  ban 
ners  leaning  from  ten  thousand  windows  in  your  city  to-day,  proclaim  your 
affection  and  reverence  for  the  Union." 

Robert  J.  Walker,  of  Mississippi,  who  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in 
the  Democratic  Administration  of  President  Polk,  denounced  secession  as  a 
crime,  and  said  : — "Much  as  I  love  my  party,  I  love  my  country  infinitely 
more,  and  must  and  will  sustain  it,  at  all  hazards.  Indeed,  it  is  due  to  the 
great  occasion  here  frankly  to  declare  that,  notwithstanding  my  earnest 
opposition  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  my  disposition  most  closely  to 
scrutinize  all  his  acts,  I  see,  thus  far,  nothing  to  condemn  in  his  efforts  to 
save  the  Union.  .  .  .  And  now  let  me  say,  that  this  Union  must,  will,  and 
shall  be  perpetuated ;  that  not  a  star  shall  be  dimmed  or  a  stripe  erased  from 
our  banner  ;  that  the  integrity  of  the  Government  shall  be  preserved,  and 
that  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  lakes  of  the  North  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  never  shall  be  surrendered  a  single  acre  of  our  soil  or  a  drop  of 
its  waters." 

David  S.  Coddington,  an  influential  member  of  the  Democratic  party, 
gave  a  scathing  review  of  the  efforts  of  disunionists  recorded  in  our  history, 
and  said: — "Shall  I  tell  you  what  secession  means?  It  means  atnbition  in 
the  Southern  leaders  and^nisap^trehension  in  the  Southern  people.  Its  policy 
is  to  imperialize  Slavery,  and  to  degrade  and  destroy  the  only  free  re/niI>Uc 
in  the  inn-Id.  .  .  .  Nothing  so  disappoints  secession  as  the  provoking  fidelity 
of  New  York  to  the  Constitution.  From  the  vaults  of  Wall  Street,  Jefferson 
Davis  expected  to  pay  his  army,  and  riot  in  all  the  streets  and  in  all  the 
towns  and  cities  of  the  North,  to  make  their  march  a  triumphant  one.  Fifty 
thousand  men  to-day  tread  on  his  fallacy/1 

Such  was  the  response  of  some  of  the  ablest  representatives  of  the  vene 
rable  Democratic  party  to  the  slanderers  of  that  party,  such  as  Sanders  and 
his  like  in  the  South,  and  its  trailing  politicians  in  the  North.1  It  was  the 


1  Representative  men  of  the  Democratic  party  in  different  loyal  States  made  speeches,  and  took  sub 
stantially  the  same  ground.  The  venerable  General  Cass,  late  Secretary  of  State,  made  a  stirring  speech  at 
Detroit,  on  the  24th  of  April.  "He  who  is  not  for  his  country,"  he  said,  "is  against  her.  There  is  no  neutral 
position  to  be  occupied.  It  is  the  duty  of  all  zealously  to  support  the  Government  in  its  efforts  to  bring  this 
unhappy  civil  war  to  a  speedy  and  satisfactory  conclusion,  by  the  restoration,  in  its  integrity,  of  that  great 
charter  of  freedom  bequeathed  to  us  by  Washington  and  his  compatriots." 

The  veteran  General  Wool,  a  Democrat  of  the  Jefferson  and  Jackson  school,  and  then  commander  of  the 
Eastern  Department,  said,  in  response  to  the  greetings  of  the  citizens  of  Troy,  who,  at  the  close  of  an  immense 
meeting,  on  the  16th  of  April,  went  to  his  house  in  a  body: — "Will  you  permit  that  tlag  to  be  desecrated  and 
trampled  in  the  dust  by  traitors?  Will  you  permit  our  noble  Government  to  be  destroyed  by  rebels,  in  order 
that  they  may  advance  their  schemes  of  political  ambition  and  extend  the  area  of  Slavery*  No,  indeed,  it 
cannot  be  done.  The  spirit  of  the  age  forbids  it.  My  friends,  that  (lag  must  be  lifted  up  from  the  dust  into 
which  it  has  been  trampled,  placed  in  its  proper  position,  and  again  set  floating  in  triumph  to  the  breeze.  I 
pledge  you  my  heart,  my  hand,  all  my  energies  to  the  cause.  The  Union  shall  be  maintained.  I  am  prepared 
to  devote  my  life  to  the  work,  and  to  lead  you  in  the  struggle !" 

Caleb  dishing,  who  presided  at  the  Charleston  Convention  (page  20)  and  at  the  Seceders'  Convention  at 
Baltimore  (page  27),  in  1S60,  made  an  eloquent  speech  at  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  on  the  same  day,  in 
which  he  said  that  he  cordially  participated  in  the  patriotic  manifestations  around  him.  He  would  yield  to  no 
man  in  faithfulness  to  the  Union,  or  in  zeal  for  the  maintenance  «»f  the  laws  and  the  constitutional  authorities 


358  IMPRESSIONS   OF  AN  INTELLIGENT  ENGLISHMAN. 

unbiased  sentiment  of  the  great  body  of  that  organization  then  and  through 
out  the  war,  who  were  truly  loyal  in  sentiment,  and  formed  a  strong  element 
of  the  powerful  Union  party  that  faithfully  sustained  the  Government,  in 
spite  of  the  machinations  of  demagogues.  That  meeting  relieved  the  citizens 
of  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  nation  from  the  false  position  of  apparent 
selfish  indifference  to  the  fate  of  the  Republic,  in  which  they  had  been  placed 
before  Europe  by  an  able  correspondent  of  the  London  Times,  who  had  been 
utterly  misled  by  a  few  men  among  whom  he  unfortunately  fell  on  his  arrival 
in  this  country.1  It  gave  assurance  of  that  heart-felt  patriotism  of  the  great 
body  of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  who  attested  their  devotion  to  the  country 
by  giving  about  one  hundred  thousand  soldiers  to  the  army,  and  making  the 
sacrifice,  it  is  estimated,  in  actual  expenditures  of  money,  the  loss  of  the  labor 
of  their  able-bodied  men,  private  and  public  contributions,  taxes,  et  ccetera, 
of  not  less  than  three  hundred  millions  of  dollars  in  the  course  of  four  years. 
That  meeting  dismayed  and  exasperated  the  conspirators,2  for  tbc^  saw  that 


of  the  Union ;  and  to  that  end  he  stood  prepared,  if  occasion  should  call  for  it,  to  testify  his  sense  of  public 
duty  by  entering  the  field  again,  at  the  command  of  the  Commonwealth  or  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Gushing  did 
offer  his  services  in  the  field  to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  but  they  were  not  accepted. 

At  a  public  reception  of  Senator  Douglas,  Mr.  Lincoln's  opponent  for  the  Presidency,  at  Chicago,  Illinois,  on 
the  1st  of  May,  that  statesman,  in  a  patriotic  speech,  said : — "There  are  only  two  sides  to  this  question.  Every 
man  must  be  for  the  United  States  or  against  it.  There  can  be  no  neutrals  in  this  war;  only  patriots  or 
traitors.  ...  I  express  it  as  my  conviction  before  God,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  American  citizen  to  rally 
round  the  flag  of  his  country." 

1  This  was  William  Howard  Russell,  LL.  D.,  whom  we  have  mentioned  in  note  2,  page  91.     He  had  acquired 
much  reputation  by  his  graphic  pictures  of  the  war  in  the  Crimea.     He  was  instructed  to  keep  the  readers  of  the 
Times  advised  of  the  progress  of  events  in  the  United  States  during  the  civil  war  that  then  seemed  inevitable. 
Dr.  Russell  arrived  in  the  city  of  New  York  at  the  middle  of  March,  ISfJI,  while  the  ground  was  covered  with 
snow.    The  center  of  the  society  into  which  he  was  invited  and  retained  during  his  stay  in  that  city  was  an  emi 
nent  banker,  whom  he  speaks  of  as  "an  American  by  theory,  an  Englishman  in  instincts  and  tastes — educated  in 
Europe,  and  sprung  from  British  stock.     His  friends,"  he  saidTv"all  men  of  position  in  New  York  society,  had 
the  same  dilettanti  tone,  and  were  as  little  anxious  for  the  future,  or  excited  by  the  present,  as  a  party  of  savans, 
chronicling  the  movements  of  a  'magnetic  storm.1 "     He  mentions  the  names  of  some  of  the  gentlemen  whom 
he  met  there,  among  whom  were  some  who  were  distinguished  throughout  the  war  as  the  most  persistent 
opposers  of  their  Government  in  its  efforts  to  save  the  nation  from  ruin.     The  impression  their  conversation 
and  arguments  made  on  the  mind  of  Dr.  Russell  was,  he  said,  "  that,  according  to  the  Constitution,  the  Gov 
ernment  could  not  employ  force  to  prevent  secession,  or  to  compel  States  which  had  seceded  by  the  will  of  the 
people  to  acknowledge  the  Federal  power.     In  fact,  according  to  them,  the  Federal  Government  was  a  mere 
•machine,  put  forward  by  a  society  of  sovereign  States,  as  a  common  instrument  for  certain  ministerial  acts. 
more  particularly  those  which  affected  the  external  relations  of  the  Confederation.  .  .  .  There  was  not  a  man 
who  maintained  the  Government  had  any  power  to  coerce  the  people  of  a  State,  or  to  force  a  State  to  remain  in 
the  Union,  or  under  the  action  of  the  Federal  Government;  in  other  words,  the  symbol  of  power  at  Washing 
ton  is  not  at  all  analogous  to  that  which  represents  an  established  government  in  other  countries.     Although 
they  admitted  the  Southern  leaders  had  meditated  '  the  treason  against  the  Union '  years  ago,  they  could  not 
bring  themselves  to  allow  their  old  opponents,  the  Republicans  now  in  power,  to  dispose  of  the  armed  force  of 
the  Union  against  their  brother  Democrats  of  the  Southern  States." 

The  conclusion  at  which  Dr.  Russell  arrived,  in  consequence  of  the  expressed  opinions  of  these  "  men  of 
position  in  New  York."  among  whom  he  associated  while  there,  was,  that  "there  was  neither  army  nor  navy 
available,  and  the  ministers  had  no  machinery  of  rewards,  and  means  of  intrigue,  or  modes  of  gaining  adhe 
rents  known  to  European  Governments.  The  Democrats,"  he  said,  "  behold,  with  silent  satisfaction,  the  troubles 
into  which  the  Republican  triumph  has  plunged  the  country,  and  are  not  at  all  disposed  to  extricate  them.  The 
most  notable  way  of  impeding  their  efforts  is  to  knock  them  down  with  the  Constitution  every  time  they  rise 
to  the  surface,  and  be<*in  to  swim  out.  New  York  society,  however,  is  easy  in  its  mind  just  now,  and  the 
upper  world  of  millionaire  merchants,  bankers,  contractors,  and  great  traders,  are  glad  that  the  vulgar  Repub 
licans  are  suffering  for  their  success." — My  Diary  North  and  South  :  by  William  Howard  Russell,  Chapters  IIL 
and  IV.  Harper  &,  Brothers,  1S63. 

2  Alluding  to  the  meeting,  the  Richmond  Despatch  (April  25)  said  :— "  New  York  will  be  remembered  with 
special  hatred  by  the  South,  to  the  end  of  time.     Boston  we  have  always  known  where  to  find:  but  this  New 
York,  which  has  never  turned  against  us  until  this  hour  of  trial,  and  is  now  moring  heaven  and  earth  for  our 
destruction,  shall  be  a  marked  city  to  the  end  of  time."     That  special  hatred,  not  of  "the  South,"  but  of  the 
conspirators,  was  evinced  in  attempts  to  lay  the  city  in  ashes,  and,  it  is  said,  to  poison  the  Croton  water  with 
which  the  city  is  supplied  from  forty  miles  in  the  interior. 

This  exasperation  of  those  who  had  been  greatly  deceived  was  very  natural.      The  disloyal  official  propo- 


SPEECH    OF  PROFESSOR   MITCHEL.  359 

they  had  been  deceived,  and  observed  that,  unlike  themselves,  their  political 
brethren  in  the  Free-labor  States  loved  their  country  more  than  their  party 
—were  more  patriotic  than  selfish — and  would  boldly  confront  with  war,  if 
f  necessary,  every  enemy  of  the  Union  and  of  American  nationality.  It  also 
amazingly  encouraged  and  strengthened  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  in 
their  efforts  to  suppress  the  rising  rebellion. 

In  that  meeting  the  profound  intellect — the  science  of  the  Free-labor 
States — was  represented  by  Professor  O.  M.  Mitchel,  one  of  the  brightest 
lights  of  the  century,  who  also  gave  his  services  and  his  life  in  defense  of 
the  Union.  Xo  speech  on  that  occasion  thrilled  the  vast  multitude  who 
heard  his  voice  more  than  that  of  Professor  Mitchel.  "I  have  been 
announced  to  you,"  he  said,  "as  a  citizen  of  Kentucky.  Once  I  was,  because 
I  was  born  there.  I  love  my  native  State  as  you  love  your  native  State.  I 
love  my  adopted  State  of  Ohio  as  you  love  your  adopted  State,  if  such  you 
have ;  but,  my  friends,  I  am  not  a  citizen  now  of  any  State.  I  owe  alle 
giance  to  no  State,  and  never  did,  and,  God  helping  me,  I  never  will.  I  <nre 
allc<ji<mce  to  the  Government  of  the  United  Stute*"  After  referring  to  his 
own  education  at  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  he  said: — "My 
father  and  my  mother  were  from  Old  Virginia,  and  my  brothers  and  sisters 
from  Old  Kentucky.  I  love  them  all;  I  love  them  dearly.  I  have  my 
brothers  and  friends  down  in  the  South  now,  united  to  me  by  the  fondest 
ties  of  love  and  affection.  I  would  take  them  in  my  arms  to-day  with  all 
the  love  that  God  has  put  into  this  heart ;  but,  if  I  found  them  in  arms 
against  my  country,  I  would  be  compelled  to  smite  them  down.  You 
have  found  officers  of  the  Army  who  have  been  educated  by  the  Govern 
ment,  who  have  drawn  their  support  from  the  Government  for  long 
years,  who,  when  called  upon  by  their  country  to  stand  for  the  Constitution 
and  for  the  right,  have  basely,  ignominiously,  and  traitorously  either  re 
signed  their  commissions  or  deserted  to  traitors,  and  rebels,  and  enemies. 
What  means  all  this?  How  can  it  be  possible  that  men  should  act  in 
this  way?  There  is  no  question  but  one.  If  we  ever  had  a  Government 
and  a  Constitution,  or  if  we  ever  lived  under  such,  have  we  ever  recognized 
the  supremacy  of  right  ?  I  say,  in  God's  name,  why  not  recognize  it 
now  ?  Why  not  to-day?  Why  not  forever?  Suppose  those  friends  of  ours 
from  Old  Ireland — suppose  he  who  made  himself  one  of  us,  when  a  war 
should  break  out  against  his  own  country,  should  say,  '  I  cannot  fight  against 
my  own  countrymen,'  is  he  a  citizen  of  the  United  States?  They  are 
countrymen  no  longer  when  war  breaks  out.  The  rebels  and  the  traitors  in 
the  South  we  mnst  set  aside ;  they  are  not  our  friends.  When  they  come 
to  their  senses,  we  will  receive  them  with  open  arms;  but  till  that  time, 
while  they  are  trailing  our  glorious  banner  in  the  dust ;  when  they  scorn  it, 


Bition  of  Mayor  Wood,  only  three  or  four  months  before ;  the  intimate  and  extensive  commercial  relations  of 
New  York  with  the  Slave-labor  States;  the  known  financial  complicity  of  some  of  its  citizens  in  the  African 
Slave-trade,  and  the  daily  utterances  of  some  of  its  politicians,  srave.  assurance  that  in  a  crisis  such  as  had 
arrived,  it  would  "  stand  by  the  South."  While  the  writer  was  at  the  St.  Charles  Hotel,  in  New  Orleans,  on  the 
day  when  the  President's  call  for  troops  reached  that  city,  he  heard  n  gentleman  (Colonel  Hiram  Fuller),  who  had 
been  prominently  connected  with  the  newspaper  press  of  New  York,  say  to  a  uroup  of  bystanders  :  "Our  city 
will  never  countenance  the  Black  Republicans  in  rnakin<r  war.  I  bi-lonsr  to  a  secret  society  [Knights  of  the 
Golden  Circle?]  in  that  city,  fifty  thousand  strone.  who  will  sooner  fiirht  for  the  South  than  for  the  Abolition 
North."  This  was  less  than  a  week  before  the  great  meeting  at  Union  Sjuare. 


360  PATRIOTIC   RESOLUTIONS   ADOPTED. 

condemn  it,  curse  it,  and  trample  it  under  foot,  then  I  must  smite.  Tn  God's 
name  I  will  smite,  and,  as  long  as  I  have  strength,  I  will  do  it.  Oh !  listen 
to  me !  listen  to  me  !  I  know  these  men  ;  I  know  their  courage ;  I  have  been 
among  them ;  I  have  been  with  them  ;  I  have  been  reared  with  them ;  they 
have  courage ;  and  do  not  you  pretend  to  think  they  have  not.  I  tell  you 
what  it  is,  it  is  no  child's  play  you  are  entering  upon.  They  will  fight ;  and 
with  a  determination  and  a  power  which  is  irresistible.  Make  up  your  mind 
to  it.  Let  every  man  put  his  life  in  his  hand,  and  say:  ' There  is  the  altar  of 
my  country  ;  there  I  will  sacrifice  my  life.'  I,  for  one,  will  lay  my  life  down. 
It  is  not  mine  any  longer.  Lead  me  to  the  conflict.  Place  me  where  I  can 
do  my  duty.  There  I  am  ready  to  go.  I  care  not  where  it  may  lead  me.  I 
am  ready  to  fight  in  the  ranks  or  out  of  the  ranks.  Having  been  educated 
in  the  Academy;  having  been  in  the  Army  seven  years;  having  served  as 
commander  of  a  voluntary  company  for  ten  years,  and  having  served  as  an 
adjutant-general,  I  feel  I  am  ready  for  something.  I  only  ask  to  be  permitted 
to  act,  and,  in  God's  name,  give  me  something  to  do !" 

While  the  speakers  at  the  great  meeting  illustrated  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
people  of  the  Free-labor  States,  the  resolutions  there  adopted  indicated  the 
calm  judgment  and  unalterable  determination  that  would  govern  them  in  the 
trial  before  them.  In  those  resolutions,  they  averred  that  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  had  given  origin  to  our  Government,  the  most  equal  and 
beneficent  hitherto  known  among  men ;  that  under  its  protection  the  wide 
expansion  of  our  territory,  the  vast  development  of  our  wealth,  our  population, 
and  our  power,  had  built  up  a  nation  able  to  maintain  and  defend  before  the 
world  the  principles  of  liberty  and  justice  upon  which  it  was  founded  ;  that  by 
every  sentiment  of  interest,  of  honor,  of  affection,  and  of  duty,  they  were 
engaged  to  preserve  unbroken  for  their  generation,  and  to  transmit  to  their 
posterity,  the  great  heritage  they  had  received  from  heroic  ancestors ;  that 
to  the  maintenance  of  this  sacred  trust  they  would  devote  whatever  they 
possessed  and  whatever  they  could  do ;  and  in  support  of  that  Government 
under  which  they  were  happy  and  proud  to  live,  they  were  prepared  to  shed 
their  blood  and  lay  down  their  lives.  In  view  of  future  reconciliation,  they 
added: — "That  when  the  authority  of  the  Federal  Government  shall  have 
been  re-established,  and  peaceful  obedience  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  pre 
vail,  we  shall  be  ready  to  confer  and  co-operate  with  all  loyal  citizens  through 
out  the  Union,  in  Congress  or  in  convention,  for  the  consideration  of  all 
supposed  grievances,  the  redress  of  all  wrongs,  and  the  protection  of  every 
right,  yielding  ourselves,  and  expecting  all  others  to  yield,  to  the  will  of  the 
whole  people,  as  constitutionally  and  lawfully  expressed." 

For  many  months  after  this  great  meeting,  and  others  of  its  kind  in  the 
cities  and  villages  of  the  land,  the  Government  had  few  obstacles  thrown  in 
its  way  by  political  opponents ;  and  the  sword  and  the  purse  were  placed  at 
its  disposal  by  the  people,  with  a  faith  touching  and  sublime. 


FORTS   NEAR   KEY   WEST. 


361 


CHAPTER    XV. 

8IEGE  OF  FORT  PICKENS.— DECLARATION  OF  WAR.— THE  VIRGINIA  CONSPIRATORS  AND 
Till:   PROPOSED   CAPTURE   OF  WASHINGTON  CITY. 

E  have  observed  that  on  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  the 
conspirators  were  very  anxious  to  seize  Fort  Pickens 
before  it  should  be  re-enforced.  We  left  Lieutenant 
Slemmer  and  a  small  garrison  there,  besieged  by 
insurgents,  who  were  continually  increasing  in  number.1  We  have  also 
observed  that  the  Governor  of  Florida  had  made  secret  preparations  to 
seize  Forts  Jefferson  and  Taylor  before  the  politicians  of  his  State  had 
passed  an  Ordinance  of  Secession. 

Fort  Jefferson2  is  at  the  Garden  Key,  one  of  the  Tortugas  Islands,  off  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  Florida  peninsula,  and  Fort  Taylor  is  at  Key 
West,  not  far  distant  from  the  other.  The  walls  of  Fort  Jefferson  were 
finished,  as  to  hight,  and  the  lower  tier  of  ports  was  completed,  in  the 


FORT  JEFFERSON    IN   1S61. 

autumn  of  1860;  but  the  upper  embrasures  were  entirely  open;  temporary 
sally-ports,  for  the  convenience  of  laborers,  remained  unstopped,  and  the 
works  were  exposed  to  easy  capture  at  any  time.  Fort  Taylor  was  nearer 
completion.  Its  casemate-battery  'was  mrmnted,  and  Captain  (afterward 
Brigadier-General)  J.  M.  Brannan,  with  a  company  of  the  First  Artillery, 
occupied  barracks  about  half  a  mile  distant. 

The   seizure  of   these  forts    by   the    secessionists    was    delayed    chiefly 
because  the  laborers  employed  on  them  wrere  mostly  slaves  belonging  to 

1  Sec  page  1 72. 

2  This  fort  covers  an  area  of  about  thirteen  acres,  or  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Garden  Key.     It  is  calculated 
for  an  armament  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  puns  when  complete,  and  a  garrison  of  one  thousand  men.     It  com 
mands  the  inner  harbor  of  Key  West. 


362 


THE   SECESSIONISTS  AND   THE   FORTS. 


the  friends  of  the  conspirators,  and  their  owners  did  not  wish  to  lose  the 
revenue  derived  from  their  labor  any  sooner  than  w^ould  be  absolutely 
necessary.  It  was  believed  that  the  forts  might  be  seized  by  the  Floridians 
at  any  time.  There  was  an  armed  band  of  secessionists  at  Key  "West, 
headed  by  the  clerk  of  Fort  Taylor,  whose  second  in  command  was  the 
editor  of  a  violent  secessionist  newspaper  there.  Military  officers  connected 
with  the  forts  were  known  to  be  secessionists,  and  these  afterward  aban 
doned  their  flag  and  joined  its  enemies ;  and  some  of  the  most  respectable 
of  the  residents,  holding  office  under  the  Government,  had  declared  their 
intention  to  oppose  Captain  Brannan  to  the  utmost,  if  he  should  attempt  to 
take  possession  of  and  occupy  Fort  Taylor.  The  disaflected  were  so  nu 
merous  that  Brannan  was  compelled  to  act  with  the  greatest  circumspection. 
At  one  time  it  seemed  impossible  for  him  to  be  of  any  practical  service  to 
his  country,  so  completely  was  he  in  the  power  of  the  secessionists,  civil  and 
military. 

At  that  time  the  United  States  steamer  Mohawk,  Captain  T.  A.  Craven, 
was  cruising  for  slave-ships  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Florida  Keys  and  the  coast 
of  Cuba ;  and  at  about  the  time  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  election,0  Cap- 
tain  (afterward  Quartermaster-General)  M.  C.  Meigs  arrived,  to 
take  charge  of  the  works  at  the  Tortugas.  He  went  by  land,  and 
was  satisfied  from  what  he  heard  on  the  way  that  an  attempt  would  be 
made  by  the  secessionists  to  seize  the  forts  at  the  Keys,  for  their  possession 
would  be  an  immense  advantage  to  the  conspirators  in  the  event  of  war. 

It  was' determined 
to  defeat  their  de 
signs,  and  to  this 
end  Captain  Meigs 
worked  assiduously, 
with  his  accustomed 
energy  and  pru 
dence,  in  conjunc 
tion  with  Captain 
Brannan  and  the 
officers  of  the  Navy 
at  that  station, 
whom  he  supposed 
he  could  trust. 

Within  a  week 
after  the  arrival  of 
Captain  Meigs,  a 
crisis  seemed  to  be 

FORT  TAYLOR   IN   1861.  *  . 

approaching,       and 

preparations  were  made  to  throw  Captain  Brannan's  company  into  Fort 
Taylor,  and  strengthen  both  fortresses  against  all  enemies  A  little 


1  This  fort  is  near  Key  West,  and,  with  Fort  Jefferson,  commands  the  northern  entrance  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  It  is  of  great  strength.  It  is  calculated  for  an  armament  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  guns, 
arranged  in  three  tiers.  This  picture  is  from  a  sketch  made  by  one  of  the  garrison,  and  published  in  Harper's 
Wtekly  in  1861. 


FORTS   JEFFERSON"   AND    TAYLOR   RE-ENFORCED.  363 

stratagem  was  necessary;  so  the  Mohawk,  which  had  been  lingering 
near  Key  West,  weighed  anchor  and  departed,  professedly  on  a  cruise  in 
search  of  slave-ships.  This  was  to  lull  into  slumber  the  vigilance  of  the 
secessionists,  who  were  uneasy  and  wide  awake  when  the  Mo 
hawk  was  there.  She  went  to  Havana  on  the  16th,"  where  her  * 
officers  boarded  two  of  the  steamers  of  lines  connecting  Key 
West  with  both  Xew  Orleans  and  Charleston,  and  requested  to  be  reported 
as  "  after  slavers."  As  soon  as  they  were  gone  she  weighed  anchor,  and  on 
Sunday  morning,  the  18th,  returned  to  Key  West.  The  Wy<uidotte, 
Captain  Stanley,  was  there,  and  had  taken  position  so  that  her  battery 
would  command  the  bridge  that  connected  Fort  Taylor  with  the  island. 

While  the  inhabitants  of  Key  West  were  in  the  churches,  Captain 
Brannan  quietly  marched  his  company  by  a  back  path,  crossed  the  bridge, 
and  took  possession  of  the  fort.  He  had  sent  munitions  and  stores  by 
water.  The  two  forts  were  immediately  put  in  a  state  of  defense,  and  they 
and  the  port  of  Key  West  were  irretrievably  lost  to  the  insurgents. 

The  Administration  did  not  like  these  performances  of  loyal  com 
manders,  because  they  were  "irritating"  to  the  secessionists;  and  Captain 
Craven  received  peremptory  orders  from  the  Xavy  Department  to  go  on  a 
cruise.  lie  lingered  around  the  Keys,  believing  that  his  services  would  be 
needed  near  those  important  forts  that  guarded  the  northern  entrance  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  lie  was  not  mistaken.  The  presence  of  his  vessel 
admonished  the  secessionists  to  be  cautious.  At  length,  on  the  18th  of 
January,  the  day  on  which  the  insurgents  at  Pensacola  demanded,  a  second 
time,  the  surrender  of  Fort  Pickens,1  the  steamer  Galveston,  from  Xew 
Orleans,  bearing  a  military  force  for  the  purpose  of  capturing  the  forts  near 
Key  West,  appeared  in  sight.  At  the  same  time  the  United  States  trans 
port  Joseph  Whitney  was  there ;  and  a  company  of  artillery,  under  Major 
Arnold,  was  disembarking  from  her  at  Fort  Jefferson,  then  in  command  of 
Captain  Meigs.  This  apparition  caused  the  G-alveston  to  put  about  and 
disappear.  Forts  Taylor  and  Jefferson  were  now  in  a  condition  to  resist 
the  attacks  of  ten  thousand  men.  Various  plans  of  the  secessionists  to 
capture  these  forts  were  partially  executed,  but  no  serious  attack  was  ever 
attempted  afterward.2 

Let  us  now  consider  the  siege  of  Fort  Pickens. 

From  the  18th  of  January,  on  which  day  Colonel  Chase,  the  commander 
of  the  insurgents  near  Pensacola,  demanded  the  surrender  of  Fort  Pickens, 
and  was  refused,3  Lieutenant  Slemmer  and  his  little  garrison,  like  Ander 
son  and  his  men  in  Fort  Sumter,  worked  faithfully,  in  the  midst  of  hourly 
perils,  to  strengthen  the  fort.  Like  the  dwellers  in  Fort  Sumter,  they  were 
compelled  to  be  non-resistant  while  seeing  formidable  preparations  for  their 
destruction.  The  country,  meanwhile,  was*  in  a  state  of  feverish  anxiety, 
and  loyal  men  at  the  seat  of  Government,  like  Judge  Holt,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  and  General  Scott,  strongly  urged  the  propriety  of  re-enforcing  and 
supplying  that  fort.  The  President  was  averse  to  any  "initiatory"  move- 

1  See  page  171. 

9  See  statement  of  Surgeon  Delaran  Bloodgood,  in  the  Companion  to  the-  Rebellion  Record,  Document  4. 
Mr.  Bloodgood  was  in  service  on  the  Mohawk  at  that  time. 
•  See  page  172. 


364  SIEGE  OF  FORT  PICKENS. 

merit  on  the  part  of  the  Government;  but  when,  at  the  middle  of  January,  it 
was  announced  that  the  insurgents  had  actually  seized  the  Navy  Yard  at 
Warrington,  and  Forts  Barrancas  and  M'Ree,  and  were  menacing  Fort 
Pickens,  he  consented  to  have  re-enforcements  sent.  These,  consisting  of 
only  a  single  company  of  artillery,  under  Captain  Yogdes,  ninety  in  number, 
were  taken  from  Fortress  Monroe,  whose  garrison  was  already  too  weak 
to  be  safe  against  an  attack  by  Yirginians,  while  at  the  same  time  General 


FORT  M'REE  AND  "CONFEDERATE"  BATTERY  OPPOSITE  FORT  PICKENS. 

Scott  held  three  hundred  troops  in  readiness  for  the  purpose,  at  Fort  Hamil 
ton,  in  New  York  harbor,  where  they  were  not  needed.1 

On  the  24th  of  January,  the  National  war-steamer  Brooklyn  left  Fortress 
Monroe  for  Fort  Pickens,  with  Captain  Yogcles  and  ten  artillerymen,  and 
provisions  and  military  stores.  It  was  also  determined  to  employ  three  or 
•four  small  'steamers,  then  in  the  Coast-Survey  service,  for  the  same  purpose, 
under  the  command  of  Captain  J.  H.  Ward  of  the  Navy,2  who  was  an  early 
martyr  in  the  cause  of  his  country.  These  movements  were  suspended  in 
consequence  of  a  telegraphic  dispatch  sent  from  Pensacola  on  the 
28tV  by  Senator  Mallory,  to  Senators  Slidell,  Hunter,  and  Bigler, 
in  which  was  expressed  an  earnest  desire  for  peace,  and  an  assu 
rance  that  no  attack  would  be  made  on  Fort  Pickens  if  the  then  present 
status  should  be  preserved.3 

This  proposal  was  carefully  considered,  both  Avith  a  view  to  the  safety  of 
the  fort,  and  the  effect  which  a  collision  might  have  upon  the  Peace  Conven 
tion  about  to  assemble  in  Washington.4  The  result  was  that  a  joint  tele 
graphic  dispatch,  prepared  by  the  Secretaries  of  War  and  the  Navy,  Avas 
sent,  the  next  day,  to  Lieutenant  Slemmer  and  the  naval  commanders  off 
Pensacola,  in  which  instructions  were  given  for  the  Brooklyn  not  to  land 
any  troops  at  Fort  Pickens  unless  it  should  be  attacked,  but  to  give  the 
garrison  any  needed  stores.  The  commanders  of  the  Brooklyn  and  other 
vessels  were  charged  to  be  vigilant,  and  to  act  promptly  in  the  event  of  an 
attack.  It  was  stipulated,  in  the  sort  of  armistice  then  agreed  upon,  that 
the  commander  of  each  arm  of  the  service  should  have  the  right  of  free 
intercourse  with  the  Government  while  the  arrangement  should  last.  This 
proposition  proved  to  be  only  a  trick  on  the  part  of  Mallory  and  his  associates 
to  gain  time  for  the  collection  of  a  larger  force  near  Fort  Pickens,  while  that 

1  Statement  of  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  dated  at  "Washington  City,  March  30,  1861,"  and  published  in 
the  National  Intelligencer,  October  21,  1862. 

2  Statement  of  General  Scott,  above  cited. 

3  Reply  of  Ex-President  Buchanan  to  General  Scott's  statement,  dated  "Wheatland,  October  28,  1862." 

4  See  pago  235. 


PREPARATIONS   TO   RE-ENFORCE    FORT   PICKENS.  365 

work  should  remain  comparatively  empty  and  absolutely  weak,  and  so  be 
made  an  easy  prey  through  treachery  or  assault.  Thus  for  more  than  two 
months  re-enforcements  were  kept  out  of  Fort  Pickens  while  the  rebellion 
was  gaining  head,  although  the  armistice  really  ended  with  the  closing  of  the 
Peace  Convention,  and  its  failure  to  effect  a  reconciliation. 

When  the  new  Administration  came  into  power,  on  the  4th  of  March,  a 
new  line  of  policy  was  adopted,  more  consistent  with  the  National  dignity, 
but  not  less  cautious.  Informed  that  the  insurgents  were  greatly  augmented 
in  numbers  near  Pensacola,  and  were  mounting  guns  in  Fort  McRee,  and 
constructing  new  batteries  near,  all  to  bear  heavily  on  Fort  Pickens,  Gen 
eral  Scott  again  advised  the  Government  to  send  re-enforcements  and  supplies 
to  the  garrison  of  that  post.  The  Government  acted  upon  his 
advice,  and  by  its  directions  on  the  same  day"  the  General-in- 
Chief  dispatched  a  note  to  Captain  Vogdes  of  the  Brooklyn, 
saying  : — "  At  the  first  favorable  moment  you  will  land  with  your  company, 
re-enforce  Fort  Pickens,  and  hold  the  same  till  further  orders."  It  was 
unsafe  to  send  such  orders  by  mail  or  telegraph,  for  the  insurgents  controlled 
both  in  the  Gulf  Stales,  and  this  was  sent  from  New  York,  in  duplicate, 
by  two  naval  vessels.  From  that  time  unusual  activity  was  observed 
in  the  Navy  Yard  at  Brooklyn  ;  also  on  Governor's  Island  and  at  Fort 
Hamilton,  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Xew  York.  There  was  activity, 
too,  in  the  arsenals  of  the  North,  for,  while  the  Government  wished  for 
peace,  it  could  scarcely  indulge  a  hope  that  the  wish  would  be  gratified. 

With  the  order  for  the  fitting  out  of  an  expedition  for  the  relief  of  Fort 
Sumter  was  issued  a  similar  order  in  relation  to  Fort  Pickens.  Supplies 
and  munitions  for  this  purpose  had  been  prepared  in  ample  quantity,  in  a 
manner  to  excite  the  least  attention,  and  between  the  6th  and  9th  of  April 
the  chartered  steamers  Atlantic  and  Illinois  and  the  steam  frigate  Poirhatan 
departed  from  New  York  for  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  with  troops  and  supplies.1 
In  the  mean  time  the  Government  had  dispatched  Lieutenant  John  L. 
Worden  of  the  Navy  (the  gallant  commander  of  the  first  Monitor,  which 
encountered  the  Merrimack  in  Hampton  Koads),  with  an  order  to  Captain 
Adams,  of  the  AW>/w,  then  in  command  of  the  little  squadron  off  Fort 
Pickens,9  to  throw  re-enforcements  into  that  work  at  once.  The  previous 
order  of  General  .Scott  to  Captain  Vogdos  had  not  been  executed,  for  Cap 
tain  Adams  believed  that  the  armistice  was  yet  in  force.  Colonel  Braxton 
Bragg,  the  artillery  officer  in  the  battle  of  Biu-na  Yista,  in  Mexico,  to  whom, 
it  is  said,  General  Taylor  coolly  gave  the  order,  in  the  midst  of  the  fight — 
*'a  little  more  grape,  Captain  Bragg" — was  now  in  command  of  all  the 
insurgent  forces  at  and  near  Pensacola,  with  the  commission  of  brigadier- 
general  ;  and  Captain  Duncan  N.  Ingraham,  of  the  United  States  Navy 
(who  behaved  so  well  in  the  harbor  of  Smyrna,  a  few  years  before,  in  defend 
ing  the  rights  of  American  citizens,  in  the  case  of  the  Hungarian,  Martin 
Kostza),  had  charge  of  the  Navy  Yard  at  Warrington.  On  the  day  of 
Lieutenant  Worden's  arrival  there,  Captain  Adams  had  dined  with  these 
faithless  men,  and  had  returned  to  his  ship. 

1  See  page  SOS. 

3  This  squadron  consisted  of  the  frigate  Subine,  steam  sloop-of-war  Brooklyn,  gunboats  Wyandottt  and 
Crusader,  store-ship  Supply,  and  the  St.  Louix. 


366 


MISSION   OF   LIEUTENANT   WORDEN. 


Lieutenant  Worden  had  acted  with  great  energy  and  discretion.  At 
eleven  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  6th  of  April  he  received  orders  from  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  take  dispatches  with  all  possible  speed  to  Captain 
Adams.  He  left  Washington  City  early  the  next  morning,  arrived  at 
Montgomery  late  at  night  on  the  9th,  and  departed  early  the  following 


THE  SABINE.1 

morning  for  Pensacola,  by  way  of  Atlanta,  in  Georgia.  He  observed  great 
excitement  prevailing.  Troops  and  munitions  of  war  were  being  pushed 
forward  toward  Pensacola,  and  he  thought  it  likely  that  he  might  be 
arrested ;  so,  after  reading  his  dispatches  carefully,  he  tore  them  up.  At 
dawn  on  the  morning  of  the  llth,  while'  seeking  for  a  boat  to  convey  him 
to  the  squadron,  a  "  Confederate "  officer  interrogated  him,  and  on  ascer 
taining  his  rank  and  destination,  directed  him  to  report  to  General  Bragg. 
An  officer  was  sent  with  him  to  the  General's  head-quarters  at  the  Naval 
Hospital  at  Warrington  (whither  they  had  been  conveyed  in  a  small 
steamer),  where  he  arrived  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  He  told  Bragg 
that  he  had  come  from  Washington,  under  orders  from  the  Navy  Depart 
ment  to  communicate  with  the  commander  of  the  squadron  off  that  harbor. 
Bragg  immediately  wrote  a  "  pass,"  and  as  he  handed  it  to  Worden,  he 
remarked,  "  I  suppose  you  have  dispatches  for  Captain  Adams  ?"  Worden 
replied,  "  I  have  no  written  ones,  but  I  have  a  verbal  communication  to 
make  to  him  from  the  Navy  Department."  The  Lieutenant  then  left  Bragg 
and  made  his  way  to  the  Wyandotte^  the  flag-of-truce  vessel  lying  inside  the 
lower  harbor.  The  wind  was  high,  and  the  Wyandotte  did  not  go  outside 

until  the   next   morning.      At    noon"    Worden's    message    was 
"  ^se? 12'     delivered  to  Captain  Adams,  and  Fort  Pickens  Avas  re-enforced 

that  night.2 
Lieutenant  Worden's  arrival  was  timely.     It  frustrated  a  well-matured 

1  The  Sabine  was  an  old  but  stanch  sailing  vessel,  and  had  been  Commodore  Shubrick's  flag-ship  in  the 
Paraguay  expedition,  a  few  years  before. 

2  Statement  of  Lieutenant  Worden  to  the  author. 


PLANS   OF   THE   INSURGENTS  EXPOSED. 


367 


plan  of  General  Bragg's  for  seizing  the  fort,  which  was  to  have  been 
executed  on  the  night  of  the  llth,  but  which,  on  account  of  the  rough 
weather,  was  deferred  until  the  following  night,  and  was  not  unknown  to 
Lieutenant  Slemmer.  That  officer  had  been  kept  acquainted  with  affairs  in 
the  insurgent  camp  at  Warrington  by  Richard  Wilcox,  a  loyal  watchman 
at  the  Navy  Yard,  who  addressed  him  over  the  signature  of  "  A  Friend  to 
the  Union."  During  the  siege,  Slemmer  had  been  allowed  to  send  a  flag  of 
truce  to  the  yard  every  day.  The  bearer  was  carefully  conducted  from  his 
boat  to  the  yard  and  back.  Wilcox  was  generally  on  hand  to  perform  that 
duty,  and  used  these  opportunities  to  communicate  with  Slemmer.  On  the 
10th  of  April  he  discovered  that  one  of  Slemmer's  sergeants  was  holding 
treasonable  correspondence  with  two  secessionists  on  shore  (Sweetman  and 
Williams),  who  were  employed  by  General  Bragg.  The  sergeant  had 
arranged  to  assist  in  betraying  the  fort  into  the  hands  of  the  insurgents, 
for  which  service  he  wras  to  receive  a  large  sum  of  money  and  a  commission 
in  the  "Confederate"  Army.  He  had  seduced  a  few  companions  into  a 


FLAG-bTAKK    BASTION,    KoKT    I'KKKNS. 


promised  participation  in  his  scheme.  The  act  was  to  be  performed,  as  we 
have  observed,  on  the  night  of  the  llth  of  April,  when  a  thousand  insur 
gents  were  to  engage  in  the  matter.  They  were  to  cross  over  in  a  steam 
boat  (the  same  that  conveyed  Lieutenant  Worden  from  Pensacola  to  War- 
rington)  ami  escalade  the  fort  at  an  hour  when  the  sergeant  and  his 
confederates  would  be  on  guard.  Wilcox  informed  Slemmer  of  the  fact, 
and  his  testimony  was  confirmed  by  a  Pensacola  newspaper1  that  found  its 
way  into  the  fort.  In  that  paper  was  a  letter  from  a  correspondent  at 
Warrington,  in  which  the  intended  attack  on  Fort  Pickens  was  mentioned. 


1  PtnMCola  ObKfrrtr.  Its  correspondent  "  Nemo,"  named  M.ithews,  was  not  a  traitor,  hut  a  hlundercr, 
and  was  arrested  and  sent  to  Montgomery.  His  indiscretion  was  of  service  to  the  National  cause,  and  for  this 
the  conspirators  were  disposed  to  punish  him. 


368 


RE-ENFORCEMENT   OF   FORT   PICKENS. 


Slemmer  prepared  to  frustrate  the  designs  of  the  insurgents,  but  friends 
instead  of  enemies  visited  him  the  following  night.1 

The  re-enforcement  of  Fort  Pickens  was  performed  as  follows  : — Early  in 
the  evening  the  marines  of  the  Sctb'me  and  St.  Louis,  under  Lieutenant  Cash, 
were  sent  on  board  the  Brooklyn,  Captain  Walker,  when  she  weighed  anchor 
and  ran  in  as  near  to  Fort  Pickens  as  possible.  Launches  were  lowered, 
and  marines,  with  Captain  Vogdes's  artillerymen,  immediately  embarked. 
The  landing  was  eifected  not  far  from  the  flag-staff  bastion,  at  about  mid* 
night,  under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant  Albert  X.  Smith,  of  Massachusetts. 
They  had  passed  into  the  harbor,  and  under  the  guns  of  Forts  McRee  and 
Barrancas,  unobserved.  The  whole  expedition  was  in  charge  of  Commander 
Charles  H.  Poor,  assisted  by  Lieuten 
ants  Smith,  of  the  Brooklyn,  Lew  and 
Newman,  of  the  Sabine,  and  Belknap, 
of  the  St.  Louis.  The  insurgents,  in 
endeavoring  to  conceal  their  own 
movements,  had  assisted  in  obscuring 
those  of  the  squadron,  by  extinguish 
ing  the  lamp  of  the  light-house.  In 
the  thick  darkness,  the  expedition 
struck  the  designated  landing-place 
with  great  accuracy.'2  When  the  im 
portant  work  was  accomplished,  heavy 
guns  were  fired  on  the  vessels,  the  fort 


up,  and   the 


was  lighted 

who  were  on  the  point  of  making 
attack  on  Fort  Pickens,  observing 
ominous      appear 
ance  of  affairs  there 
prudently  remain 
ed  on  shore.3 

Lieutenant  Wor- 
den,  in  the  mean 
time,  had  returned 
to  Pensacola,  and 
departed  for  home. 
He  left  the  Sabine 
about  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,0 
landed 

•  April  12, 1861.          -^ 

at  Pen 
sacola,  and  at  nine  in  the  evening  left  there  in  a  railway  car  for  Montgomery, 
hoping  to  report  at  Washington  on  Monday  night.     He  was  disappointed. 
Bragg  had  committed  a  great  blunder,  and  knew  it  early  on  the  morning 


MAP   OF    PKNSACOLA    BAY  AND    VICINITY. 


1  The  loyal  Wilcox  tried  to  escape  to  the  North.     lie  reached  Norfolk,  where  he  was  pressed  into  the  "  Con 
federate  service,"  in  which  he  remained,  at  that  place,  until  it  was  taken  possession  of  in  May,  1862. 

2  Report  of  Commander  H.  A.  Adams  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  April  14,  1861. 

3  Statement  of  Mr.  Wilcox.     A  correspondent  of  the  Charleston  Mercury,  writing  on  the  13th,  said  that 
the  firing  alarmed  the  insurgents.     An  attack  on  Fort  McRee  was  expected.     The  troops  were  called  out  and 


PREPARATIONS   FOR   WAR. 


371 


ment,  under  Colonel  Clayton ;  and  the  third  was  made  up  of  Louisianians, 
Georgians,  and  a  Florida  regiment,  the  whole  commanded  by  Colonel 
Gladdin.  Beside  these  there  were  about  five  hundred  troops  at  Pensacola, 
all  Louisianians,  under  Colonel  Bradford.  General  Bragg  was  commander- 
in-chief.  "  These  compose  the  very  best  class  of  our  Southern  people," 
wrote  Judge  Walker,  the  editor  of  the  New  Orleans  Delta,  on  the  2Vth  of 
April;  "ardent,  earnest,  and  resolute  young  men.  They  can  never  be  con 
quered  or  even  defeated.  They  may  be  destroyed,  but  not  annihilated. 
When  the  Lincolnites  subdue  the  country  or  the  people  which  they  have 
undertaken  to  subjugate,  as  long  as  we  have  such  men  to  fight  our  battles, 
the  spoils  of  their  victory  will  be  a  blasted  and  desolated  country,  and  an 
extinct  people." 

Re-enforcements  continued  to  be  sent  to  Fort  Pickens  from  the  North, 
and  a  considerable  squadron  lay  outside  in  the  Gulf.  In  June,  Santa  Rosa 
Island,  on  which  Fort  Pickens  stands,  was  made  lively  by  the  encampment 
there  of  the  Sixth  Xew  York  Regiment  of  Volunteers,  known  as  Wilson's 
Zouaves.  They  left  New  York  on  the  13th  of 
June,  on  which  day  they  were  presented  with 
a  beautiful  silk  banner  by  the  Ladies'  Soldiers' 
Relief  Association.  The  insurgents  were  also 
re-enforced ;  but  nothing  of  great  importance 
occurred  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Pickens  during 
the  ensuing  summer. 

The  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  the  re-enforce 
ment  of  Fort  Pickens,  and  the  President's  call 
for  troops,  aroused  the  entire  nation  to  pre 
parations  for  war.  Although  Davis  and  his 
associates  at  Montgomery  had  received  the 
President's  Proclamation  with  "derisive  laugh 
ter,"  they  did  not  long  enjoy  the  sense  of 
absolute  security  which  that  folly  manifested. 
They  were  sagacious  enough  to  estimate  their 
heavy  misfortune  in  the  loss  of  the  control  of 
the  Florida  forts,  and  to  interpret  correctly  the 
great  uprising  of  the  people  in  the  Free-labor 

States,  intelligence  of  which  came  flashing  significantly  every  moment  over 
the  telegraph,  with  all  the  appalling  aspect  of  the  lightning  before  a  summer 
storm. 

Two  days  after  the  President's  Proclamation  was  promulgated,  Davis 
issued,  from  Montgomery,"  an  intended  countervailing  one.1  In 
the  preamble  he  declared  that  the  President  had  "announced  the 
intention  of  invading  the  Confederacy  with  an  armed  force  for 
the  purpose  of  capturing  its  fortresses,  and  thereby  subverting  its  independ 
ence,  and  subjecting  the  free  people  thereof  to  the  dominion  of  a  foreign 
power."  He  said  it  had  become  the  duty  of  the  "  government "  to  "  repel  the 
threatened  invasion,  and  defend  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people  by  all 


WILSH.N  S    7-OfAVES. 


April  17, 
1861. 


1  On  the  day  before  (16th).  the  Montgomery  Daily  Adcertiser  said,  under  the  head  of  "  Fine  pickings  for 
Privateers."  that  "the  spring  fleet  of  tea-ships  from  China  are  arriving  quite  freely  at  New  York,"  and  men 
tioned  one  of  those  whose  cargo  was  valued  at  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars. 


372  "CONFEDERATE   CONGRESS."— PRIVATEERS. 

the  means  which  the  laws  of  nations  and  usages  of  civilized  warfare  placed 
at  its  disposal."  He  therefore  invited  all  persons  who  desired  to  engage 
in  the  business  of  legalized  piracy  known  as  privateering,  by  depredating 
upon  the  commerce  of  the  United  States,  to  apply  to  him  for  authority  to  do 
so,  when  it  would  be  given,  under  certain  restrictions  which  were  set  forth 
in  the  proclamation.  He  also  enjoined  all  persons  holding  offices,  civil  or 
military,  under  his  authority,  to  be  vigilant  and  zealous  in  their  duties ;  and 
exhorted  the  people  of  the  "  Confederate  States,"  as  they  loved  their  country, 
as  they  prized  the  blessings  of  free  government,  as  they  felt  the  wrongs  of 
the  past,  and  others  then  threatened  in  an  aggravated  form,  by  those  whose 
enmity  was  "  more  implacable,  because  unprovoked,  to  exert  themselves  in 
preserving  order,  in  promoting  concord,  in  maintaining  the  authority  and 
efficacy  of  the  laws,  and  in  supporting  and  invigorating  all  the  measures 
which  may  have  been  adopted  for  a  common  defense,  and  by  which,  under 
the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence,"  they  might  "  hope  for  a  speedy,  just, 
and  honorable  peace." 

The  President  at  once  met  the  proclamation  of  Davis,  by  declaring  that 
he  should  immediately  employ  a  competent  force  to  blockade  all  the  ports 
of  States  claimed  as  belonging  to  the  Southern  Confederacy ;  and  also,  that 
if  any  person,  under  the  pretended  authority  of  such  States,  or  under  any 
other  pretense,  should  molest  a  vessel  of  the  United  States,  or  the  persons 
or  cargo  on  board  of  her,  such  persons  should  be  held  amenable  to  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  for  the  prevention  and  punishment  of  piracy.1 

Davis  had  already  summoned a  the  so-called  "  Congress  of  the  Confederate 
States "  to  meet  at  Montgomery  on  the  29th  of  April.  That 
*  ^86i  12'  body,  on  the  6th  of  May,  passed  an  Act  with  fifteen  sections, 
"recognizing  the  existence  of  war  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Confederate  States ;  and  concerning  letters  of  marque,  prizes,  and 
prize  goods."2  The  preamble  declared  that  the  "  Confederate  States  "  had 
made  earnest  efforts  to  establish  friendly  relations  between  themselves 
and  the  United  States;  but  that  the  Government  of  the  latter  had  not  only 
refused  to  hold  any  intercourse  with  the  former,  as  a  government  in  fact, 
but  had  prepared  to  make  war  upon  them,  and  had  avowed  an  intention  of 
blockading  their  ports.  Such  being  the  case,  they  declared  that  war  existed 
between  the  "twro  governments,"  and  in  accordance  with  a  cherished  design  of 
Davis,  which  he  hinted  at  in  his  "  inaugural  address  "  at  Montgomery,3  and 
had  openly  announced  in  his  proclamation  on  the  17th,  they  authorized  the 
"  President  of  the  Confederate  States  "  to  use  their  whole  land  and  naval 
force  "to  meet  the  war  thus  commenced,  and  to  issue  to  private  armed 
vessels  commissions  or  letters  of  marque  and  general  reprisal,  in  such  form  as 
he  shall  think  proper,  under  the  seal  of  the  Confederate  States,  against  the 
vessels,  goods,  and  effects  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
the  citizens  or  inhabitants  of  the  States  and  Territories  thereof."4  The  tenth 


1  Proclamation  of  President  Lincoln,  April  19, 1S61. 

2  Acts  and  Resolution's  of  the  Second  Session   of  the  "  Provisional  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States," 
page  22. 

3  See  page  258. 

4  The  following  is  the  form  in  which  the  letters  of  marque  were  issued  :— 

"JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  President  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  to  all  who  shall  see  these  presents, 
greeting :  Know  ye,  that  by  virtue  of  the  power  vested  in  me  by  law,  I  have  commissioned,  and  do  hereby 
commission,  have  authorized,  and  do  hereby  authorize,  the  schooner  or  vessel  called  the (more  particularly 


THE   "CONFEDERATE"   NAVY.  373 

section  of  the  Act  offered  a  bounty  of  twenty  dollars  for  each  person  who 
might  be  on  board  any  armed  ship  or  vessel  belonging  to  the  United  States, 
at  the  commencement  of  an  engagement,  which  should  be  burned,  sunk,  or 
destroyed  by  any  vessel  commissioned  as  a  privateer,  of  equal  or  inferior 
force — in  other  words,  a  reward  for  the  murder,  by  fire,  water,  or  other 
wise,  of  men,  women,  and  children  found  on  board  of  a  public  vessel  of  the 
United  States.  Happily  for  the  credit  of  humanity,  this  Act  has  no  parallel 
on  the  statute-books  of  civilized  nations.  They  also  offered  a  bounty  of 
twenty-five  dollars  for  every  prisoner  captured  by  a  privateer  and  delivered 
to  an  agent  of  the  "Confederation"  in  any  of  its  ports.  Davis  did  not  wait 
for  the  legal  sanction  of  his  so-called  "  Congress,"  but  issued  letters  of 
marque  immediately  after  putting  forth  his  proclamation  on  the  17th  of 
April.1 

The  country  controlled  by  the  conspirators  lacked  the  mechanical  skill 
and  many  materials  for  the  construction  of  a  navy ;  therefore,  while  the 
offer  of  Davis  to  issue  letters  of  marque  created  uneasiness  among  shipping 
merchants,  they  did  not  feel  serious  alarm,  especially  when  it  was  known 
that  the  Government  would  institute  a  rigid  blockade.  But  it  was  not  long 
before  privateers  were  on  the  seas.  The  Confederates  had  not  the  means 
for  building  vessels,  but  they  had  for  purchasing  them.  They  had  already 
stolen  six  National  revenue  cutters,-  which  they  fitted  up  as  privateers;  and 
in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks 

after  the  u  recognition  of  a  -^ 

state  of  war,"  Mr.  Mallory,  ^ 

the  so-called  "  Secretary  of 
the  Navy"  of  the  conspira 
tors,  had  purchased  and 
fitted  out  about  a  do/en 
vessels.  The  owners  of  as 
many  more  private  vessels 
took  out  letters  of  marque 
immediately  aft  IT  Davis's 
proclamation  was  made;  TIIK  LAI(Y  I1AVIv 

and  before,    the   middle  of 

June,  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  was  threatened  with  serious 
mischief. 

The  first  of  the  purchased  vessels  commissioned  by  Mallory  was  a  small 

described  In  the  schedule  hereunto  annexed),  whereof —  —  is  commander,  to  act  as  a  private  armed  vessel  in 
the  service  of  the  Confederate  States,  on  tin-  high  seas,  against  the  United  States  of  America,  their  ships,  vessels, 
poods,  and  e fleets,  and  those  of  their  citizens,  ilurinsr  the  pendency  of  the  war  now  existinc  between  the  said 
Confederate  States  and  the  said  United  States.  This  commission  to  continue  in  force  until  revoked  by  the 
President  of  the  Confederate  States  for  the  time  being. 

"Given  under  my  hand  and  the  seal  of  the  Confederate  States,  at  Montgomery,  this  —  day  of—  A.  I).  1S61. 

"  By  the  President :  JEKFERSOX  DAVIS. 

R.  TOOMB%  Sec'y  of  Staff." 

The  Act  contained  many  regulations;  and  accompanying  the  letters  of  marque  were  explicit  instructions 
concerning  the  meaning  of  the  terms,  "the  high  seas."  the  rights  and  treatment  of  neutrals,  the  treatment  of 
enemies,  the  disposition  of  captured  property,  and  as  to  what  were  considered  articles  contraband  of  war.  They 
declared  that "  neutral  \»essels,  conveying  the  enemy's  dispatches,  or  military  persons  in  the  service  of  the  enemy." 
were  liable  to  capture  and  condemnation;  but  the  rule  was  not  made  to  apply  to  neutral  vessels  bearing  dis 
patches  from  the  public  ministers  or  embassadors  of  the  enemy,  residing  in  neutral  countries. 

1  Telegraphic  communication  from  Montgomery  to  the  Charleston  Mercnry.  April  16.  1S61. 

aThe  Lewis  Cans,  Wnxftington,  Pickenx,  Dodge,  McClelland,  and  Bradford. 


8.    K.    MALLOKY. 


374  TREACHERY   OF   PPwOFESSED   UNIONISTS. 

steamer  which  Governor  Pickens  had  bought  in  Richmond,  for  use  in  the 
defense  of  Charleston  harbor.  She  was  commissioned  in  March ;  and  named 
S)  in  honor  of  the  wife  of  Jefferson  Davis.  She  was  armed  with 
two  24-pounders,  and  placed  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant  T.  B.  Huger,  for 
merly  of  the  United  States  Navy.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  "Confederate 
States  Navy,"  which  never  assumed  for 
midable  proportions  excepting  when 
ships,  foreign  built,  armed,  arid  manned, 
were  permitted  to  enter  the  service.  The 
number,  character,  and  performances  of 
the  privateers  commissioned  by  Davis  and 
Toombs  during  the  spring  and  early  sum 
mer  of  1861,  will  be  considered  hereafter. 
With  the  hostile  proclamations  of  the 
President  and  the  Chief  of  the  conspira 
tors,  the  great  conflict  fairly  began.  There 
was  no  longer  any  tenable  neutral  ground 
for  men  to  stand  upon,  and  they  at  once,  as  we  have  observed  in  the  case  of 
prominent  members  of  the  Opposition  in  the  Free-labor  States,  took 
positive  positions.  Two  of  the  late  candidates  for  the  Presidency  (Breck- 
inridge  and  Bell)  openly  avowed  their  sympathy  with  the  secessionists. 
Breckinridge,  who  afterward  became  a  military  leader  in  the  rebellion, 
was  cautious  and  treacherous.  For  a  time  he  assumed  the  virtue  of 
loyalty  to  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  and  took  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  at  the  called  session  of  Congress,  in  July. 
But  his  disguise  was  too  thin  to  deceive  anybody.  So  early  as  the  17th  of 
April,  he  wrote  to  a  friend  at  Louisville,  saying : — "  Kentucky  should  call  a 
convention  without  delay,  and  Lincoln's  extra  session  of  Congress  [in  which 
he  took  a  seat  as  a  professedly  loyal  man]  should  be  confronted  by  fifteen 
States.  This  alone  can  prevent  a  general  civil  war."1  On  the  20th,  in  a 
speech  at  Louisville,  he  echoed  the  voice  of  the  Journal  of  that  city  in  its 
denunciation  of  the  President's  call  for  troops.2  He  advised  Kentuckians  to 
remain  neutral,  but  in  the  event  of  their  being  driven  from  that  position,  he 
declared  it  to  be  their  duty  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  conspirators  for  the 
conservation  of  Slavery.  Bell,  bolder  or  more  honest,  openly  linked  his 
fortunes  with  those  of  the  "  Confederacy,"  in  a  speech  at  Nashville,  on  the 
23d  of  April,  in  which  he  declared  that  Tennessee  was  virtually  "  out  of 
the  Union,"  and  urged  the  people  of  his  State  to  prepare  for  vigorous  war 
upon  the  Government.3  The  Governor  (Harris)  was  at  the  same  time  work 
ing  with  all  his  might  in  the  manipulation  of  machinery  to  array  Tennessee, 
as  a  State,  against  the  National  Government.  In  this  he  was  aided  by  an 
address  to  the  people  by  professed  friends  of  the  Union,  who  counseled 
them  to  "decline  joining  either  party;  for  in  so  doing  they  would  at  once 
terminate  her  [Tennessee's]  grand  mission  of  peacemaker  between  the 


1  Telegraphic  dispatch  from  Louisville  to  the  Charleston  Mercury.  5  See  page  339. 

*  Nashville  Banner. 


CONVENTION   OF   VIRGINIA   SECESSIONISTS.  375 

States  of  the  South  and  the  General  Government.  Nay,  more,"  they  said ; 
"the  almost  inevitable  result  would  be  the  transfer  of  the  war  within  her 
own  borders,  the  defeat  of  all  hopes  of  reconciliation,  and  the  deluging  of 
the  State  with  the  blood  of  her  own  people."1 

The  Governor  of  Kentucky  was  less  courageous  and  more  cautious  than 
his  neighbor  of  Tennessee,  but  not  less  a  practical  enemy  of  the  Union.  To 
confirm  him  in  disloyalty,  and  to  commit  the  great  State  of  Kentucky  to 
the  cause  of  the  conspirators,  Walker,  their  so-called  "  Secretary  of  War," 
wrote  to  Governor  Magoffin,  from  Montgomery,  on  the  22d  of  April,  com 
plimenting  him  for  his  "patriotic  response  to  the  requisition  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  for  troops  to  coerce  the  Confederate  States,"'  and 
saying  that  it  justified  the  belief  that  his  people  were  prepared  to  unite 
with  the  conspirators  "  in  repelling  the  common  enemy  of  the  South.  Vir 
ginia  needs  our  aid,"  he  continued.  "  I  therefore  request  you  to  furnish  one 
regiment  of  infantry  without  delay,  to  rendezvous  at  Harper's  Ferry,  Vir 
ginia.  It  must  consist  of  ten  companies,  of  not  less  than  sixty-four  men 
each.  .  .  .  They  will  be  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  Confederate  States 
at  Harper's  Ferry."  The  object  of  this  call  to  Harper's  Ferry  will  be 
apparent  presently. 

Virginia,  at  this  time,  was  in  a  state  of  great  agitation.  Its  Convention 
had  passed  through  a  stormy  session,  extending  from  the  middle  of  Febru 
ary  to  the  middle  of  April.  It  was  held  in  the  city  of  Rich 
mond,  and  was  organized"  by  the  appointment  of  John  Janney,  " 
of  London,  as  its  President,  and  John  L.  Eubank,  Clerk.  In  his 
address  on  taking  the  chair,  the  President  favored  conditional  Union,  saying, 
in  a  tone  common  to  many  of  the  public  men  of  Virginia,  that  his  State 
would  insist  on  its  own  construction  of  its  rights  as  a  condition  of  its  re 
maining  in  the  Union.  It  was  evident,  from  the  beginning,  that  a  better 
National  sentiment  than  the  President  of  the  Convention  evinced  was 
largely  dominant  in  that  body,  and  the  conspirators  within  it  were  for  a 
long  time  foiled  in  their  attempts  to  array  Virginia  on  the  side  of  the 
"  Southern  Confederacy."  Even  so  late  as  the  4th  of  April,  the  Convention 
refused,  by  a  vote  of  eighty-nine  against  forty-five,  to  pass  an  ordinance  of 
secession  ;3  and  they  resolved  to  send  Commissioners  to  Washington  City  to 
ask  the  President  to  communicate  to  that  body  the  policy  which  he  intended 
to  pursue  in  regard  to  the  "  Confederate  States."4  Yet  the  conspirators 
worked  on,  conscious  of  increasing  strength,  for  one  weak  Unionist  after 
another  was  converted  by  their  sophistry  or  their  threats.  Pryor  and 
Kuftin,  as  we  have  seen,  went  to  Charleston  to  urge  an  attack  upon  Fort 

1  Aildre**  to  the  People  of  Tt nn e**e e :  by  Neil  S.  Brown,  Russell  Houston,  E.  II.  Ewing.  C.  Johnstone, 
John  Hell.  11.  J.  Meigs,  S.  I).  Morgan,  John  S.  Brien,  Andrew  Ewing,  John  II.  Callendor,  and  Baylie  Peyton. 

a  See  page  387. 

3  The  resolution  voted  upon  was  introduced  by  Lewis  E.  Harvie.  and  was  as  follows: — "  Reaolreil,  That 
an  ordnanee  of  secession,  reserving  the  powers  delegated  by  Virginia,  and  providing  for  submitting  the  same  to 
the  qualified  voters  of  the  Commonwealth  for  adoption  or  rejection  at  the  polls  in  the  spring  elections,  in  March 
next,  should  be  adopted  at  this  Convention." 

«  The  Commissioners  appointed  were  William  Ballard  Preston,  A.  II.  II.  Stuart,  and  George  W.  Randolph. 
It  is  said  that  Mr.  Carlile,  of  Western  Virginia,  suggested  the  appointment  of  a  similar  committee  to  visit 
.Montgomery,  to  ascertain  what  Jefferson  Davis  intended  to  do  with  the  troops  he  was  then  raising;  whereupon 
Henry  A.  Wise  said,  that  if  Mr.  Carlile  should  be  one  of  that  committee,  "that  would  be  the  last  they  would 
ever  see  of  him."  In  other  words,  he  would  be  murdered  for  his  temerity  in  venturing  to  question  tho  acts  of 
the  traitors.— Louisville  Journal,  April  23,  1S63. 


376  VIRGINIA   COMMISSIONERS   IN   WASHINGTON. 

Sumter,  believing  that  bloodshedding  would  inflame  the  passions  of  South- 
ern  men,  and  that,  during  the  paroxysm  of  excitement  that  would  ensue, 
Virginia  might  be  arrayed  against  the  National  Government. 

Suddenly,  bribery  or  threats,  or  change  of  ownership,  made  the  Rich 
mond  Whig,  the  only  newspaper  in  the  Virginia  capital  that  opposed  seces 
sion,  become  ominously  silent,  while  the  organs  of  the  conspirators  were 
loudly  boastful  of  a  majority  in  the  Convention  favorable  to  secession.  The 
hearts  of  the  genuine  Unionists  cf  the  old  State  were  saddened  by  gloomy 
forebodings,  for  they  knew  that  their  friends  in  that  Convention  were  con 
tinually  browbeaten  by  the  truculent  secessionists,  and  that  the  people 
were  hourly  deceived  by  the  most  astounding  falsehoods  put  forth  by  the 
conspirators. 

The  Commissioners  sent  to  Washington*  obtained  a  formal  audience  with 
the  President  on  the  13th,6  almost  at  the  very  time  when,  in  their 
State  capital,  the  bells  were  ringing,  "Confederate"  flags  were 
4  A  HI  fly^g'  an(^  one  hundred  guns  were  thundering,  in  attestation  of 
the  joy  of  the  secessionists  because  of  the -attack  on  Fort  Sumter. 
A  telegraphic  correspondent  at  Charleston  had  said  the  day  before  :— 
"That  ball  fired  at  Suinter  by  Edmund  Ruffin  will  do  more  for  the  cause  of 
secession  in  Virginia  than  volumes  of  stump  speeches."1  The  assertion  was 
correct.  While  the  Convention  was  debating  the  question  of  the  surrender 
of  Fort  Sumter,  Governor  Letcher  sent  in  a  communication  from  Governor 
Pickens,  announcing  the  attack  on  that  fortress,  and  saying : — "  We  will 
take  the  fort,  and  can  sink  the  ships  if  they  attempt  to  pass  the  channel.  If 
they  land  elsewhere,  we  can  whip  them.  We  have  now  seven  thousand  of 
the  best  troops  in  the  world,  and  a  reserve  of  ten  thousand  on  the  routes  to 
the  harbor.  The  war  has  commenced,  and  we  will  triumph  or  perish. 
Please  let  me  know  what  your  State  intends  to  do  ?"  Letcher  replied : — • 
"The  Convention  will  determine."  It  was  this  dispatch — this  notice  of 
"that  ball  fired  on  Sumter"  by  Ruffin — that  set  the  bells  ringing,  the  flags 
flying,  the  cannons  thundering,  and  the  people  shouting  in  Richmond;  and  a 
few  days  afterward  the  Convention  revealed  its  determination  to  the  world. 
The  President  replied  to  the  Virginia  Commissioners,"  that  it  was  his 
intention  to  pursue  the  policy  clearly  marked  out  in  his  Inaugu 
ral  Address.  He  had  discovered  no  reasons  for  changing,  his 
views.  He  recommended  them  to  give  that  document  a  careful  perusal, 
especially  that  portion  in  which  he  declared  it  to  be  his  intention  "  to 
hold,  occupy,  and  possess  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  Govern 
ment,  and  to  collect  the  duties  on  imports ;  but  beyond  what  is  necessary 
for  these  objects,  there  will  be  no  invasion,  no  using  of  force  against  or 
among  the  people  anywhere."  He  informed  them  that  if  an  attack  had 
been  made  upon  Fort  Sumter,  as  it  was  at  that  moment  rumored,  he  should 
feel  himself  at  liberty  to  repossess  it,  if  he  could;  for  he  considered  it  and  other 
military  posts  seized  by  the  insurgents  as  much  the  property  of  the  United 
States  as  ever.  "  In  any  event,"  he  said,  "  I  shall,  to  the  best  of  my  ability, 
repel  force  by  force."  He  also  told  them  that  he  might  feel  it  his  duty  to 
cause  the  United  States  mails  to  be  withdrawn  from  all  the  States  which 


New  York  Herald,  April  13,  1861. 


VIOLENCE   OF   THE  VIRGINIA   CONSPIRATORS.  377 

claimed  to  have  seceded,  "believing  that  this  commencement  of  actual  war 
against  the  Government  justifies,  and,  possibly,  demands  it." 

With  this  explicit  declaration  of  the  President  that  he  should  defend  the 
life  of  the  Republic  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  the  Virginia  Commissioners 
returned  to  their  constituents.  Their  report  added  fuel  to  the  flames  of  pas 
sion  then  raging  in  the  Virginia  capital.  Its  reading  produced  a  scene  of 
wild  excitement  in  the  Convention.  It  was  heard  therein  at  almost  the 
same  hour  when  the  President's  call  for  troops  to  crush  the  rising 
rebellion  was  read."  Doubt,  anger,  joy  and  sorrow,  and  send-  "AJjJi1^1 
ments  of  treachery  and  fidelity  swayed  that  body  with  varied 
emotions,  until  reason  and  judgment  fled  affrighted  from  the  hall,  and 
untempered  feeling  bore  rule.  The  boldest  and  best  of  the  Union  men  bent 
like  reeds  before  the  storm.  In  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  men  like 
Scott  and  Preston,  warmed  by  the  glow  of  innate  State  pride,  exclaimed  : 
"  If  the  President  means  subjugation  of  the  South,  Virginia  has  but  one 
course  to  pursue,  and  that  is,  resistance  to  tyranny/'  The  only  question 
entertained  was:  Shall  Virginia  secede  at  once,  or  await  the  co-operation  of 
the  other  Border  Slave-labor  States?  In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  pend 
ing  that  question,  the  Convention  adjourned  until  morning. 

On  the  following  day*  the  Convention  assembled  in  secret  session.  Its 
aspect  had  changed.  For  three  days,  threats  and  persuasions, 
appeals  to  interest,  State  pride  and  sectional  patriotism,  and  the 
shafts  of  ridicule  and  scornful  denunciation  were  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
faithful  I'liion  men,  who  were  chiefly  from  the  mountain  districts  of  the 
State,  or  Western  Virginia;  ami  yet,  at  the  adjournment,  on  the  evening  of 
the  loth,  there  was  a  clear  majority  of  tlie  one  hundred  and  fifty-three 
members  of  the  Convention  against  secession.  The  conspirators  became 
desperate.  Richmond  was  in  the  hands  of  a  mob  ready  to  do  their  bidding, 
and  they  resolved  to  act  witli  a  high  hand.  It  was  calculated  that  if  ten 
Union  members  of  the  Convention  should  be  absent,  tliere  would  be  a 
majority  for  si-cession.  Accordingly,  the  loading  conspirators  waited  upon 
ten  of  them  during  the  evening,  ami  informed  them  that  they  were  allowed 
the  choice  <>f  doing  one  of  three  things,  namely:  to  vote  for  a  secession 
ordinance,  to  absent  themselves,  or  be  hanged.1  Resistance  would  be 
useless,  and  the  seats  of  the  ten  members  were  vacant  on  the  morning  of 
the  16th.  Other  Unionists  who  remained  in  the  Convention  were  awed  by 
these  violent  proceedings,  and  an  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed  on 
Wednesday,  the  17th,  by  a  vote  of  eighty-eight  against  fifty-five.  It  was 
similar  in  form  and  substance  to  that  of  the  South  Carolina  politicians  and 
those  of  other  States,  excepting  that  it  was  only  to  take  effect  when  it 
should  be  ratified  by  "a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  people,"  to  be  "cast 
at  a  poll  to  be  taken  thereon,  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  in  May  next." 

The  Virginia  conspirators  at  once  sent  a  private  messenger  to  Mont 
gomery  to  apprise  Davis  and  his  associates  of  their  action,  and  to  invite 
co-operation.  Already  Governor  Letcher,  who  had  been  assured  by  the 
leaders  in  the  Convention  that  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  would  be  adopted, 


1  Statement  of  ono  of  the  members  of  the  Convention,  cited  in  the  Annual  Cyclopedia,  1S61,  page  735. 


378  VIRGINIA  CONSPIRATORS   APPLAUDED. 

had  sent"  his  defiant  response  to  the  President's  call  for  troops;1  and  now, 
under  the  direction  of  that  Convention,  which  assumed  supreme 
authority  in  the  State,  he  issued  a  proclamation,  ordering  "  all 
armed  volunteer  regiments  or  companies  within  the  State  forth 
with  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  for  immediate  orders.'* 

When,  on  the  following  day,  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  (upon  which 
fact  a  temporary  injunction  of  secrecy  had  been  laid)  was  announced,  the 
joy  of  the  secessionists  in  Richmond  was  unbounde<J.  The  streets  resounded 
with  the  acclamations  of  great  crowds.  The  sign,  in  gilt  letters, —  United 
States  Court, — over  the  north  entrance  to  the  Custom  House,  was  taken 
down  and  broken  in  pieces  by  the  populace ;  and  the  National  officers  sud 
denly  found  their  occupation  gone.  The  flag  of  the  "  Southern  Con 
federacy,"  with  an  additional  star  for  Virginia  (making  eight  in  all),  was 
unfurled  over  the  Capitol.  It  was  also  displayed  from  the  Custom  House 
and  other  public  buildings,  and  from  hotels  and  private  dwellings.  The 
Custom  House  was  taken  into  the  keeping  of  Virginia  troops;  and  the 
packets  Yorktown  and  Jamestown,  belonging  to  the  New  York  and  Virginia 
1  Steamship  Company,  were  seized  and  placed  in  charge  of  the  same  body  of 
armed  men. 

As  the  news  from  Richmond  went  over  the  land,  it  produced  the  most 

profound  sensation.      In  the  cities  of  Slave-labor  States,  and  especially  of 

the  more  Southern  ones,  there  were  demonstrations  of  great  delight.    At 

Charleston  the  event  caused  the  wildest  excitement.     "The  news  of  the 

secession  of  the  mother  of  Presidents  and  Patriots,"  said  a  tele- 

$   Ar)ril  19 

graphic  dispatch  to  Philadelphia,6  "  was  received  here  with  great 
joy.  The  old  secession  gun  was  fired  in  front  of  the  Courier  office,  by  the 
venerable  Edmund  Ruffin.  The  old  gentleman  was  surrounded  by  many 
Virginians,  who  cheered  lustily."  The  Virginians  then  in  Montgomery, 
headed  by  Pryor,  who  had  gone  up  from  Charleston,2  fired  a  hundred  guns 
on  their  own  account;  and  from  the  far  Southwest  went  forth  the  greeting: — 

"  In  the  new-born  arch  of  glory, 

Lo  !  she  burns,  the  central  star ; 
Never  shame  shall  blight  its  grandeur, 

Never  cloud  its  radiance  mar. 
•»Old  Virginia !  Old  Virginia !' 

Listen,  Southrons,  to  the  strain ; 
'  Old  Virginia !    Old  Virginia !' 

Shout  the  rally  ing-cry  again  !"3 

In  the  Free-labor  States  the  action  of  Virginia  was  observed  with  alarm, 
for  it  threatened  immediate  danger  to  the  National  Capital  and  the  archives 
of  the  Republic.  Only  the  hope  that  the  people  of  Virginia  would  refuse  to 
ratify  the  Ordinance,  calmed  the  fears  of  the  loyalists.  The  expectation  that 
they  would  do  so,  if  an  opportunity  should  be  offered  them,  made  the  con 
spirators  more  active  and  bold.  They  did  not  wait  for  the  people  to  speak 
concerning  the  matter ;  but,  within  twenty-four  hours  after  the  passage  of 
the  Ordinance,  and  while  the  vote  was  still  covered  by  an  injunction  of 
secrecy,  they  set  on  foot,  doubtless  under  directions  from  Montgomery, 

1  See  page  33T.  J  See  page  316.  3  New  Orleans  Picayune. 


THE  SEIZURE   OF   WASHINGTON   CITY   EXPECTED. 


379 


expeditions  for  the  capture  of  Harper's  Ferry  and  of  the  Navy  Yard  near 
Norfolk,  preparatory  to  an  attempt  to  seize  Washington  City. 

A  few  days  afterward,  Alexander  H.  Stephens  arrived  in  Richmond,  to 
urge  the  Convention  to  violate  its  own  Ordinance,  and  to  take  measures  for 
annexing  .Virginia  to  the  "Confederacy"  without  the  consent  of  the  people. 
He  was  clothed  with  full  power  to  make  a  treaty  to  that  effect.  Troops 
wexe  then  pushing  forward  from  the  Gulf  States  toward  her  borders.  The 
conspirators,  having  promised  the  people  of  the  Cotton-growing  States  that 
no  harm  should  come  nigh  their  dwellings,  and  perceiving  war  to  be 
inevitable,  were  hastening  to  make  the  Border  States  the  theater  of  its 
operations,  and,  if  possible,  secure  the  great  advantage  of  the  possession 
of  the  National  Capital.  At  various  points  on  his  journey  northward, 
Stephens  had  harangued  the  people,  and  everywhere  lie  raised  the  cry  of 
"  On  to  Washington  !"'  That  cry  was  already  resounding  throughout  the 
South.  It  was  an  echo  or  a  paraphrase  of  the  prophecy  of  the  "Confederate 
Secretary  of  War."*  "Nothing  is  more  probable,"  said  the  Richmond  En 
quirer  on  the  13th  of  April,  "  than  that  President  Davis  will  soon  march  an 
army  through  North  Carolina  and  Virginia  to  Washington,"  and  it  called 
upon  Virginians  who  wished  to  "join  the  Southern  army,"  to  organize  at 
once.  "The  first-fruits  of  Virginia  secession,"  said  the  X<  in  Orleans 
Picayune  of  the  18th,  "will  be  the  removal 
of  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet,  and  whatever  he 
can  carry  away,  to  the  safer  neighborhood 
of  Harrisburg  or  Cincinnati — perhaps  to 
Buffalo  or  Cleveland."  The  n>Av^//y/  pljs- 
sissippi)  W/ii'j  of  the  20th  said: — "Major 
Ben.  McCulloch  has  organized  a  force  of  live 
thousand  men  to  seize  the  Federal  Capital 
the  instant  the  first  blood  is  spilled."  On 
the  evening  of  the  same  day,  when  news 
of  bloodshed  in  Baltimore  was  received  in 
Montgomery,  bonfires  were  built  in  front  of 
the  Exchange  Hotel,  and  from  its  balcony 
Roger  A.  Pry  or  said,  in  a  speech  to  the  multi 
tude,  that  he  was  "  in  favor  of  an  immediate 
march  upon  Washington."  At  the  departure 
of  the  Second  Regiment  of  South  Carolina 
Infantry  for  Richmond,  at  about  the  same 
time,  the  Colonel  (Kershaw),  on  taking  the 


SOUTH    CAROLINA    LIGHT    INFANTRY. 


flag  presented  to   the  regiment,  said,  as  he 

handed  it  to  the  Color-Sergeant  (Gordon) : — u  To  your  particular  charge  is 
committed  this  noble  gift.  Plant  it  wherever  honor  calls.  If  opportunity 
offers,  let  it  be  the  first  to  kiss  the  breezes  of  heaven  from  the  dome  of 


1  The  New  York  Commercial  A<lrtrti*er  of  April  25th  had  an  account  of  the  experience  of  a  gentleman 
•who  had  esruped  from  Fayetteville  to  avoid  impressment  into  the  insurgent  army.  He  traveled  on  the  same 
train  with  Stephen.-  from  Warsajc  to  Richmond.  "At  nearly  every  sUition."  he  says,  "Stephens  spoke.  The 
c<i])ture  of  Washington  trait  thf  grand  idea  which  he  enforced,  and  erhorted  the,  people  to  join  in  the 
enterprise,  to  which  they  heartily  responded.  This  was  the  only  thing  talked  of.  'It  must  bo  done!'  was  his 
constant  exclamation." 

9  Sec  o.xtract  from  Walker's  speech  at  Montgomery  on  the  12th  of  April,  page  339. 


380  HYPOCRISY   OF  JEFFERSON   DAVIS. 

the  Capitol  at  Washington."  The  Richmond  Examiner  of  the  23d  (the 
day  on  which  Stephens  arrived  in  Richmond),  said: — "The  capture  of 
Washington  City  is  perfectly  within  the  power  of  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
if  Virginia  will  only  make  the  proper  effort  by  her  constituted  authori 
ties.  .  .  .  There  never  was  half  the  unanimity  among  the  people  before, 
nor  a  tithe  of  the  zeal  upon  any  subject  that  is  now  manifested  to  take 
Washington,  and  drive  from  it  every  Black  Republican  who  is  a  dweljer 
there.  From  the  mountain-tops  and  valleys  to  the  shores  of  the  sea  there  is 
one  wild  shout  of  fierce  resolve  to  capture  Washington  City,  at  all  and  every 
human  hazard."  On  the  same  day  Governor  Ellis,  of  North  Carolina,  ordered 
a  regiment  of  State  troops  to  march  for  Washington  ;  and  the  Goldsborough 
Tribune  of  the  24th  said,  speaking  of  the  grand  movement  of  Virginia  and 
a  rumored  one  in  Maryland : — "  It  makes  good  the  words  of  Secretary 
Walker  at  Montgomery,  in  regard  to  the  Federal  metropolis.  It  transfers 
the  lines  of  battle  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Pennsylvania  border."  The 
Raleigh  Standard  of  the  same  date  said : — "  Our  streets  are  alive  with 
soldiers "  (although  North  Carolina  was  a  professedly  loyal  ^State  of  the 
Union),  and  added,  "Washington  City  will  be  too  hot  to  hold  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  his  Government.  North  Carolina  has  said  it,  and  she  will  do 
all  she  can  to  make  good  her  declaration."  The  'Wilmington  (N.  C.) 
Journal  said : — "  When  North  Carolina  regiments  go  to  Washington,  and 
they  will  go,  they  will  stand  side  by  side  with  their  brethren  of  the  South." 
The  Eufaula  (Alabama)  Express  said,  on  the  25th  :a — "Our 
policy  at  this  time  should  be  to  seize  the  old  Federal  Capital, 
and  take  old  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet  prisoners  of  war."  The 
Milledgeville  (Georgia)  Southern  Recorder  of  the  30th,  inspired  by  men 
like  Toombs,  Cobb,  Iverson,  and  other  leaders,  said : — "  The  Government  of 
the  Confederate  States  must  possess  the  city  of  Washington.  It  is  folly  to 
think  it  can  be  used  any  longer  as  the  head-quarters  of  the  Lincoln  Govern 
ment,  as  no  access  can  be  had  to  it  except  by  passing  through  Virginia  and 
Maryland.  The  District  of  Columbia  cannot  remain  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  United  States  Congress  without  humiliating  Southern  pride  and 
defeating  Southern  rights.  Both  are  essential  to  greatness  of  character, 
and  both  must  co-operate  in  the  destiny  to  be  achieved."  A  correspondent 
of  the  Charleston  Courier,  writing  from  Montgomery  at  about  the  same 
time,  said: — "The  desire  for  taking  Washington,  I  believe,  increases  every 
hour,  and  all  things,  to  my  thinking,  seem  tending  to  this  consummation. 
We  are  in  lively  hope  that,  before  three  months  roll  by,  the  Government, 
Congress,  departments  and  all,  will  have  removed  to  the  present  Federal 
Capital." 

We  might  cite  utterances  of  this  kind  from  the  leading  newspapers  of 
the  more  Southern  Slave-labor  States,  and  the  declarations  of  eminent  poli 
ticians,  sufficient  to  fill  a  chapter,  which  show  that  everywhere  it  was  well 
understood  that  the  seizure  of  Washington,  the  destruction  of  the  Republic, 
and  the  erection  of  a  confederation  composed  wholly  of  Slave-labor  States, 
according  to  the  plan  foreshadowed  in  the  banner  of  the  South  Carolina 
Secession  Convention,1  was  the  cherished  design  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  his 


See  page  10G. 


April, 
1S61. 


OFFENDERS  WISH  TO  BE  LET  ALONE.          38 i 

confederates.  Yet  in  the  face  of  this  testimony — in  the  presence  of  the 
prophecy  of  his  so-culled  Secretary  of  War  at  Montgomery,  and  the  action 
of  Stephens,  his  lieutenant,  while  on  his  way  to  Richmond,  and  while  there 
in  assisting  the  Virginia  conspirators  in  carrying  out  their  scheme  for 
seizing  the  Capital,  the  arch-traitor,  with  hypocrisy  the  most  supremely 
impudent,  declared  in  a  speech  at  the  opening  of  his  so-called  Congress,  on 
the  29th  of  April,  that  his  policy  was  peaceful  and  defensive,  not  belligerent 
and  aggressive.  Speaking  more  to  Europe  than  to  the  "  Confederacy,"  he 
said: — "We  protest  solemnly,  in  the  face  of  mankind,  that  we  desire  peace 
at  any  sacrifice,  save  that  of  honor.  ...  In  independence  we  seek  no  con 
quest,  no  aggrandizement,  no  cession  of  any  kind  from  the  States  with  which 
we  have  lately  confederated.  All  ire  auk  itt  to  be  l<-.t  (done — those  who  never 
held  power  over  us  should  not  now  attempt  our  subjugation  by  arms.  This 
we  will,  we  must  resist  to  the  direst  extremity."  On  the  very 
next  day"  Stephens,  the  so-called  Vice-President,  said  in  a  speech  "  '^J80' 
at  Atlanta,  in  Georgia  : — "  A  general  opinion  prevails  that 
Washington  City  is  soon  to  be  attacked.  On  this  subject  I  can  only  say, 
our  object  is  peace.  We  wish  no  aggressions  on  any  one's  rights,  and  will 
make  none.  But  if  Maryland  secedes,  the  District  of  Columbia  will  fall  to 
her  by  reversionary  right — the  same  as  Sumter  to  South  Carolina,  Pulaski 
to  Georgia,  and  Pickens  to  Florida.  When  we  have  the  right,  we  will 
demand  the  surrender  of  Washington,  just  as  we  did  in  the  other  cases,  and 
will  enforce  our  demands  at  every  hazard  and  at  whatever  cost."  The 
burglar,  using  the  same  convenient  logic,  might  say  to  the  householder 
about  to  be  plundered  by  him,  after  having  made  the  intended  victim's  near 
neighbor  an  accomplice,  and  with  his  aid  had  forced  his  way  into  tlu« 
dwelling  :  '*  Your  plate,  and  your  money,  and  your  jewelry  fall  to  my  accom 
plice  as  a  reversionary  right,  and  we  demand  the  surrender  of  your  keys. 


1  A  qimint  writer  in  the  Hartford  (Connecticut)  Courartt,  at  that  time,  made  the  following  amusing 
menUry  on  the  conspirators'  untruthful  assertion — "All  we  ask  is  to  be  let  alone:"— 

"  As  vonce  I  valked  by  a  dismal  swamp.  Let  me  alone,  for  I've  pot  your  tin, 

There  sot  an  old  Cove  in  the  dark  and  damp,  And  lots  of  other  traps  snuirly  in  ; 

And  at  everylxxly  as  passed  that  road  Let  me  alone— 1  am  rigginp  a  boat 

A  stick  or  a  stone  this  old  Cove  throwed  ;  To  grab  votever  you've  pot  afloat; 

And  venever  he  flung  his  stick  or  his  stonp,  In  a  veek  or  so  I  expects  to  come 

He'd  set  up  a  song  of '  Let  me  alone.'  And  turn  you  out  of  your  'ouse  and  \>me. 

4  Let  me  alone,  for  I  loves  to  shy  I'm  a  quiet  Old  Cove.'  says  he.  with  a  groan, 

These  bits  of  things  at  the  passers  by;  '  All  I  axes  is.  Let  me  alone.'1"' 

The  writer  then  foreshadowed  the  action  of  the  Government,  as  follows: — 

"Just  then  came  along,  on  the  self-same  way,  And  if  ever  I  catches  you,  round  my  ranch, 

Another  old  Cove,  and  began  for  to  say  : —  I'll  strine  you  up  to  the  nearest  branch. 

'  Let  you  alone  !  that's  comin'  it  strong !  The  best  you  can  do  is  to  go  to  bod. 

You've  hen  let  alone  a  darned  sight  too  long!  And  keep  a  decent  tongue  in  your  head; 

Of  all  the  sjirce  that  ever  I  heerd  !  For  I  reckon,  before  you  and  i  are  done, 

Put  down  that  stick  !     (You  may  well  look  skeered.)  You'll  wish  you  had  let  honest  folks  alone.' 

Let  po  that  stone  \     If  you  once  show  fight,  The  Old  Cove  stopped,  and  the  t'other  Old  Cove, 

I'll  knock  you  higher  than  any  kite.  He  sot  quite  still  in  his  cypress  prove, 

You  must  have  a  lesson  to  stop  your  tricks.  And  he  looked  at  his  stick  revolvin'  slow, 

And  cure  you  of  shyifip  them  stones  and  sticks;  Vether  'twere  safe  to  shy  it  or  no  ; 

And  I'll  have  my  hardware  back,  and  my  cash.  Ami  he  grumbled  on.  in  an  injured  tone, 

And  knock  your  scow  into  'tarnal  smash;  'All  that  I  ax'd  was,  Let  me  alone.'  " 


com- 


382 


STEPHENS  IN   RICHMOND. 


CHAPTEE    XYI. 


SECESSION  OF  YIKGINIA  AND  NORTH  CAROLINA  DECLARED.— SEIZURE  OF  HARPERS 
FERRY  AND  GOSPORT  NAVY  YARD.— THE  FIRST  TROOPS  IN  WASHINGTON  FOR  ITS 
DEFENSE. 

HE  reception  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens  by  the  Convention 
of  Virginia  politicians,  the  authorities  of  the  State,  and  the 
excited  populace  in  Richmond,  gave  him  instant  assurances 
of  the  success  of  his  mission.  He  saw  the  "  Confederate 
Flag  "  waving  everywhere,  and  heard  no  complaint  because 
of  the  usurpation.  He  perceived  that  in  Virginia,  as  in  the 
Gulf  States,  the  heel  of  the  usurper  was  firmly  planted  on 
the  necks  of  the  loyal  people,  and  that  despotism  was  sub 
stantially  triumphant.  His  soul  was  filled  with  gladness, 
and  he  addressed  the  Virginians  with  the  eloquence  and 
earnestness  of  a  man  whose  heart  was  in  his  work.  "  The 
fires  of  patriotism,"  he  said,  "  I  have  seen  blazing  brightly 
all  along  my  track,  from  Montgomery  to  the  very  gates  of 
your  city,  and  they  are  enkindling  here  with  greater  bril 
liancy  and  fervor.  That  constitutional  liberty  which  we 
vainly  sought  for  while  in  the  old  Union,  we  have  found,  and  fully  enjoy  in 
our  new  one.  .  .  .  What  had  you,  the  friends  of  liberty,  to  hope  for  while 
under  Lincoln?  Nothing.  Beginning  in  usurpation,  where  will  he  end? 
He  will  quit  Washington  as  ignominiously  as  he  entered  it,  and  God's  will 
will  have  been  accomplished.  Madness  and  folly  rule  at  Washington,  but 
Providence  is  with  us,  and  will  bless  us  to  the  end.  The  people  of  Vir 
ginia  and  the  States  of  the  South  are  one  in  interest,  in  feeling,  in  insti 
tutions,  and  in  hope;  and  why  should  they  not  be  one  in  Government? 
Every  son  of  the  South,  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Rio  Grande,  should  rally 
beneath  the  same  banner.  The  conflict  may  be  terrible,  but  the  victory 
will  be  ours.  It  remains  for  you  to  say  whether  you  will  share  our 
triumphs."1 

Stephens,  as  we  have  observed,  was  in  Richmond  for  the  purpose  of 
negotiating  a  treaty  for  the  admission  of  Virginia  into  the  "  Southern  Con 
federacy."  The  Convention  appointed  Ex-President  John  Tyler,  William 
Ballard  Preston,  S.  McD.  Moore,  James  P.  Holcombe,  James  C.  Bruce,  and 
Lewis  E.  Harvie,  Commissioners  to  treat  with  him.  They  entered  upon  the 
business  at  once,  and  on  the  24th  of  April  agreed  to  and  signed  a  "  Conven- 


1  Speech  at  Richmond,  April  23,  1861,  cited  by  Whitney  in  his  History  of  the  War  for  the  Union,  i.  402. 
Compare  what  Stephens  said  at  Milledgeville,  in  November,  1860,  and  in  the  Georgia  Convention,  in  January 
1861,  pages  54  to  57,  inclusive. 


AN   ILLEGAL   MILITARY   LEAGUE. 


383 


tion  between  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  and  the  Confederate  States  of 
America,"  which  provided  that,  until  the  union  of  Virginia  with  the  league 
should  be  perfected,  "  the   whole   military  force    and   military  operations, 
offensive  and  defensive,  of  said  Commonwealth,  in  the  impending  conflict 
with  the  United  States,"  should  be  under  the  chief  control  and  direction  of 
Jefferson  Davis.     So  eager  were  the  Virginia  conspirators  to  "perfect  the 
Union,"  that  on  the  following  day,a  the  Convention,  appealing     •  April  25, 
to  the  Searcher  of  all  hearts  for  the  rectitude  of  their  conduct,         1S6U 
passed  an  ordinance  ratifying  the  treaty,  and  adopting  and  ratifying  the 


Q         e>Zel^4>      &    /7^> 


April. 


SIGNATURES    OF    THE    COMMISSIONERS.1 

Provisional  Constitution  of  the  Montgomery  League.9  They  proceeded  to 
appoint  delegates  to  the  "  Confederate  Congress "  that  was  to  assemble 
on  the  29th;*  authorized  the  banks  of  the  State  to  suspend 
specie  payments  ;  made  provision  for  the  establishment  of  a  navy 
for  Virginia,  and  for  enlistments  for  the  State  army,  and  adopted  other 
measures  preparatory  for  war.  They  also  invited  Jefferson  Davis  and  his 
confederates  to  make  Richmond  their  head-quarters.  The  so-called  annexa 
tion  of  the  Commonwealth  to  the  "  Confederacy  "  was  officially  proclaimed 

1  These  were  copied  from  the  original  parchment  upon  which  the  convention  or  treaty  was  engrossed  and 
signed. 

9  John  Tyler,  who  was  a  chief  manager  among  the  conspirators  of  the  Virginia  Convention,  telegraphed  as 
follows  to  Governor  Pickens,  at  three  o'clock  that  afternoon :—"  We  are  fellow-citizens  once  more.  By  an 
ordinance  passed  thia.day,  Virginia  has  adopted  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  Confederate  States." 


384 


USURPATION   OF   THE   PEOPLE'S   RIGHTS. 


by  Governor  Letcher ;  and  the  "  Mother  of  States,"  the  "  Mother  of  Presi 
dents,"  and  equally  the  Mother  of  Disunion,  was  forced  into  the  position 
of  an  important  member  of  the  league  against  the  Republic.  Eastern  and 
Northern  Virginia  soon  became  the  theater  of  great  battles,  fought  by 
immense  armies,  at  various  times  during  the  war  that  ensued. 

When  the  time  approached  for  the  people  of  Virginia  to  vote  on  the 
Ordinance  of  Secession,  in  accordance  with  its  own  provisions,  Senator  James 
M.  Mason,  one  of  the  most  malignant  and  unscrupulous  of  the  conspirators, 
addressed  a  letter  to  them  from  his  home  near  Winchester,  in  which,  after 
saying  that  the  Ordinance  "withdrew  the  State  of  Virginia  from  the  Union, 
with  all  the  consequences  resulting  from  the  separation,"  annulling  "all  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  within  its  limits,"  and  absolv 
ing  u  its  citizens  from  all  obligations  or  obedience  to  them,"  he  declared  'that 

a  rejection  of  the  Ordinance  by  the  people 
would  reverse  all  this,  and  that  Virginia 
Would  be  compelled  to  fight  under  the 
banner  of  the  Republic,  in  violation  of  the 
sacred  pledge  made  to  the  "  Confederate 
States,"  in  the  treaty  or  "Military  League" 
of  the  25th  of  April.  He  then  said:— 
"If  it  be  asked,  What  are  those  to  do 
who,  in  their  conscience,  cannot  vote  to 
separate  Virginia  from  the  United  States  ? 
the  answer  is  simple  and  plain.  Honor 
and  duty  alike  require  that  they  should 
not  vote  on  the  question;  and  if  they  re 
tain  such  opinions,  they  must  leave  the 
State"1  The  answer  was,  indeed,  "  simple 
and  plain,"  and  in  exact  accordance  with 
the  true  spirit  of  the  conspirators,  expressed  by  their  chosen  leader : — "  All 
who  oppose  us  shall  smell  Southern  powder  and  feel  Southern  steel." 
Submission  or  banishment  was  the  alternative  offered  by  Mason,  in  the  name 
of  traitors  in  power,  to  Virginians  who  were  true  to  the  principles  of  the 
Father  of  his  Country,  whose  remains  were  resting  within  the  bosom  of 
their  State,  and  to  the  old  flag  under  which  the  independence  of  their 
common  country  had  been  achieved.  He  well  knew  that  his  words  would 
be  received  as  expressions  of  the  views  of  the  usurpers  at  Richmond,  and 
that  thousands  of  citi/ens  would  thereby  be  kept  from  the  polls,  for  in  Vir 
ginia  the  votes  were  given  openly,  and  not  by  secret  ballot,  as  in  other 
States. 

Mason's  infamous  suggestion  was  followed  by  coincident  action.    Troops 
had  been  for  some  time  pouring  into   Virginia  from  the  more   Southern 
a  May  23,     States,  and  the  vote  on  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  taken 
toward  the  close  of  May,a  in  the  midst  of  bayonets  thirsting  for 
the  blood  of  Union  men.     Terror  was  then  reigning  all  over  Eastern  Vir 
ginia.      Unionists  were  -hunted  like  wild  beasts,  and  compelled  to  fly  from 


JAMES    M.    MASON. 


Letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  Winchester  Virginian.  May  16,  1861. 


NORTH   CAROLINA   RULED   BY   USURPERS.  385 

their  State  to  save  their  lives ;  and  by  these  means  the  conspirators  were 
enabled  to  report  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  fifty  for  secession,  and  only  twenty  thousand  three  hundred 
and  seventy-three  against  it.  This  did  not  include  the  vote  in  North 
western  Virginia,  where  the  people  had  rallied  around  their  true  representa 
tives  in  the  Convention,  and  defied  the  conspirators  and  all  their  power. 
They  had  already  placed  themselves  boldly  and  firmly  upon  earnest  profes 
sions  of  loyalty  to  the  Union,  and  in  Convention  assembled  at  Wheeling, 
ten  days  before  the  voting,  they  had  planted,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter, 
the  vigorous  germ  of  a  new  Free-labor  Commonwealth. 

The  conservative  State  of  North  Carolina,  lying  between  Virginia  and 
the  more  Southern  States,  could  not  long  remain  ifeutral.  Her  disloyal  poli 
ticians,  with  Governor  Ellis  at  their  head,  were  active  and  unscrupulous. 
We  have  already  observed  their  efforts  to  array  the  State  against  the 
National  Government,  and  the  decided  condemnation  of  their  schemes  by 
the  people.1  Now,  taking  advantage  of  the  excitement  caused  by  the 
attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  the  call  of  the  President  for  troops,  they 
renewed  their  wicked  efforts,  and  with  better  success.  Ellis 
issued  a  proclamation,"  calling  an  extraordinary  session  of  the  "  *jtfliar: 
Legislature  on  the  1st  of  May,  in  which  he  shamelessly  declared 
that  the  President  was  preparing  for  the  "subjugation  of  the  entire  South, 
and  the  conversion  of  a  free  republic,  inherited  from  their  fathers,  into  a 
military  despotism,  to  be  established  by  worse  than  foreign  enemies,  on  the 
ruins  of  the  once  glorious  Constitution  of  Equal  Rights."  With  equal  men 
dacity,  the  disloyal  politicians  throughout  the  State  stirred  up  the  people  by 
making  them  believe  that  they  were  about  to  be  deprived  of  their  liberties 
by  a  military  despotism  at  Washington.  Excited,  bewildered,  and  alarmed, 
they  became,  in  a  degree,  passive  instruments  in  the  hands  of  men  like 
Senator  Clingman  and  others  of  his  party.  The  Legislature  acted  under 
the  same  malign  influences.  It  authorized  a  convention  to  consider  the 
subject  of  the  secession  of  the  State,  and  ordered  an  election  of  delegates 
therefor,  to  be  held  on  the  13th  of  May.  It  gave  the  Governor  authority  to 
raise  ten  thousand  men,  and  appropriated  five  millions  of  dollars  for  the  use 
of  the  State.  It  empowered  the  treasurer  to  issue  notes  to  the  amount  of 
five  hundred  thousAnd  dollars,  in  denominations  as  low  as  three  cents;  and 
by  act  defined  treason  to  be  the  levying  of  war  against  the  State,  adhering 
to  its  enemies  in  establishing  a  government  within  the  State  without  the 
consent  of  the  Legislature,  and  in  holding  or  executing  any  office  in  such 
government. 

The  Convention  assembled  on  the  20th  of  May,  the  anniversary  of  the 
"  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence,"*'  and  on  the  same  day  an 
Ordinance  of  Secession  was  adopted  by  a  unanimous  vote.  In  the  mean 
time  the  Governor  had  issued  an  order  for  tlfe  enrollment  of  thirty  thousand 


1  See  pages  62  and  198. 

*  In  1775  a  Convention  of  the  representatives  of  the  citizens  of  Mecklenburg  County,  Xorth  Carolina,  held  at 
Charlotte,  passed  a  series  of  patriotic  resolutions,  equivalent  in  words  and  spirit  to  a  declaration  of  independence 
of  the  Government  of  Great  Britain.  There  is  a  well-founded  dispute  as  to  the  day  on  which  that  declaration 
was  adopted,  one  party  declaring  it  to  be  the  20th  of  May.  and  another  the  31st  of  May.  For  a  minute  account 
of  that  affair,  see  Lossing's  Pictorial  Field-Book  of  the  Revolution. 

VOL.  I.— 25 


386 


TENNESSEE  IN  DANGER  OF  RUIN. 


minute-men,  and  the  forces  of  the  State  had  seized,  for  the  second  time,  the 
a  A  riiso     National  forts  on  the  sea-coast;1  also  the  Mint  at  Charlotte,"  and 
i86i.    '    the  Government  Arsenal  at  Fayetteville,b  in  which  were  thirty- 
b  Apni  23.    seven  thousand  stand  of  arms,  three  thousand  kegs  of  gunpow 
der,  and  an  immense  amount  of  munitions  of  war.     Within  three  weeks 


ARSENAL  AT  FAYETTEVILLE,  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

after  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  there  were  not  less  than 
twenty  thousand  North  Carolina  volunteers  under  arms.  They  adopted  a 
flag  which  was  composed  of  the  colors  red,  white,  and  blue,  differently 

arranged  from  those  in   the   National 
flag.2 

The  Governor  of  Tennessee  (Harris) 
and  a  disloyal  majority  of  the  Legis 
lature  now  commenced  the  work  of 
infinite  mischief  to  the  people  of  their 
State.  Harris  called  the  Legislature 
together  on  the  25th  of  April,  and  de 
livered  to  that  body  a  message,  in 
which  he  strongly  urged  the  necessity 
for  the  immediate  secession  of  the 
State.  .  Remembering  that 

less  than  eighty  days  Before' 
the  people  had  declared  in 
favor  of  the  Union  by  sixty-five  thou 
sand  majority,  he  was  unwilling  to 
trust  the  question  of  secession  to  them 
now.  He  argued,  that  at  the  opening 
of  a  revolution  go  vitally  important,  there  was  no  propriety  in  wasting  the 
time  required  to  ascertain  the  swill  of  the  people  by  calling  a  convention, 
when  the  Legislature  had  the  power  to  submit  an  ordinance  of  secession  to 

1  See  page  161. 

2  The  colors  were  arranged  as  follows  in  this  flag  of  the  "  Sovereign  State  of  North  Carolina :" — The  red 
formed  a  broad  bar  running  parallel  with  the  staff,  on  which  was  a  single  star,  and  the  dates  arranged  as  seen  in 
the  engravins,  "May  20,  1775,"  which  was  that  of  the  promulgation  of  the  so-called  "Mecklenburg  Declaration 
of  Independence"  (mentioned  in  note  2,  page  3S5).  and  "May  20, 1861,"  on  which  day  the  politicians  of  North 
Carolina  declared  the  bond  that  bound  that  State  to  their  own  chosen  Union  was  forever  dissolved. 


NORTH   CAROLINA   FL/.G. 


TENNESSEE  LEAGUED  WITH  THE   "CONFEDERACY."          387 

them  without  "encumbering  them  with  the  election  of  delegates."  He 
accordingly  recommended  the  Legislature  to  adopt  such  an*  ordinance  at 
once,  and  call  upon  the  people  to  vote  upon  it  speedily. 

A  few  days  after  the  Governor's  message  was  submitted  to  the  Legis 
lature,  Henry  W.  Hilliard,  a  leading  member  of  the  "Methodist  Church 
South,"  appeared  before  that  body  a  as  a  commissioner  of  Jefferson 
Davis  and  his  confederates,  clothed  by  them  with  authority  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  of  alliance  between  the  State  of  Tennessee  and 
the  "Confederate  States  of  America,"  similar  to  that  already  completed 
between  the  Virginia  politicians  and  the  conspirators  at  -Montgomery.  He 
was  allowed  to  submit  his  views  to  the  Legislature.  He  regarded  the 
question  at  issue  "  between  the  North  and  the  South"  as  one  "of  constitu 
tional  liberty,  involving  the  right  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves."  He 
believed  there  was  not  a  true-hearted  man  in  the  South  who  would  not 
rather  die  than  submit  to  "the  Abolition  North."  The  idea  of  reconstruc 
tion  must  be  utterly  abandoned.  They  would  never  think  of  "going  back 
to  their  enemies."  He  considered  the  system  of  government  founded  on 
Slavery,  which  had  been  established  at  Montgomery,  as  the  only  permanent 
form  of  government  that  could  be  maintained  in  America.  His  views  were 
warmly  supported  by  some  prominent  Tennesseans.  Ex-Governor  Neil  S. 
Brown,  in  a  letter  published  at  about  that  time,  expressed  his  belief  that  it 
was  "the  settled  policy  of  the  Administration"  and  of  "the  whole  North, 
to  wa<?e  a  war  of  extermination  against  the  South,"  ami  urged  the  people 
to  arm  themselves,  as  the  Border  States,  he  believed,  would  be  the  battle 
ground.  Ex-Congressman  Felix  R.  Zollieoffer  declared  that  Tennessee  was 
"already  involved  in  war,"  ami  said, "  We  cannot  stand  neutral  and  see  our 
Southern  brothers  butchered." 

On  the  1st  of  May  the  Legislature  authorized  the  Governor  to  enter  into 
a  military  league  with  the  "Confederate  States,''  by  which  the  whole 
military  rule  of  the  Commonwealth  should  be  subjected  to  the  will  of  Davis. 
He  appointed  Gustavus  A.  Henry,  Archibald  O.  \V.  Totten,  and  Washing 
ton  Barrow  as  commissioners  for  the  purpose.  They  and  Mr.  Hilliard 
negotiated  a  treaty,  and  on  the  Yth''  the  Governor  announced 
to  the  Legislature  the  conclusion  of  the  business,  and  submitted 
to  it  a  copy  of  the  "Convention."  By  it  Davis  and  his  confederates  were 
authorized  to  exercise  absolute  military  control  in  Tennessee  until  that 
Commonwealth  should  become  a  member  of  the  "  Confederacy "  by  rati 
fying  its  permanent  constitution.  The  vote  on  the  treaty  in  the  Senate 
was  fourteen  ayes  to  six  noes,  and  in  the  lower  House,  forty-two  ayes  to 
fifteen  noes.  Eighteen  of  the  members,  chiefly  from  East  Tennessee,  were 
absent  or  did  not  vote.1 


1  It  was  stipulated  by  the  convention,  in  addition  to  the  absolute  surrender  of  all  the  military  affairs  of 
the  State  to  Jefferson  Davis,  that  the  State  of  Tennessee  should,  "on  becoming  a  member  of  said  Confederacy, 
under  the  permanent  (.'(institution  of  said  Confederate  States,  if  the  same  shall  occur,  turn  over  to  said  Con 
federate  States  all  the  public  property,  naval  stores,  and  munitions  of  war.  of  which  she  may  then  be  in  posses 
sion,  acquired  from  the  United  States,  on  the  same  terms  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the  other  States  of  said 
Confederacy  have  done  in  like  cases."  Governor  Harris  had  already  (on  the  '29th  of  April1)  ordered  the  seizure 
of  Tennessee  bonds  to  the  amount  of  sixty-six  thousand  dollars,  and  five  thousand  dollars  in  cash,  belonging  to 
the  United  States,  which  were  in  possession  of  the  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Nashville.  The  pretext  for  the  seizure 
was,  that  the  amount  might  be  held  in  trust,  as  a  sort  of  hostage,  until  the  Government  should  return  to  the 
Btate  and  its  citizens  property  contraband  of  war  which  had  been  taken  from  the  steamer  Jttllman,  at  Cairo. 


388  USURPATION"  AND   FRAUD   IN   TENNESSEE. 

The  Legislature,  in  the  mean  time,  had  passed  an  act,  to  submit  to  a 
vote  of  the  people  a  "  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  an  Ordinance  dis- 
solving  the  Federal  Relations  between  the  State  of  Tennessee  and  the  United 
States  of  America ;"  and  also  an  Ordinance  for  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  "Provisional  Government  of  the  Confederate  States."1  The 
Governor  was  empowered  to  raise  fifty-five  thousand  volunteers  "for  the 
defense  of  the  State,"  and,  if  it  should  become  necessary,  to  call  out  the 
whole  available  military  strength  of  the  Commonwealth,  to  be  under  the 
absolute  control  of  the  Governor.  He  was  also  authorized  to  issue  the 
bonds  of  the  State  to  the  amount  of  five  millions  of  dollars,  to  run  ten  years 
and  bear  an  annual  interest  of  eight  per  cent.  Thus  the  purse  and  the 
sword  of  the  violated  Commonwealth  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  its 
bitterest  enemy,  and  before  the  day  had  arrived  on  which  the  vote  was  to 
be  taken  on  the  question  of  Separation  or  No  Separation,"  Harris 
*  1861° S  ^ia(^  organized  twenty-five  thousand  volunteers  and  equipped 
them  with  munitions'  of  war,  a  greater  portion  of  which  had 
been  stolen  from  National  arsenals,  and  brought  to  Nashville  by  the  dis 
loyal  Ex-Congressman  Zollicoffer,  who  had  been  sent  by  the  Governor  to 
Montgomery  on  a  treasonable  mission,  at  the  middle  of  May.2  The  people 
found  themselves  practically  dispossessed  of  the  elective  franchise,  one  of 
the  most  sacred  rights  of  freemen,  by  a  usurper — the  head  of  a  military 
despotism,  in  complicity  with  the  conspirators  at  Montgomery.  That 
despotism  had  been  of  quick  and  powerful  growth  under  the  culture  of 
men  in  authority,  and  was  possessed  of  amazing  energy.  Its  will  was  law. 
The  people  were  slaves.  Its  mailed  heel  was  upon  their  necks,  and  they 
perceived  no  way  to  lift  it.  They  knew  that  their  voice  at  the  ballot-box 
might  be  silenced  by  the  bayonet,  yet  they  ventured  to  speak ;  and  it  is 
asserted  by  the  most  competent  authority,  that  a  decided  majority  of  the 
votes  cast  were  against  the  disunion  schemes  of  the  Governor  and  his  friends, 
who  at  once  inaugurated  a  system  of  terrorism  such  as  the  history  of 
tyrants  has  seldom  revealed.  Fraud  and  violence  were  exercised  every 
where  on  the  part  of  the  disloyalists,  and  after  the  operation  of  a  concerted 
plan  for  making  false  election  returns,  and  the  changing  of  figures  in  the 

1  This  action  was  kept  secret  for  several  days.     When  the  intrepid  Brownlow  (see  page  38)  heard  of  it,  he 
•denounced  it  vehemently  in  his  journal,  the  Knoxmlle  Whig.     "The  deed  is  done,  and  a  black  deed  it  is,1'  he 
said.     "  The  Legislature  of  Tennessee,  in  secret  session,  passed  an  Ordinance  of  Secession,  voting  the  State  out 
of  the  Federal  Union,  and  changing  the  Federal  relations  of  the  State,  thereby  affecting,  to  the  great  injury  of 
the  people,  their  most  important  earthly  interests."     He  denounced  the  Governor  and  legislators  as  usurpers, 
and  called  upon  the  people  to  vote  against  the  Ordinance.     "Let  every  man,"  he  said,  "old  and  young,  halt  and 
blind,  contrive  to  be  at  the  polls  on  that  day.     If  we  lose  then,  our  liberties  are  gone,  and  we  are  swallowed  up 
by  a  military  despotism  more  odious  than  any  now  existing  in  any  of  the  monarchies  of  Europe." 

2  In  a  letter  to  the  Governor,  after  his  return,  Zollicoffer  gave  an  account  of  his  mission,  and  revealed  facts 
which  throw  considerable  light  on  subsequent  events.     He  said  that  "  President  Davis"  desired  and  expected  to 
furnish  Tennessee  with  fifty  thousand  muskets,  but  there  were  difficulties  in  the  way.     An  attempt  to  procure 
arms  from  Havana  had  failed,  but  they  expected  muskets  from  Belgium  "  in  British  bottoms."     General  Pillow, 
it  seems,  had  no  idea  of  respecting  Kentucky  neutrality  [see  Chapter  XIX.],  but  had,  so  early  as  the  middle  of 
May,  proposed  to  occupy  Columbus,  in  that  State,  as  a  "Confederate"  military  post.     Davis  thought  such  a 
movement  at  that  time  was  premature.     lie  said  he  had  once  proposed  the  same  thing  to  Governor  Magoftin, 
but  he  would  not  then  consent.     Davis  was  also  doubtful  about  the  propriety  of  "  throwing  the  military  forces 
of  Tennessee  upon  the  Ohio  and  Missouri  frontiers  of  Kentucky,"  which  Governor  Harris  had  proposed,  because 
he  doubted  whether  Magoftin  would  approve  of  it.      "He  thinks  Governor  Magoffin,  Mr.  Breck  in  ridge,  and 
others,"  said  the  writer,  "  are  merely  floating  with  the  tide  of  Southern  feeling  in  Kentucky,  not  leading  it," 
but  that  "Governor  Jackson,  of  Missouri,  was  in  advance  of  his  people,  and  leading  to  the  utmost  of  his  power 
in  defense  of  the  South."     Davis  also  thought  it  would  be  better  for  the  Kentuckians  true  to  "the  South"  to 
retire,  under  military  leaders,  to  Tennessee,  and  there  "  rally  and  organize." 


EAST   TENNESSEAXS   LOYAL.  389 

aggregates,  at  Nashville,  by  the  Governor  and  his  confederates,  Harris 
asserted,  in  a  proclamation  issued  on  the  24th  of  June,  that  the  vote  in  the 
State  was  one  hundred  and  four  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirteen  for 
Separation,  and  forty-seven  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight  against 
it,  or  a  majority  in  favor  of  disunion  of  fifty-seven  thousand  six  hundred  and 
seventy-eight.1  Even  this  false  report  showed  that  East  Tennessee — the 
mountain  region  of  the  State,  which,  like  Western  Virginia,  was  not 
seriously  poisoned  by  the  virus  of  the  Slave  system — was  loyal  to  the 
Republic  by  a  heavy  majority.  It  is  said  that  one-half  of  the  votes  cast  in 
favor  of  Separation  in  East  Tennessee  were  illegal,  having  been  given  by 
soldiers  of  the  insurgent  army,  who  had  no  right  to  vote  anywhere.2  All 
through  the  war  that  ensued  East  Tennessee  remained  loyal,  but  at  the 
cost  of  fearful  sum-ring,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter. 

Thus  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee,  by  the  treasonable  action 
of  their  respective  governors,  their  legislatures,  and  their  conventions,  were 
placed  in  an  attitude  of  hostility  to  the  National  Government,  positively 
and  offensively,  before  the  people  were  allowed  to  say  a  word  on  the  subject 
officially.  These  usurpers  raised  armies  and  levied  war  before  the  people 
gave  them  power  to  enlist  a  soldier,  to  buy  an  ounce  of  ammunition,  or  to 
move  a  gun. 

The  conspirators  of  Virginia  had  not  only  talked  "boldly  and  resolved 
courageously,  but  had,  from  the  moment  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter, 
labored  zealously  and  vigorously  in  preliminary  movements  for  the  seizure 
of  Washington  and  the  National  Government.     Within  twenty- 
four  hours  after  the  passage  of  the  Secession  Ordinance,"  as  we   "  Al^117' 
have  observed,  they  had  set  forces  in  motion  for  the  capture  of 
Harper's  Ferry  and  the  arms  ami  ammunition  there,  and  of  the  Navy  Yard 
at  Gosport,  near  Norfolk,  with  its  vast  amount  of  ordnance  anjl  stores. 

Harper's  Ferry  is  a  small  village  in  Jefferson  County,  Virginia,  clustered 
around  the  base  of  a  rugged  hill  at  the  confluence  of  the  Potomac  and 
Shenandoah  Rivers,  where  the  conjoined  streams  pass  through  the  lofty 
ran<;e  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  between  fifty  and  sixty  miles  northwest  from 
Washington  City.  It  is  on  the  line  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway, 
and  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal,  the  powerful  commercial  links  which 
connect  Maryland,  and  especially  Baltimore,  with  the  great  West.  There 
is  the  outer  gate  of  the  Shenandoah  or  great  Valley  of  Virginia,  and  was, 
at  the  time  we  are  considering  and  throughout  the  war,  a  point  of  much 
strategic  importance  as  a  military  post.  There,  for  many  years,  a  National 
Armory  and  Arsenal  had  been  situated,  where  ten  thousand  muskets  were 
made  every  year,  and  from  eighty  to  ninety  thousand  stand  of  arms  were 
generally  stored. 

1  The  items  of  the  rote,  as  given  in  the  proclamation,  were  as  follows: — 

SErARATIOX.  NO    8KPARATIOK. 

East  Tennessee 14.780  82.923 

Middle  Tennessee 58.262  6;i9S 

West  Tennessee 29.157  6.11 7 

Military  Camps : 2.714  (none) 

Total 104.913  47,238 

1  See  Sketches  of  the.  Rise.  Progress,  and  Decline  of  Secession,  et  cat  era  :  by  W.  G.  Brownlow,  now  (1S65) 
Governor  of  Tennessee,  page  222. 


390 


DESIGNS   AGAINST   HARPER'S  FERRY. 


When  the  secession  movement  began,  at  the  close  of  1860,  the  Govern 
ment  took  measures  for  the  security  of  this  post.  Orders  were  received 
there  on  the  2d  of  January  for  the  Armory  Guard,  Flag  Guard,  and  Rifle 
Company  to  go  on  duty ;  and  these  were  re-enforced  a  few  days  afterward 
by  sixty-four  unmounted  United  States  dragoons,  under  the  command  of 
Lieutenant  Roger  Jones,  who  were  sent  there  as  a  precautionary  measure. 
Colonel  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  was  superintendent  of  the  post. 

Profound  quiet  prevailed  at  Harper's  Ferry  until  after  the  attack  on 
Fort  Sumter,  when  it  was  disturbed  by  rumors  that  the  Virginians  were 
preparing  to  seize  the  Armory  and  Arsenal  there.  The  rumor  was  true,  and 
was  soon  verified.  On  the  morning  of  the  1 8th  of  April,  orders  were  received 


HARPER'S  FERRY  IK  MAY,  1861.1 

from  Richmond,  by  the  militia  commanders  at  Winchester  and  Charles- 
town,  for  the  seizure  of  the  Armory  and  Arsenal  that  night,  and  a  march 
in  force  into  Maryland,  when  the  Minute-men  of  that  State  were  expected 
to  join  them  in  an  immediate  attack  on  Washington.  Notice  was  given  to 
about  three  thousand  men,  but,  owing  to  some  misunderstanding,  only 
Jeiferson  County  troops,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  under  Colonel 
Allen,  were  at  Halltown,  the  designated  place  of  rendezvoiis,  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening.  This  was  a  little  village  about  half  way  between 
Charlestown  Court  House  and  Harper's  Ferry,  and  four  mites  from  each. 
Other  troops,  in  the  vicinity  of  Winchester,  were  on  their  march  toward  the 
Perry  at  that  time. 

1  This  is  a  view  of  Harpers  Ferry  as  it  appeared  just  after  the  destruction  of  the  Armory  and  Arsenal  build 
ings.  The  spectator  is  upon  the  hill  back  of  the  village,  and  looking  toward  the  Potomac,  where,  with  the 
waters  of  the  Shenandoah,  it  passes  through  the  Blue  Ridge.  Maryland  Ilights,  which  havo  become  famous  in 
history,  are  seen  on  the  left  of  the  picture. 


DESTRUCTION"   AT   HARPER'S   FERRY.  391 

As  a  surprise  seemed  important  to  secure  success,  the  little  detachment 
•at  Halltown  moved  forward  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock.  They  had  four^ 
miles  to  march  in  the  gloom.  The  infantry  led,  and  were  followed  by  one 
piece  of  artillery  and  about  twenty  of  the  Fauquier  Cavalry,  led  by  Captain 
Ashby,  who  afterward  became  a  noted  leader  of  horsemen  in  the  "  Con 
federate  army.'' 

The  march  was  silent.  When  within  a  mile  of  the  Ferry,  the  troops  met 
sentries,  who  challenged  them.  The  former  halted,  loaded  their  guns,  and 
the  officers  held  a  consultation.  Suddenly  there  was  seen  a  flash  of  light, 
followed  by  an  explosion,  in  the  direction  of  the  Ferry.  This  was  quickly 
repeated,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  mountain  bights  in  the  neighborhood 
were  lighted  by  an  immense  and  increasing  flame.  Captain  Ashby  dashed 
forward  to  the  town,  and  soon  returned  with  the  report  that  the  Arsenal 
and  Armory  were  on  fire,  and  that  the  National  troops  had  crossed  the  river, 
ami  taken  the  mountain  road  in  the  direction  of  Carlisle  Barracks,  in  Penn 
sylvania. 

Captain  Ashby  was  correctly  informed.  Lieutenant  Jones  had  been 
secretly  warned,  twenty-four  hours  before,  of  the  plan  for  seizing  the  post 
that  flight.  He  had  indications  around  him  of  trouble  being  nigh.  The 
militia  of  the  place,  who  had  professed  to  be  loyal,  had  resolved  to  disband 
that  day,  and  the  laborers  who  were  acting  as  guards  manifested  significant 
uneasiness.  It  was  evident  that  the  secession  feeling  was  predominant 
among  all  classes.  He  was  satisfied  that  his  little  force  of  only  forty  trusty 
men  could  not  withstand  the  overwhelming  number  of  insurgents  reported 
to  be  in  readiness  for  the  attack;  so  he  caused  the  arms  at  the  post,  about 
fifteen  thousand  in  number,  to  be  secretly  piled  in  heaps  in  the  Arsenal 
buildings,  and  surrounded  with  combustibles  for  their  destruction,  that  they 
might  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  insurgents.  Suitable  materials  were 
also  placed  in  order  for  burning  the  Government  buildings,  between  which 
trains  of  gunpowder  were  laid. 

At  a  few  minutes  past  ten  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  18th,  a  sentinel 
notified  Lieutenant  Jones  that  the  Virginians,  reported  to  be  two  thousand 
in  number,  were  within  twenty  minutes'  march  of  the  Ferry.  The  com 
mander  instantly  fired  the  trains;  and  three  minutes  afterward  both  of  the 
Arsenal  buildings  containing  the  arms,  together  with  the  carpenters'  shop, 
which  was  at  the  upper  end  of  a  large  and  connected  series  of  workshops 
of  the  Armory  proper,  were  in  a  blaze.  Every  window  in  the  buildings  had 
been  thrown  open,  so  as  to.  increase  the  fury  of  the  conflagration.  When 
this  work  was  accomplished,  Jones  and  his  little  garrison  of  forty  men 
crossed  the  Potomac  over  the  covered  bridge,  followed  by  an  excited  crowd 
of  citizens,  who  threatened  him  with  direst  vengeance.  lie  wheeled  his 
men  at  the  bridge,  and  threatened  to  fire  upon  the  pursuers,  when  they  fell 
back.  lie  then  fled  up  the  canal,  crossed  the  hills,  and,  wading  streams  and 
swamps,  reached  Hagerstown  at  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning.  There 
he  procured  vehicles  to  convey  his  command  to  Chambersburg,1  and  from 


1  Rej>ort.  of  Lieutenant  Jonos  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  April  20.  ISfil.  Communication  of  P.  II.  Strothor 
(well  known  by  the  title  of  "Port  Crayon"  to  the  readers  of  H<iri>tr'x  Magazine)  in  1/nrper'x  Wttkly.  Mr. 
Strother  was  an  eye-witness  of  the  scenes  described,  and  made  some  jrraphie  sketches  of  the  conflagration. 


392  THE  NAVY  YARD  AT  GOSPORT. 

thence  they  went  by  railway  to  Carlisle  Barracks,  their  destination,  where 
they  arrived  at  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  19th.  The  Gov 
ernment  highly  commended  Lieutenant  Jones  for  his  judicious  act,  and  his' 
officers  and  men  for  their  good  conduct;  and  the  commander  was  imme 
diately  promoted  to  the  office  of  Assistant  Quartermaster-General,  with  the 
rank  of  captain.1 

Harper's  Ferry  instantly  became  an  important  post,  menacing  Washing 
ton  City.  By  the  20th  of  May  full  eight  thousand  insurgent  troops  were 
there,  composed  of  Virginians,  Kentuckians,  Alabamians,  and  South  Caro 
linians.  They  occupied  Maryland  Hights  and  other  prominent  points  near 
the  Ferry,  on  both  sides  of  the  Potomac  and  Shenandoah  Rivers,  and  threw 
up  fortifications  there. 

Preparations  for  seizing  the  Navy  Yard  near  Norfolk  were  commenced  a 
little  earlier  than  the  march  upon  Harper's  Ferry.  So  early  as  the  night  of 
the  16th  of  April  (the  day  before  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession 
in  the  Virginia  Convention),  two  light-boats  of  eighty  tons  each  were  sunk 
in  the  channel  of  the  Elizabeth  River,  below  Norfolk,  to  prevent  the  egress 
of  the  several  ships-of-war  lying  near  the  Navy  Yard.  "Thus,"  said  a  dis 
patch  sent  to  Richmond  by  the  exultant  insurgents,  "  we  have  secured  three 
of  the  best  ships  of  the  Navy."  These  ships  were  much  coveted  prizes. 
These,  with  the  immense  number  of  cannon  and  other  munitions  of  war 
at  that  post,  the  Virginia  conspirators  intended  to  seize  for  the  use  of  the 
"  Confederacy." 

The  Navy  Yard  here  spoken  of  was  at  Gosport,  a  suburb  of  Portsmouth, 
on  the  side  of  the  Elizabeth  River  opposite  Norfolk.  It  was  a  sheltered 
spot  on  the  margin  of  a  deep  and  narrow  body  of  tide-water,  whose  head 
was  at  the  Great  Dismal  Swamp  of  North  Carolina.  The  station  was  one 
of  the  oldest  and  most  extensive  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States.  The 
establishment  covered  an  area  of  three-fourths  of  a  mile  in  length  and  one- 
fourth  of  a  mile  in  width.  The  largest  vessels  of  war  could  float  there. 
Ship-houses,  machine-shops,  officers'  quarters,  and  an  immense  Dry-dock 
built  of  granite,  with  materials  for  building  and  fitting  out  war-vessels,  were 
seen  there  in  the  greatest  perfection.  The  quantity  of  arms  and  munitions 
laid  up  there  was  enormous.  There  were  at  least  two  thousand  pieces  of 
heavy  cannon  fit  for  service,  three  hundred  of  which  were  new  Dahlgren 
guns.  It  was  estimated  that  the  various  property  of  the  yard,  of  all  kinds, 
was  worth  between  nine  and  ten  millions  of  dollars.  Besides  this  property 
on  land,  several  war-vessels  were  afloat  there,  among  which  was  the 
immense  three-decker  Pennsylvania,  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  guns,  which 
was  constructed  in  1837,  but  had  never  ventured  upon  a  long  ocean  voyage. 
The  others  were  the  ships-of-the-line  Columbus,  eighty;  Delaware,  eighty- 
four,  and  New  York,  eighty-four,  on  the  stocks :  the  frigates  United  States, 
fifty;  Columbia,  fifty;  and  Raritan,  fifty:  the  sloops-of-war  Plymouth, 
twenty-two,  and  Germantown,  twenty-two:  the  b  rig  Dolphin,  four;  and  the 
steam-frigate  Merrimack,  afterward  made  famous  by  its  attack  on  the 
National  squadron  in  Hampton  Roads  and  a  contest  with  the  Monitor.  Of 
these  vessels,  one  was  on  the  stocks,  others  were  out  of  order,  and  only  the 

1  Letter  of  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War,  to  Lieutenant  Jones,  April  22,  1861. 


THE   COMMANDER   AT   GOSPORT   INSTRUCTED.  393 

Merrimack  and  Germantown  were  in  a  condition  to  be  speedily  put  to  use. 
The  Merrimack  needed  repairs,  but  the  Germantown  was  nearly  ready  for  sea. 

Notwithstanding  the  importance  of  the  Gosport  Navy  Yard  as  a  military 
post,  and  the  immense  value  of  the  property  there,  not  only  to  the  Govern 
ment  but  to  the  insurgents,  the  late  Administration,  in  its  endeavors  to  avoid 
irritating  the  secessionists  of  Virginia,  had  left  the  whole  exposed  to  seizure 
or  destruction  by  them.  The  post  was  circumvallated  by  a  low  structure, 
incompetent  to  offer  resistance  to  cannon.  There  was  neither  fort  nor  gar 
rison  to  cover  it  in  case  of  an  assault.  In  fact,  it  was  invitingly  weak,  and 
offered  strong  temptations  for  even  a  few  bold  men  to  attempt  its  seizure. 
The  new  Administration  seemed  to  be  equally  remiss  in  duty  prescribed  by 
common  prudence  until  it  was  too  late.  Finally,  after  the  lapse  of  more 
than  a  month  from  its  inauguration,  and  when  it  was  resolved  to  give  aid  to 
Forts  Pickens  and  Sumter,  Commodore  Charles  S.  McCauley,  who  was  in 
command,  of  the  Gosport  station,  was  admonished  to  exercise  "extreme 
caution  and  circumspection."  On  the  10th  of  April,  he  was  instructed  to 
"put  the  shipping  and  public  property  in  condition  to  be  moved  and  placed 
beyond  danger,  should  it  become  necessary ;"  at  the  same  time,  he  was 
warned  to  "  take  no  steps  that  could  give  needless  alarm."1 

Informed  that  with  the  workmen  then  employed  on  the  engine  of  the 
steam-frigate  J/ir/v;/w/',  it  would  take  thirty  days  to  repair  it,  and  anxious 
for  the  safety  of  the  vessel,  the  Government   sent  Engineer-in-chief  B.  F. 
Isherwood,  who  discredited   the  report,  to  put   the  machinery  in  order  as 
quickly  as  possible.     At  the  same  time  MeCauley  was  directed  to  expedite 
the  work,  and  Captain  Alden  was  ordered  to  take  charge  of  the  vessel,  and, 
when  ready  for  sea,  to  go  with  it  to   Philadelphia.     Isherwood  arrived  at 
the  yard  on  Sunday  morning,  the   14th,"  and  by  applying  labor 
night    and  day,  he   reported  to  MeCauley  on  the   17th  that   the 
engine  was  ready  for  use. 

In  the  mean  time,  Captain,  now  (1865)  Rear-Admiral  Paulding  had 
arrived  from  Washington  with  instructions  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Xavy 
for  MeCauley  to  lose  no  time  in  arming  the  Aferrimack  ;  "to  get  the 
JVymout/i.  and  fJo/jthht  beyond  danger;  to  have  the  Germantown  in  a  con 
dition  to  be  towed  out,  and  to  put  the  more  valuable  property,  ordnance 
stores,  tt  c<i'tt-r<t,  on  shipboard,  so  that  they  could,  at  any  moment,  be  moved 
beyond  danger."  The  Secretary  also  instructed  him  to  defend  the  vessels 
and  other  property  committed  to  his  charge  "  at  any  hazard,  repelling  by 
force,  if  necessary,  any  and  all  attempts  to  seize  them,  whether  by  mob 
violence,  organized  effort,  or  any  assumed  authority."  On  the  same  day,  in 
accordance  with  advice  offered  by  Paulding,  the  frigate  Cumberland^  which 
had  been  anchored  below,  with  a  full  crew  and  armament  on  board,  was 
moved  up  to  a  position  so  as  to  command  the  entire  harbor,  the  Xavy  Yard, 
the  cities  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth,  and  the  channel  through  which  they 
were  approached.  After  seeing  these  precautionary  arrangements  com 
pleted,  Paulding  returned  to  Washington. 

The  Merrimack  being  ready  for  sea  on  the  17th,  Mr.  Isherwood  proposed 
to  have  her  fires  lighted  at  once,  that  she  might  depart  before  other  channel 

1  Secretary  Welles  to  Commodore  MeCauley,  April  10,  1S61. 


394  EFFECT  OF   TREACHERY  AND  WEAKNESS. 

obstructions  should  be  laid  by  the  insurgents.  "  To-morrow  morning  will 
be  in  time,"  said  the  Commodore,  and  the  lighting  was  deferred.  At  an 
early  hour  the  next  day,a  the  fires  were  glowing,  and  soon  every 
tnm»  was  in  readiness  for  departure.  Again  the  Commodore 
proposed  delay.  "  But  the  orders  are  peremptory,"  said  Isher- 
wood  ;  and  he  suggested  that,  after  another  day's  delay,  it  might  be  difficult 
to  pass  the  obstructions  which  the  secessionists  were  planting  between 
Se well's  Point  and.  Craney  Island.  But  the  vessel  was  kept  back,  and,  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  Engineer-in-chief  and  other  officers,  the  Commodore 
finally  gave  directions  not  to  send  the  Merrimack  away  at  all,  and  ordered 
the  fires  to  be  extinguished.1  McCauley  afterward  asserted  that  he  was 
influenced  in-his  action  at  that  time  by  the  advice  of  several  of  his  junior 
officers,  born  in  Slave-labor  States,  believing  that  they  were  true  to  their 
flag.  u  How  could  I  expect  treachery  on  their  part  ?"  he  said.  "  The  fact 
of  their  being  Southern  men  was  not  surely  a  sufficient  reason  for  suspecting 
their  fidelity.  Those  Southern  officers  who  have  remained  faithful  to  their 
allegiance  are  among  the  best  in  the  service.  No ;  I  could  not  believe  it 
possible  that  a  set  of  men,  whose  reputations  were  so  high  in  the  Navy, 
could  ever  desert  their  posts,  and  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  the  country 
they  had  sworn  to  defend  and  protect.  I  had  frequently  received  profes 
sions  of  their  loyalty  ;  for  instance,  on  the  occasion  of  the  surrender  of  the 
Pensacola  Navy  Yard  they  expressed  to  me  their  indignation,  and  observed  : 
4  You  have  no  Pensacola  officers  here,  Commodore ;  we  will  never  desert 
you ;  we  will  stand  by  you  to  the  last,  even  to  the  death.' ''  Yet  these 
men,  false  to  every  principle  of  honor,  after  having  disgracefully  deceived 
their  commander,  and  accomplished  the  treasonable  work  of  keeping  the 
Merrimack  and  other  vessels  at  the  Navy  Yard  until  it  was  too  late  for 
them  to  escape,  offered  their  resignations  on  the  18th  (the  day  after  the 
Virginia  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed),  abandoned  their  flag,  and 
joined  the  insurgents.3 

General  Taliaferro,  the  commander  of  all  the  forces  in  southeastern 
Virginia,  arrived  at  Norfolk  with  his  staff  on  the  evening  of  the  18th,  and 
at  once  took  measures  for  the  seizure  of  the  Navy  Yard  and  the  ships  of 
war.  The  naval  officers  who  had  abandoned  their  flag  joined  him,  and  the 
secessionists  of  Norfolk  were  eager  for  the  drama  to  open.  On  the  follow 
ing  day,  the  workmen  in  the  yard,  who  had  been  corrupted  by  the  disloyal 

1  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  July  4,  1S61.   "  The  cause  of  this  refusal  to  remove  the  Merrimack" 
said  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  "has  no  explanation  other  than  that  of  misplaced  confidence  in  his  junior 
officers,  who  opposed  it." 

2  Letter  of  Commodore  McCauley  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  May  5,  1862,  in  reply  to  the  Committee 
on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  cited  by  Duyckinck  in  his  History  of  the  War  for  the  Union,  i.  157. 

3  Among  the  naval  officers  who  resigned  at  about  this  time  was  Lieutenant  M.  F.  Maury,  a  Virginian,  who 
for  several  years  was  the  trusted  superintendent  of  the  National  Observatory  at  Washington.     The  records  of 
that  office,  it  is  said,  disclosed  the  fact  that  he  had  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  scientific  bodies  in  Europe 
that  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  and  the  destruction  of  the  Republic  were  inevitable.     So  said  the  New  York 
World.    The  career  of  Maury,  after  he  abandoned  his  flag  and  joined  its  enemies,  was  peculiarly  dishonorable. 
Before  he  resigned,  and  while  he  was  yet  trusted  and  honored  by  his  countrymen.  lu>  was  perfidiously  working 
to  overthrow  the  Government.     He  went  to  Europe,  and  there  used  every  means  in  his  power,  by  the  grossest 
misrepresentations,  to  injure  the  character  of  his  Government.     Finally,  on  the  25th  of  May,  1S65,  when  the 
rebellion  was  crushed,  he  wrote  a  note  "at  sea,"  to  Rear-Admiral  S.  W.  Godon,  then  at  Havana,  saying: — "  In 
peace,  as  in  war.  I  follow  the  fortunes  of  my  native  State,  Virginia  :"  and  expressed  his  willingness  to  accept  a 
parol  on  the  terms  granted  to  General  Lee.     He  went  to  Mexico ;  and,  in  the  autumn  of  1S65,  Maximilian   ap 
pointed  him  "Imperial  Commissioner  of  Colonization,"  to  promote  immigration  from  the  Southern  States  of 
our  Republic. 


STIRRING   EVENTS   AT   NORFOLK.  395 

officers,  were  absent  from  roll-call,  yet  the  day  passed  without  any  hostile 
demonstrations.  But  on  Saturday,  the  20th,  Norfolk  was  fearfully  excited 
by  conflicting  rumors.  One  was  that  the  yard  was  to  be  attacked,  when 
the  Cumberland  would  doubtless  fire  on  the  town ;  another,  that  she  was 
about  to  leave,  with  valuable  property  belonging  to  the  Government,  and 
that  the  other  vessels  were  to  be  scuttled ;  and  still  another,  that  the  yard 
was  to  be  destroyed.  The  military  companies  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth 
were  called  out  and  paraded  under  arms.  Four  companies  of  riflemen  and 
infantry  had  arrived  from  Petersburg,  numbering  in  all  four  hundred  men, 
and  on  that  day  were  joined  by  two  hundred  more.  The  Richmond  Grays 
had  also  arrived  that  morning,  bringing  with  them  fourteen  pieces  of  heavy 
rifled  cannon,  and  an  ample  stock  of  ammunition.  With  these  re-enforce 
ments,  Taliaferro  felt  certain  of  success.  McCauley  felt  equally  certain  that 
he  could  not  withstand  an  assault  from  the  insurgent  force,  so  large  and  so 
well  armed,  and  at  noon  he  sent  Taliaferro  word  that  not  one  of  the  vessels 
should  be  moved,  nor  a  shot  fired,  excepting  in  self-defense.  This  quieted 
the  people. 

Not  doubting  that  an  immediate  attack  would  be  made  upon  the  vessels, 
McCauley  gave  orders,  on  the  return  of  his  flag  from  Norfolk,  for  the 
Belittling  of  all  of  them,  to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  insur 
gents.  This  was  done  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  Cumberlfind 
only  was  spared.  This  work  had  been  just  accomplished  when  Captain 
Paulding  again  appeared.  As  soon  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  heard  of 
the  detention  of  the  Merrimack — that 
"  fatal  error,"  as  he-  called  it — he  dis- 
patched  Paulding  in  the  Pawnee  with 
orders  to  relieve  McCauley,  and,  with 
"  such  officers  and  marines  as  could  be 
obtained,  take  command  of  all  the  vessels 
afloat  on  that  station,  repel  force  by  force, 
and  prevent  the  ships  and  public  prop 
erty,  at  all  hazards,  from  passing  into  the 
hands  of  the  insurrectionists."  Paulding 
added  to  his  crew,  at  Washington,  one 
hundred  marines  ;  and  at  Fortress  Mon 
roe  lie  took  on  board  three  hundred  and 
fifty  Massachusetts  volunteers,  under 
Colonel  David  W.  Wardrop,  the  first  HIUAM  PArL,,IXtJ. 

regiment    detailed   for    service   from  that 

State,  who  had  arrived  that  day.  He  reached  Norfolk  just  as  the  scuttling 
of  the  vessels  was  completed.  But  for  that  act  every  vessel  afloat  might 
have  been  saved. 

Paulding  saw  at  a  glance  the  fatal  error,  if  error  it  was,  of  McCauley,  and 
also  that  much  more  than  scuttling  must  be  done  to  render  the  ships  useless 
to  the  insurgents.  lie  also  perceived  that  with  only  the  Pawnee  and  Cumber- 
laud,  and  the  very  small  land  force  at  his  command,  he  could  not  defend 
the  Navy  Yard ;  so,  using  the  discretionary  power  with  which  he  w:is 
clothed,  he  at  once  prepared  to  burn  the  slowly  sinking  ships,  destroy  the 
cannon,  and  commit  to  the  flames  all  the  buildings  and  public  property  in 


396 


BURKING   OF   THE    GOSPORT   NAVY   YARD. 


the  Navy  Yard,  leaving  the  insurgents  nothing  worth  contending  for.  One 
hundred  men  were  sent,  under  Lieutenant  J.  H.  Russell,  with  sledge-ham 
mers,  to  knock  off  the  trunnions  of  the  cannon;  Captain  Charles  Wilkes 
was  intrusted  with  the  destruction  of  the  Dry-dock;  Commanders  Allen 
and  Sands  were  charged  with  the  firing  of  the  ship-houses,  barracks,  and 
other  buildings ;  and  Lieutenant  Henry  A.  Wise  was  directed  to  lay  trains 
upon  the  ships  and  to  fire  them  at  a  given  signal.  The  trunnions  of  the 
Dahlgren  guns  resisted  the  hammers,  but  those  of  a  large  number  of  the  old 
pattern  guns  were  destroyed.  Many  of  the  remainder  were  spiked,  but  so 
indifferently  that  they  were  soon  repaired.  Commander  Rogers  and  Cap 
tain  Wright,  of  the  Engineers,  volunteered  to  blow  up  and  destroy  the  Dry- 
dock. 

At   about  two  o'clock  in  the   morning,"  every  thing   was  in  readiness. 

The  troops,  marines,  sailors,  and  others  at  the  yard,  were  taken 

"A?flj21'     on  board  the  Pawnee  and  Cumberland,  leaving  on  shore  only  as 

many  as  were    required   to    start   the  conflagration.      At  three 

o'clock,  the  Yankee,  Captain  Germain,  took  the  Cumberland  in  tow ;  and 

twenty  minutes  later  Paulding  sent  up  a  rocket  from  the  Pawnee,  which  was 

the  signal  for  the  incendiaries  to  apply  the  match.     In  a  few  minutes  a  grand 

and  awful  spectacle  burst  upon  the  vision  of  the  inhabitants  of  Norfolk  and 

Portsmouth,   and   of  the   country  for  leagues  around.     The  conflagration, 

starting   simultaneously  at  different  points,  became  instantly  terrific.     Its 


BURNING   OF  THE  VESSELS   AT   THE    GOSPORT  NAVY  YARD.1 

roar  could  be  heard  for  miles,  and  its  light  was  seen  far  at  sea,  far  up  the 
James  and  York  Rivers,  and  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  far  beyond  the  Dismal 
Swamp.  The  ships  and  the  ship-houses,  and  other  large  buildings  in  the 
Navy  Yard,  were  involved  in  one  grand  ruin.  To  add  to  the  sublimity  of 
the  fiery  tempest,  frequent  discharges  were  heard  from  the  monster  ship-of- 
the-line  Pennsylvania,  as  the  flames  reached  her  loaded  heavy  guns. 

When   the   conflagration   was   fairly   under  way,   the  Paicnee   and   the 
Cumberland,  towed  by  the  Yankee,  went  down  the  river,  and  all  who  were 


1  This»view  shows  the  position  of  some  of  the  vessels  on  Sunday  morning,  the  21st  of  April.  The  large 
vessel  on  the  right  is  the  Pennsylvania.  On  the  extreme  left  is  seen  the  bow  of  the  United  States.  In  the 
center  is  seen  the  Pawnee  steam-frigate,  and  the  Cumberland  with  the  Yankee  at  her  Bide.  This  ia  from  a 
picture  in  liar  per' a  Weekly,  May  11,  1861. 


EFFECTS    OF  THE   CONFLAGRATION. 


397 


left  on  shore,  excepting  two,  reaching  their  boats  in  safety,  followed  by  the 
light  of  the  great  fire,  and  overtook  the  Pawnee  off  Craney  Island,  where  the 
two  vessels  broke  through  the  obstructions  and  proceeded  to  Hampton 
Roads.  The  two  officers  left  behind  were  Commander  Rogers  and  Captain 
Wright,  who  failed  to  reach  the  boats.  They  were  arrested  after  day-dawn 
and  were  taken  to  Norfolk  as  prisoners  of  war. 

The  great  object  of  the  conflagration  was  not  fully  accomplished.  The 
attempt  was,  in  fact,  a  failure.  The  Dry-dock  was  very  little  injured.  The 
mechanics'  shops  and  sheds,  timber-sheds,  ordnance  building,  foundries,  saw- 


VIEW    OK   THK    NAVY    YARD    AKTK.K    TDK    KIKE 


mill,  provisions,  officers'  quarters,  and  all  other  buildings  in  the  yard,  were 
saved,  excepting  the  immense  ship-houses,  the  marine  barracks,  and  riggers, 
sail,  and  ordnance  lofts.  The  insurgents  immediately  took  possession  of  all 
the  spared  buildings  and  machinery,  the  Dry-dock,  and  the  vast  number  of 
uninjured  cannon,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  make  use  of  them  in  the  work 
of  rebellion.  Several  of  the  heavy  Dahlgren  guns  were  mounted  in  battery 


IIK.K.-«U-N    BATTKI'.Y.3 


along  the  river-bank,  at  the  Xavy  Yard,  and  other  places  near;  and  soon 
afterward  the  fortifications  in  the  Slave-labor  States  were  supplied  with 
heavy  guns  from  this  post.  The  gain  to  the  insurgents  and  loss  to  the 
National  Government,  by  this  abandonment  of  the  Gosport  Xavy  Yard  at 
that  time,  was  incalculable.3  The  mere  money  value  of  the  property 


1  This  picture  is  from  a  large  sketch  made  by  a  young  artist,  Mr.  James  E.  Taylor,  a  member  of  a  New 
York  regiment,  and  kindly  placed  at  my  disposal  by  him. 

'This  picture  is  also  from  a  sketch  by  Mr.  Taylor.  It  is  a  view  of  a  three-gun  battery,  placed  so  as  to  com 
mand  the  approach  to  the  Navy  Yard  by  the  Suffolk  road. 

3  William  II.  Peter,  appointed  by  the  Governor  of  Virginia  a  commissioner  to  make  an  inventory.of  the 
property  taken  from  the  National  Government  at  this  time,  said,  that  he  deemed  "it  unnecessary  to  speak  of  the 
vast  importance  to  Virginia,  and  to  the  entire  South,  of  the  timely  acquisition  of  this  extensive  naval  d£pot, 
*inco  the  presence  at  ulmost  every  exposed  point  on  the  entire  Southern  coast,  and  at  numerous  inland  intrenched 


398  ADVANTAGES   GAINED   BY   THE   INSURGENTS. 

destroyed,  estimated  at  seven  millions  of  dollars,  was  the  least  of  the  loss  to 
the  one  and  the  gain  to  the  other.  It  also  swelled  amazingly  the  balance 
of  advantages  for  the  insurgents,  who  were  quick  to  discern  and  to  be 
encouraged  by  it.  And  it  was  made  the  topic  of  special  discourses  from  the 
pulpit,  from  which  disloyal  ministers  were  continually  giving  words  of 
encouragement  to  the  conspirators.1 

Only  a  portion  of  the  vessels  at  the  Gosport  station  were  absolutely 
destroyed.  The  New  York,  on  the  stocks  in  one  of  the  ship-houses,  was 
totally  consumed.  The  Pennsylvania,  Dolphin,  and  Columbia  had  nothing 
saved  but  the  lower  bottom  timbers;  the  Haritan  was  burnt  to  the  water's 
edge ;  the  Merrimack  was  burnt  to  her  copper-line  and  sunk ;  the  German- 
town  was  also  burnt  and  sunk ;  while  the  useless  old  United  States,  in  which 
Decatur  won  glory,  was  not  injured ;  and  the  Plymouth  was  not  burned, 
but  scuttled  and  sunk.  The  same  fate  overtook  the  Columbus  and  Delaware. 
The  Plymouth  was  afterward  raised ;  so  was  the  Merrimack,  and  converted 
into  a  powerful  iron-clad  vessel  of  war.2 

The  insurgents  seized  old  Fort  Norfolk,  situated  a  short  distance  below 
the  city  of  Norfolk,  on  the  21st.  It  had  been  used  as  a  magazine,  and  con 
tained  about  three  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  gunpowder  and  a  large 
quantity  of  loaded  shells  and  other  missiles.  On  the  same  day,  General 
Taliaferro  issued  an  order  prohibiting  the  Collector  of  the  port  of  Norfolk 
from  accepting  drafts  from  the  National  Government,  or  allowing  the 
removal  of  money  or  any  thing  else  from  the  Custom  House.  At  the  same 
time  troops  were  hastening  to  Norfolk  from  lower  Virginia;  and  on  the  22d, 
three  companies  of  soldiers  from  Georgia  arrived  in  the  express  train  from 
Weldon,  a  portion  of  whom  took  post  at  the  Marine  Hospital  on  the  Ports 
mouth  side  of  the  river.  The  hull  of  the  old  ship  United  States  was 
towed  down  the  river,  and  moored  and  sunk  in  the  channel,  a  mile  below 
Fort  Norfolk ;  and  a  battery  of  heavy  guns  was  immediately  erected  at 
Sewell's  Point,  and  another  on  Craney  Island,  to  command  the  entrance 
to  the  Elizabeth  River  and  the  harbor  of  Norfolk.  The  insurgents  had 
now  secured  a  most  important  military  position,  as  well  as  valuable  materials 


camps  in  the  several  States,  of  heavy  pieces  of  ordnance,  with  their  equipments  and  fixed  ammunition,  fully 
attest  the  fact.11 — Report  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  February  4,  1862. 

1  On  the  13th  of  June,  1861,  a  fast-day  proclaimed  by  Jefferson  Davis,  Dr.  Elliott,  Bishop  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  Georgia,  preached  a  sermon  on  "  God's  Presence  with  the  Confederate  States,"  in  which 
he  save,  as  instances  of  that  manifest  presence,  the  ease  with  which  Twiggs,  the  traitor,  accomplished  the 
destruction  of  the  National  Army  in  Texas ;  the   downfall  of  Fort  Sumter ;  the  easy  manner  in   which  the 
"  Confederates  "  had  been  enabled  to  plunder  the  arsenals  and  seize  the  forts,  mints,  and  custom  houses  of  the 
United  States,  in  the  absence  of  competent  force  to  protect  them,  and  the  advantages  gained  through  this  most 
dishonorable  act  of  treachery  at  the  Gosport  Navy  Yard.     In  all  these  iniquities  the  venerable  prelate  saw 
"  God's  Presence  with  the  Confederate  States,11  and  spoke  of  the  failure  of  a  handful  of  men  against  multitudes, 
and  of  human  wisdom  against  the  diabolical  plottings  of  perjured  men,  as  the  result  of  fear.     "Fear  seemed  to 
fall  upon  our  enemies — unaccountable  fear,"  he  said.     Then,  looking  down  from  that  lofty  "  Presence"  to  tem 
poral  things,  the  prelate  said,  referring  to  the  Gosport  affair,  "Nowhere  could  this  panic  have  occurred  more 
seasonably  for  us,  because  it  gave  us  just  what  we  most  needed,  arms,  and  ammunition,  and  heavy  ordnance 
in  great  abundance.     All  this  is  unaccountable  upon  any  ordinary  grounds."     He  likened  the  action  of  the 
Government  servants,  who  hastily  fired  and  abandoned  the  Navy  Yard  and  vessels,  to  the  panic  of  the  Syrians 
on  one  occasion,  when  the  Lord,  in  order  to  deliver  Israel,  made  them  hear  a  noise  like  that  of  a  mighty  host 
coming  upon  them : — "Wherefore  they  arose  and  fled  in  the  twilight,  and  left  their  tents,  and  their  horses,  and 
their  asses,  even  the  camp  as  it  was,  and  fled  for  their  life."     The  preacher  did  not  heed  the  wise  injunction  of 
the  kin^  of  Israel  (1  Kings,  xx.  11): — "Let  not  him  that  girdeth  on  his  harness  boast  himself  as  he  that  putteth 
it  off."  ~* 

2  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  United  States  Senate  for  investigating  the  facts  in  relation  to  the 
<oss  of  the  Navy  Yard,  et  ccetera,  submitted  by  Senator  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  April  IS,  1S62. 


FALSE  PRETENSES  OF  THE  CONSPIRATORS. 


399 


of  war ;  and  they  held  that  post,  to  the  great  hurt  of  the  National  cause, 
until  early  in  May  the  following  year,  when  they  fled  at  the  approach  oi 
troops  under  Major-General  John  E.  Wool. 

By  obtaining  possession  of  Harper's 
Ferry  and  the  Gosport  Navy  Yard,  the 
most  important  preliminary  movements 
for  the  seizure  of  Washington  City  were 
successfully  accomplished  within  a  week 
after  the  evacuation  of  Suintcr.  The  prac 
tical  annexation  of  a  greater  part  of  Vir 
ginia  to  the  "  Southern  Confederacy " 
within  eight  Jays  after  these  movements, 
and  the  assembling  of  troops  upon  its  soil 
from  the  raore  Southern  States,  gave 
increased  value  to  those  acquisitions. 
Fire  had  materially  lessened  their  imme 
diate  value,  yet  they  were  vitally  im 
portant.  It  now  only  remained  for  the 
Marylanders  to  follow  the  bad  example  of 
the  Virginians,  to  make  the  seizure  of  the 
National  Capital  an  apparently  easy 
achievement. 

Let  us  consider  the  events  at  that 
Capital  and  its  vicinity  at  this  critical 
period  in  its  history. 

Notwithstanding  the  protestations  of 
the  leading  conspirators  everywhere,  be 
fore  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  that  they 
had  no  aggressive  designs  against  the  Ke- 
public  ;  notwithstanding  the  Legislature  of 
Virginia  had,  on  the  day  when  the  Peace 
Convention  assembled  at  Washington  and 
the  Convention  of  conspirators 
began    at    Montgomery,*     en 
deavored  to  lull  the   National 
Government  into  a  sense  of  security  most    i 
fatal  to  its  life,  by  resolving   that  there 

were  "no  just  grounds  for  believing  that  citizens  of  Virginia  meditate  an 
attack  on  or  seizure  of  the  Federal  property,  or  invasion  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  and  that  all  preparations  to  resist  the  same  are  unnecessary, 
so  far  as  this  State  is  concerned,"  it  was  too  well  known  that  leading  and 
powerful  politicians  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  were  secretly  preparing  to 
seize  the  Capital,  when  a  proper  opportunity  should  offer,  to  allow  the  Gov 
ernment  to  relax  its  vigilance  or  its  preparations  for  the  defense  of  its  seat, 
for  a  moment.  And  yet,  when  the  crisis  came — when  the  secession  of  Vir 
ginia  was  proclaimed,  and  the  movements  against  Harper's  Ferry  and  Gos 
port  were  begun — the  foes  of  the  Union  developed  such  amazing  proportions, 
vitality,  and  strength,  that  the  Government  was  in  imminent  peril.  The 
public  offices  were  swarming  with  disloyal  men,  and  the  Capital  held  thou- 


Fi'l>rnary  4, 
1S61. 


400 


THE   PUBLIC   DANGER   UNDERSTOOD. 


sands  of  malignant  secessionists  of  both  sexes,  secret  and  open.1  Secession 
flags  flaunted  defiantly  from  many  a  window,  and  secession  badges  were 
sold  openly  at  the  doors  of  the  Avenue  hotels.  It  was  evident  to  the 

least  observant  that  the 
disloyal  elements  of  society 
there  were  buoyant  with 
pleasant  anticipations.  In 
formation  had  reached  the 
Government  that  the  Minute- 
men  of  Virginia  and  Mary 
land,  and  their  sympathizers 
in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
were  unusually  active.  The 
leading  secessionists  of  the 
city  of  Baltimore,  com 
prising  the  "  State-Rights 
Association,"  were  in  confer 
ence  every  evening;  and 
Governor  Hicks  had  been 
continually  importuned  to 
call  an  extraordinary  session 
of  the  Legislature,  that  a 
secession  convention  might 

be  authorized.  Because  he  refused  to  do  so,  knowing  how  large  a  portion  of 
its  members  were  disloyal,  he  was  abused  without  stint. 

The  Government  was  soon  made  painfully  aware  that  the  call  for  troops 

to  put  down  the  rising  rebellion  was  not  an  hour  too  soon.     There  was   a 

general  impression  in  the  Free-labor  States  that  the  Capital  would  be  the 

first  point  of  attack,  and  thitherward  volunteers  instantly  began  to  march  in 

large  and  hourly  increasing  numbers.     Within   three  days  after 

"  ^ggj l0'     the  President's  call  for  troops  went  forth,"  probably  not  less  than 

one  hundred  thousand  young  men  were  leaving  their  avocations 

to  prepare  for  war.     The  movement  was  simultaneous  in  all  the  Free-labor 

States,  and  the  armories  of  volunteer  companies  were  everywhere  thronged 

with  enthusiastic  men  eager  to  fly  to  the  protection  of  the  President,  his 

Cabinet,  the  archives,'  and  the  Capital. 

The  Governor  of  Massachusetts  (Andrew)  had  been  the  first  of  the  State 
Executives,  as  we  have  observed,2  to  prepare  for  war.  On  the  1st  of  Janu 
ary,  Brigadier-General  E.  W.  Peirce,  of  the  Massachusetts  militia,  wrote 


COSTUME   OF   A    REBELLIOUS   WOMAN. 


1  Taking  advantage  of  the  deference  paid  to  their  sex  in  this  country,  the  women  of  Washington,  Balti 
more,  and  other  cities  within  Slave-labor  States  yet  controlled  by  National  authority,  who  sympathized 
with  the  conspirators,  were  much  more  openly  defiant  of  the  Government,  when  the  war  commenced,  than 
men.  They  not  only  worked  secretly  and  efficiently  in  aid  of  the  rebellion,  and  used  the  utmost  freedom  of 
speech,  but  they  appeared  in  public  places  wearing  conspicuously  either  a  secession  badge  or  the  "  stars  and 
bars"  of  the  "Southern  Confederacy"  in  their  costume.  The  sacgue,  then  a  fashionable  outer  garment,  was 
sometimes  made,  as  seen  in  the  picture,  so  as  to  display  the  seven  stars  of  the  early  "Confederate"  flag  on  the 
bosom,  and  the  red  and  white  bars  on  the  short  skirt.  These  were  flaunted  in  the  streets:  and  women  who 
wore  them  took  every  occasion  to  insult  National  soldiers,  and  show  their  hatred  of  the  National  flag.  Finding 
at  length  that  their  conduct  was  more  injurious  to  themselves  than  annoying  to  Union  soldiers  and  Union  citi 
zens,  the  vulgar  habit  soon  fell  into  disuetude,  and  sensible  women  who  had  practiced  it  became  heartily 
ashamed  of  their  folly. 

3  See  page  203. 


MASSACHUSETTS  TROOPS  CALLED  FOR.          401 

to  the  Governor,  tendering  his  services  to  the  country ;  and  on  the  5th, 
Andrew  sent  agents  to  the  Governors  of  the  other  Xew  England  States,  to 
press  upon  them  the  importance  of  placing  the  militia  of  the  respective 
Commonwealths  in  condition  for  a  prompt  movement  in  defense  of  the  Capi 
tal.  At  the  same  time  the  volunteer  companies  of  the  State,  five  thousand 
strong,  began  drilling  nightly  at  their  armories.  Early  in  February,  as  we 
have  observed,  the  Governor  sent  a  staff  officer  (Ritchie)  to  Washington,  to 
consult  with  the  General-in-Chief  concerning  the  forwarding  of  troops  to  the 
Capital  if  they  should  be  needed  ;  and  the  Massachusetts  Senators  (Simmer 
and  Wilson)  urged  the  President  to  call  for  these  well-drilled  companies, 
should  the  Capital  be  in  apparent  danger. 

That  exigency  occurred  when  Fort  Sumter  was  attacked ;  and  on  the  day 
when  the  President  called  for  seventy-five  thousand  men,  Senator  Wilson 
telegraphed  to  Governor  Andrew  to  dispatch  twenty  companies  to  Wash 
ington  City  immediately.  A  few  hours  later,  the  formal  requisition  of  the 
Secretary  of  War  arrived ;'  and  so  promptly  was  the  call  from  the  Capital 
responded  to  by  the  Governor,  that  before  sunset  of  the  same  day,  orders 
were  in  the  hands  of  Colonel  Wardrop,  of  the  Third  Regiment,  at  New  Bed 
ford;  of  Colonel  Packard,  of  the  Fourth,  at  Quincy;  of  Colonel  Jones,  of 
the  Sixth,  at  Lowell ;  and  of  Colonel  Munroe,  of  the  Eighth,  at  Lynn,  to 
muster  forthwith  on  Boston  Common.  As  in  1775,  so  now,  the  first  com 
panies  that  appeared,  in  response  to  the  call  of  authority  for  the  protection  of 
the  liberties  of  the  people,  came  from  Marblcheail.  These  appeared  on  the 
evening  of  the  15th,  and  early  the  following  day  the  four  regiments  called  for 
were  on  Boston  Common,  mustered  in  regular  order,  with»banners  flying  and 
bayonets  gleaming,  and  each  company  with  full  ranks.  These  companies  had 
arrived  by  different  railways.  They  had  loft  their  homes  with  the  blessings 
of  neighbors  and  friends,  who  assured  them  that  their  families  should  be 
taken  care  of  during  their  absence,  as  adopted  children.  They  were  cheered 
on  the  way  by  the  huzzas  of  the  people  in  villages  and  at  the  waysides,  and 
were  welcomed  in  Boston  with  every  demonstration  of  delight.  The  citizens 
of  the  New  England  metropolis  had  forgotten  their  usual  avocations,  and 
were  intent  only  upon  the  business  of  saving  the  Republic.  The  old  war- 
spirit  of  Faneuil  Hall — the  "Cradle  of  Liberty" — was  aroused;  and  all  over 
Boston  there  were 

"Banners  blooming  in  the  air," 

in  attestation  of  the  patriotism  of  the  people. 

On  the  16th,  Senator  Wilson  again  telegraphed  for  a  "brigade  of  four 
regiments."  These  were  then  in  readiness  on  Boston  Common ;  and  on  the 
morning  of  the  17th,  the  Governor  commissioned  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of 
Lowell  (then  a  Brigadier-General  of  Militia),  the  commander  of  the  brigade. 
Butler  knew  the  chief  conspirators  well.  He  had  passed  evenings  with 
Davis,  Hunter,  Mason,  Slidell,  Benjamin,  and  other  traitors  at  Washington, 
three  months  before,  and  had  become  convinced  of  their  determination  to 
destroy  the  Republic,  if  possible.  Impelled  by  this  conviction,  he  had  not 
ceased  to  counsel  the  authorities  of  his  State  to  have  the  militia  of  the  Com- 


1  See  note  1,  pag«  337. 

VOL.  I.— 26 


402        RESPONSE   OF  MASSACHUSETTS   AND   RHODE   ISLAND. 


BENJAMIN   F.    BUTLER. 


monwealth  prepared  for  war.  He  and  Governor  Andrew  worked  in  unison 
to  this  end ;  and  on  the  day  before  his  appointment,  he  was  instrumental  in 
procuring  from  the  Bank  of  Redemption,  in  Boston,  a  temporary  loan  to  the 
Commonwealth,  for  the  use  of  the  troops,  of  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 

It  was  determined  that  the  Sixth  Regiment,  Colonel  Jones,  which  was  a 
part  of  Butler's  old  brigade,  should  go  forward  at  once  to  Washington,  by 
way  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore.      It  consisted  of  eleven 
companies.     To  these  were  added  the 
companies    of  Captains    Sampson    and 
Dike,  making  a  corps  of  thirteen  full 
companies.      They  were  addressed  by 
Governor  Andrew  and  General  Butler, 
in  the  presence  of  a  vast  multitude  of 
citizens,    and,  in   the    after- 

"Ai86i17'  nooll'a  deParted  for  Wash 
ington  by  railway.  At 
about  the  same  time,  Colonel  War  drop 
and  his  regiment  embarked  on  a 
steamer  for  Fortress  Monroe,  in  Vir 
ginia,  then  defended  by  only  two  com 
panies  of  artillery,  and  in  imminent 
peril  of  seizure  by  the  insurgents  of 
that  State.  These  were  followed  by 

Colonel  Packard  and  his  regiment.      The  Eighth,  under  Colonel  Munroe, 

accompanied  by  the  General,  departed  for  Washington  on  the  evening  train. 

Rhode    Island    and    Connecticut,    through    which   these   troops   passed, 

were  in  a  blaze  of  excitement.  Governor 
Sprague,  of  the  former  State,  had  promptly 
tendered  to  the  Government  the  services 
of  a  thousand  infantry  and  a  battalion  of 
artillery,  and  called  the  Legislature  to 
gether  on  the  17th.  That  body  promptly 
provided  for  the  State's  quota,  and  ap 
propriated  five  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  war  purposes.  The  banks  offered 
adequate  loans  to  the  State ;  and  large 
sums  were  tendered  by  individuals.  With 
in  five  days  after  the  call  for  troops,  the 
Rhode  Island  Marine  Artillery,  with  eight 
guns  and  one  hundred  and  ten  horses, 
commanded  by  Colonel  Tompkins,  passed 
through  New  York  on  their  way  to  Wash 
ington;  and  the  First  Regiment  of  In 
fantry,  twelve  hundred  strong,  under  Colo 
nel  Burnside,  was  ready  to  move.  It  was 
composed  of  many  of  the  wealthier  citizens 
of  the  State,  and  was  accompanied  to  Washington  by  Governor  Sprague, 
as  Commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  of  Rhode  Island. 


RIIODK    ISLAND    MARINE    ARTILLERY. 


ARMING   IX   CONNECTICUT   AND   NEW   JERSEY. 


403 


BCKX8IUK3    KIKLKMKH. 


Governor  Buckingham,  of  Connecticut,  whose  labors  throughout  the  war 
were  unceasing  and  of  vast  importance,  responded  to  the  President's  call  for 
troops  by  issuing  a  proclamation  on  the  same  day,  urging  the  citizens  of  the 

State  to  volunteer  their  services  in  aid  of 
the  Government.  The  banks  offered  all 
the  money  necessary  to  equip  the  regiment 
of  men  required  by  the  circular  letter  of  the 
Secretary  of  War.  So  enthusiastic  were  the 
people,  that  the  Governor,  in  a  message  to 
the  Legislature  on  the  1st  of  May,  averred 
that  forty-one  volunteer  companies  had  al 
ready  been  accepted.  The  prediction  that 
there  would  be  a  divided  North — that  blood 
would  flow  in  New  England,  in  the  event 
of  an  attempt  of  the  National  Government 
to  enforce  the  laws  against  Southern  insur 
gents,1  was  most  signally  falsified. 

New  Y'ork,  as  we  shall  observe  present 
ly,  responded  nobly  to  the  call;  and  the 
neighboring  inhabitants  of  New  Jersey 
were  so  full  of  enthusiasm,  that  they  became 
impatient  of  the  seeming  lukewarmness  and 
tardiness  of  Governor  Olden  and  others  in 

authority.  The  Governor  was  so  startled  by  the  demonstrations  of  patriot 
ism  around  him,  that  he  ordered  Company  A  of  the  City  Battalion  of  Tren 
ton,  the  capital  of  the  State,  to  watch  the  Arsenal,  and  see  that  the  people 
did  not  run  away  with  the  arms.  Two 
days  after  the  President's  call,  he  issued  a 
formal  proclamation,  calling  for  the  quota  of 
New  Jersey  to  assemble  at  the  State  capi 
tal.  The  Trenton  banks  tendered  a  loan  to 
the  State  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars; 
and  the  authorities  of  the  city  of  Newark 
appropriated  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  families  of  volun 
teers,  and  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  equip 
ment  of  the  soldiers.  The  Legislature  met 
on  the  30th  of  April,  in  extraordinary  ses 
sion,  when  Major-General  Theodore  Kunyon 
was  appointed  commander  of  the  New 
Jersey  forces,  and  the  movements  of  troops 
toward  Washington  began. 

Pennsylvania,    like    Massachusetts,   had 

been  watchful  and  making  preparations  for  the  crisis.  Her  militia  force 
was  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  The  resources  of  the  State 
had  been  pledged  by  the  Legislature,  in  January,  to  the  support  of  the 


•VVM.    A.    BtVKIXGHAM. 


1  See  note  1,  j.iure  215. 


404  PENNSYLVANIANS   MARCHING  FOR  THE   CAPITAL. 

National  Government.1  The  vigilant  Governor  Curtin  saw  the  storm-clouds 
continually  thickening,  and,  in  a  message  to  the  Legislature  on  the  9th 
of  April,  he  recommended  the  adoption  of  immediate  measures  for  re 
organizing  the  militia  of  the  State  and  establishing  an  efficient  military 
system.  He  referred  to  the  menacing  attitude  of  certain  States,  and 
,urged  the  immediate  attention  of  the  Legislature  to  the  deplorable  militia 
system  of  the  Commonwealth,  saying:  "Pennsylvania  offers  no  counsel 
and  takes  no  action  in  the  nature  of  a  menace."  An  Act,  in  accordance 
with  the  Governor's  wishes,  became  law  on  the  12th  of  April,  and  half 
a  million  of  dollars  were  appropriated  for  arming  and  equipping  the  militia 
of  the  State. 

When  intelligence  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter  reached  Philadelphia, 
the  chief  city  of  Pennsylvania,  the  excitement  of  the  people  was  intense. 
This  was  hightened  by  the  call  of  the  President  for  troops,  and  the  manifest 
existence  of  disloyal  men  in  the  city.  Great  exasperation  was  felt  against 
those  known  to  be  disloyal,  or  suspected  of  sympathy  with  the  insurgents ; 
and,  at  one  time,  full  ten  thousand  of  the  populace  were  in  the  streets,  en 
gaged  in  putting  out  of  the  way  every  semblance  of  opposition  to  the  Gov 
ernment.  The  Mayor  managed  to  control  them,  and  when  offending  parties 
threw  out  the  American  flag  the  people  were  generally  satisfied.2  That  ban 
ner  was  everywhere  displayed  over  public  and  private  buildings,  and  a  Union 
pledge  was  circulated  throughout  the  city,  and  signed  by  thousands  without 
distinction  of  party.  The  Governor  called"  an  extraordinary 
session  of  the  Legislature  to  meet  at  Harrisburg  on  the  30th  ;  but, 
before  that  time,  thousands  of  Pennsylvanians  were  enrolled  in 
the  great  Union  Army.  The  Secretary  of  War  (Mr.  Cameron),  immediately 
after  issuing  his  call  for  troops,  sent  his  son  into  Pennsylvania  to  expedite 
the  work  of  recruiting ;  and  within  the  space  of  three  days  he  had  the  satis 
faction  of  welcoming  to  Washington  troops  from  his  native  State.  The 
Legislature  authorized  the  organization  of  a  reserved  corps,  to  be  armed, 
equipped,  clothed,  subsisted,  and  paid  by  the  State,  and  drilled  in  camps  of 
instruction.  It  also  authorized  a  loan  of  three  millions  of  dollars  for  war 
purposes. 

Pennsylvania  has  the  honor  of  having  furnished  the  troops  that  first 
arrived  at  the  Capital  in  the  hour  of  its  greatest  peril.  These  composed  five 
companies  from  the  interior  of  the  State,  namely,  the  "  Washington  Artil 
lery,"  and  "  National  Light  Infantry,"  of  Pottsville,  Schuylkill  County  ;  the 
"  Ringgold  Light  Artillery,"  of  Reading,  Berks  County ;  the  "  Logan 
Guards,"  of  Lewistown,  Mifflin  County,  and  the  "  Allen  Infantry,"  of  Allen- 
town,  Lehigh  County.  At  the  call  of  the  President,  the  commanders  of 
these  companies  telegraphed  to  Governor  Curtin  that  they  were  full,  and 
ready  for  service.  He  immediately  ordered  them  to  assemble  at  Harrisburg, 
the  State  capital.  They  were  all  there  on  the  evening  of  the  17th,  but 


1  See  page  210. 

2  A  secession  newspaper,  called  The  Palmetto  Flag,  was  hawked  about  the  streets  at  that  time.     It  was 
suppressed,  and  an  American  flag  was  displayed  at  its  office,  as  we  have  already  observed  in  note  2,  page  353. 
A  large  number  of  medical  students  in  Philadelphia  were  from  the  South,  and  there  was  much  sympathy  with 
the  secessionists  in  that  city  among  a  certain  class  of  politicians.     Some  of  them,  in  public  meetings  of  their 
party,  proposed  to  have  Pennsylvania  joined  to  the  "  Southern  Confederacy." 


RIOTOUS   MOVEMENTS   IN  BALTIMORE.  405 

mostly  without  arms,  expecting  to  receive  new  and  improved  equipments 
there.  These  were  not  ready.  The  imminence  of  the  danger  to  the  National 
Capital  would  admit  of  no  delay,  not  even  long  enough  for  the  companies  to 
be  organized  as  a  regiment.  They  were  ordered  forward  the  next  morning 
by  the  Northern  Central  Railway,  to  Baltimore,  in  company  with  about 
forty  regular  soldiers,  who  were  going  to  re-enforce  the  little  garrison  at 
Fort  McIIenry.  The  battery  of  the  Ringgold  Artillery  was  left  at  Harris- 
burg.  The  muskets  in  the  hands  of  the  regulars,  and  thirty  others  borne  by 
the  volunteers,  were  the  only  weapons  with  which  these  prospective  defenders 
of  the  Capital  entered  a  hostile  territory — Maryland  being  essentially  such  at 
that  time.  At  home  and  on  their  way  to  Harrisburg  they  were  cheered  by 
the  patriotic  zeal  and  unbounded  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  Men,  women, 
and  children  joined  in  the  acclamation.1 

Baltimore,  through  which  all  troops  traveling  by  railway  from  the  North 
and  East  to  Washington  were  compelled  to  pass,  was  then  under  the  com 
plete  control  of  the  secessionists.  The  wealthier  classes  were  attached  by 
ties  of  blood  and  marriage  with  the  people  of  the  South,  and  the  system  of 
slavery  common  to  both  was  a  powerful  promoter  of  the  most  cordial  sym 
pathy.  The  dominant  classes  in  the  city  were  at  that  time  disloyal,  yet  a 
large  majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  true  to  the  old  flag.  Most  of  those 
in  authority  were  disunionists,  including  the  Marshal  of  Police  (Kane5),  and 
were  passive,  if  not  secretly  active  friends  of  the  secession  movement. 

It  was  known  that  the  Pennsylvania  troops  would  go  through  Baltimore 
at  a  little  past  noon,  and  the  Marshal,  doubtless  for  the  purpose  of  concealing 
dark  designs,  issued  an  order  for  his  force  to  be  vigilant,  and  preserve  the 
peace,  while  the  officers  of  the  "State-Rights  Association"  hastened  to  pub 
licly  assure  him,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  that  no  demonstrations  should 
be  made  against  National  troops  passing  through  Baltimore.  The  Mayor 
(George  "VV.  Brown),  whose  sympathies  were  with  the  disunionists,  issued  a 
proclamation  invoking  all  good  citizens  to  preserve  the  peace  and  good  order 
of  the  town.  Notwithstanding  these  apparent  efforts  of  the  authorities  to 
prevent  disturbance,  when  the  Pennsylvanians  arrived,  at  near  two  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  they  were  surrounded  by  an  angry,  howling  mob,  who  only 
lacked  the  organization  to  which  they  attained  twenty-four  hours  later,  to 
have  been  the  actors  in  a  fearful  tragedy  on  that  day,  instead  of  on  the  next. 

News  had  just  arrived  of  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  by 
the  Virginia  Convention,  and  it  wras  spreading  rapidly  over  the  city.  The 
excited  multitude,  of  whom  a  large  proportion  were  South  Carolinians  and 


1  The  spirit  of  the  women  is  well  illustrated  by  the  followinc  letter  from  the  wife  of  a  private  of  the  King- 
gold  Light  Artillery,  written  to  her  husband,  who  was  in  Washington  City  at  the  time : — 

"READING,  April  16,  1S61. 

"Mr  DEAR  HUSBAND: — The  Ringgolds  have  been  ordered  to  march.  It  is  pouring  down  rain,  and  the  men 
are  flocking  to  the  army.  O,  I  do  wish  you  were  home  to  go  with  them.  Such  a  time  I  have  never  seen  in  all 
my  life.  The  people  arc  fairly  mad.  I  went  up  through  all  the  rain  to  *ee  the  Captain.  He  said  you  could 
follow  them  when  you  came  home.  When  he  had  the  men  all  in  the  hall  in  line,  he  said :— '  If  any  man  is 
opposed  to  fighting  for  his  country,  he  may  hold  up  his  right  hand.'  Only  one  man  held  up  his  hand,  and  the 
next  minute  he  was  kicked  out  of  the  door.  Do  come  home  as  soon  as  you  receive  this  letter.  But  you  will 
not  get  it  in  time,  as  they  leave  this  evening  on  the  six  o'clock  train  for  Harrisburg.  If  you  wish  to  join  them 
there,  telegraph,  and  I  will  send  vour  uniform  and  sword  by  the  express, 

"  From  your  true  and  loving  wife,  SALLY  G v.'1 

*  See  page  2S1. 


406  THE   FIRST   DEFENDERS   OF  THE   CAPITAL. 

Georgians,  then  sojourning  in  Baltimore,  followed  the  troops  all  the  way 
from  one  railroad  station  to  the  other,  offering  the  most  indecent  insults; 
shouting,  "  Welcome  to  Southern  graves  !"  uttering  the  most  blasphemous 
language,  and  throwing  a  few  missiles  which  slightly  injured  some  of  the 
men.  A  colored  man,  over  sixty  years  of  age,1  in  military  dress,  attached  as 
a  servant  to  the  "Washington  Artillery"  Company,  greatly  excited  their 
ire.  They  raised  the  cry  of  "  Nigger  in  uniform !"  and  stones  and  bricks 
were  hurled  at  him.  He  received  a  severe  wound  on  the  face  and  head, 
from  which  blood  flowed  freely. 

The  Pennsylvanians  left  Baltimore  at  four  o'clock  and  reached  Washing 
ton  City  at  about  seven,  where  they  were  received  by  the  anxious  loyal 
inhabitants  and  the  officers  of  the  Government  with  heart-felt  joy,  for  the 
rumbling  volcano  of  revolution  threatened  them  with  an  eruption  every 
moment.  For  a  day  or  two  the  city  had  been  full  of  rumors  of  the  move 
ment  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  secessionists  for  the  seizure  of  the  Capital, 
and  many  families  had  fled  affrighted.  Troops  from  Massachusetts,  New 
York,  and  Pennsylvania  had  been  hourly  expected  all  that  day,  and  when 
evening  approached,  and  they  did  not  appear,  the  panic  increased.  When 
the  Pennsylvanians  came,  they  were  hailed  as  deliverers  by  an  immense 
throng,  who  greeted  them  with  prolonged  cheers,  for  they  were  the  first 
promise  of  hope  and  safety.  The  fears  of  the  inhabitants  were  immediately 
quieted. 

The  Pennsylvanians  were  at  once  marched  to  the  Capitol  grounds,  where 
they  were  reviewed  by  General  McDowell,  and  then  assigned  quarters  in  the 
hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  the  south  wing  of  the  Capitol. 
They  had  been  without  food  all  day,  but  were  soon  supplied.  The  halls 
w^ere  at  once  lighted  up  and  Avarmed,  and  the  startling  rumor  spread  over 
the  city,  that  two  thousand  Northern  troops,  well  armed  with  Minie  rifles, 
were  quartered  in  the  Capitol!2  The  real  number  was  five  hundred  and 
thirty.  It  was  the  intention  of  the  Government  to  arm  them  with  muskets 
from  Harper's  Ferry,  but  the  armory  there  was  destroyed  that  very  evening.3 

It  is  believed  by  the  best  informed,  that  these  troops  arrived  just  in  time 
to  awe  the  conspirators  and  their  friends,  and  to  save  the  Capitol  from 

1  This  man,  supposed  to  have  been  a  runaway  slave,  was  known  by  the  name  of  "  Nick  Biddle."    He  had 
resided  for  a  number  of  years  in  Pottsville,  where  he  sometimes  sold  oysters  in  the  winter  and  ice-cream  in  the 
summer.     He  attended  the  Washington  Artillery  company  on  its  target  and  other  excursions.     His  excursion 
through  Baltimore  was  never  pleasant  in  his  memory.     He  was  heard  to  say  that  he  would  go  through  the 
infernal  regions  with  the  Artillery,  but  would  never  again  go  through  Baltimore.     His  was  almost  the  first 
blood  shed  in  the  rebellion,  that  of  the  wounded  at  Fort  Sumter  being  the  first  by  a  few  days. 

2  This  rumor  was  started  by  James  D.  Gay,  a  member  of  the  Einggold  Light  Artillery,  who  was  in  Wash 
ington  City  on  business  at  the  time  of  their  arrival.     He  was  already  an  enrolled  member  of  a  temporary  home- 
guard  in  Washington,  under  Cassius  M.  Clay,  which  we  shall  consider  presently,  and  was  working  with  all  his 
might  for  the  salvation  of  the  city.     After  exchanging  greetings  with  his  company  at  the  Capitol,  he  hastened  to 
Willard's  Hotel  to  proclaim  the  news.      In  a  letter  to  the  writer,  he  says : — "  The  first  man  I  met  as  I  entered 
the  doors  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  Magruder  [who  afterward  abandoned  his  flag  and  was  a  General  of  the  "  Con 
federate  "  army].    I  said, '  Colonel,  have  you  heard  the  good  news  ?1   '  What  is  it  ?'  he  asked.    I  told  him  to  step  to 
the  door.     He  did  so.     Pointing  to  the  lights  at  the  Capitol.  I  said.  'Do  you  see  that?'     'Yes,1  he  answered,  'but 
what  of  that?1     'Two  thousand  soldiers,'  I  said, 'have  marched  in  there  this  evening,  Sir,  armed  with  Minie 
rifles.1     'Possible!  so  much!1  ho  exclaimed,  in  an  excited  manner.     Of  course  what  I  told  him  was  not  true,  but 
I  thought  that,  in  the  absence  of  sufficient  troops,  this  false  report  might  save  the  city.'1     Mr.  Gay's   "  pious 
fraud  71  had  the  desired  effect. 

3  I  am  indebted  to. Francis  B.  Wallace,  Esq.,  editor  of  the  Miner'fi  Journal,  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  for 
the  facts  concerning  this  movement  of  Pennsylvania  troops,  and  also  for  the  nuister-roll  of  the  'five  companies 
who  so  patriotically  hastened  to  the  defense  of  the  Capital.     Mr.  Wallace  was  an  officer  of  the  "Washington 
Artillery11  Company,  niid  was  a  participant  in  the  exciting- scenes  of  a  three  months'  campaign. 


EARLY    DEFENDERS  OF   THE   NATIONAL   CAPITAL.  407 

seizure.  It  is  believed  that  if  they  had  been  delayed  twenty-four  hours — had 
they  not  been  there  when,  on  the  next  day,  a  tragedy  we  are  about  to  con 
sider  was  performed  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore — the  President  and  his 
Cabinet,  with  the  General-in-chief,  might  have  been  assassinated  or  made 
prisoners,  the  archives  and  buildings  of  the  Government  seized,  and  Jeffer 
son  Davis  proclaimed  Dictator  from  the  great  eastern  portico  of  the  Capitol, 
where  Mr.  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  only  forty-five  days  before.  These 
citizen  soldiers  well  deserved  the  thanks  of  the  nation  voted  by  Congress  at 
its  called  session  in  July  following,1  and  a  grateful  people  will  ever  delight 
to  do  homage  to  their  patriotism.* 


1  In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Jul y  2*2,  1^1,  on  motion  of  Hon.  James  Campbell,  it  was 
That  the  thanks  of  this  House  are  due.  and  are  hereby  tendered,  to  the  five  hundred  and  thirty  soldier?  from 
Pennsylvania  who  passed  through  the  mob  at  Baltimore,  and  reached  Washington  on  the  Ibthdayof  April  last, 
for  the  defense  of  the  National  Capital." 

3  The  Philadelphia  /*/•<•**,  on  the  sth  of  April.  1^'J,  Mid  : — "  We  understand  that  a  gentleman  of  high  posi 
tion  and  (rood  judgment,  who  has  taken  a  very  prominent  part  in  public  affairs  ever  since  the  inauguration  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  recently  declared,  that  the  small  band  of  Pennsylvania  troops  who  arrived  at  Washington  on  the 
I'ith  of  April,  saved  the  Capital  from  seizure  by  the  conspirators.  In  his  judgment,  if  their  response  to  the  call 
of  the  President  had  been  less  prompt,  the  traitors  would  inevitably  have  gained  possession  of  the  archives 
nnd  public  buildings  of  the  Nation,  and.  probably,  of  the  highest  officers  of  the  Government."  The  names  of  that 
little  band  are  given  in  the  following  muster-rolls  of  the  companies.  It  may  be  proper  to  remark,  that  these 
names  are  not  given  to  mark  these  men  as  more  patriotic  than  thousands  of  others  who  were  then  pressing 
eagerly  toward  Washington  City,  but  for  the  obvious  reason  that  they  were  the  first  to  arrive,  and  give  tho 
earliest  efficient  cheek  to  the  hands  of  the  conspirators,  uplifted  to  smite  the  Nation  with  a  deadly  blow. 

The  muster-rolls  of  the  companies,  on  that  occasion,  are  as  follows:—- 

WASHINGTON    ARTILLERY   COMPANY.   OF   I'oTTSVILLK. 

OFFICERS  AND  NON-COMMUMUONKD  OFFICERS. — Captain.  .lames  Wren;  First  Lieutenant.  David  A.  Smith ; 
Second  Lieutenant.  Francis  H.  Wallace;  Second-Second  Lieutenant.  Philip  Nagle ;  First  Sergeant.  Henry  C. 
Kussel;  Second  Sergeant.  .Joseph  A.  (iilmour;  Third  ScrgeaSit,  Cyrus  Sheet/;  Fourth  Sergeant.  William  J. 
McQuadc;  Quartermaster-Sergeant,  (Jeorge  H.  Grcssang;  Urst  Corporal.  1).  J.  Ridgway ;  Second  Corjtoral, 
Samuel  li.  Russel ;  Third  Cor|Miral.  Charles  Hinkle;  Fourth  Cor|M»ral.  Reuben  Snyder. 

PKIVATES.— George  H.  Hill.  Francis  P.  Dcwces.  Win.  Ramsey  Potts,  Thomas  Johnson,  Nelson  T.  Major.  Isaac 
K.  Severn.  Kdward  L.  Severn.  Thomas  Jones,  (Jeorge  Meyer.  J.  C.  Weaver.  John  F.ngle.  Charles  P.  Potts.  Charles 
P.  Loeser,  H.  K.  Downing,  William  H.  Hardell.  J.  B.  Brandt.  Charles  Slingluff.  Theodore  F.  Patterson.  Charles 
Kvans.  Charles  Hause,  Francis  Hause.  I).  B.  Brown.  John  Christian.  Albert  G.  Whitfield.  William  Bates.  Oliver  C. 
Bosbyshcll,  Robert  K.  Potter.  A.  II.  Titus.  Joseph  Reed.  Joel  H.  Bet/.  .John  Curry,  Robert  Smith.  Augustus 
Reese,  Hugh  Stevenson.  H.  H.  Hill.  Kli  Williams.  Benjamin  Christian.  Thomas  Pcthcrick.  Jr..  Louis  T.  Snyder. 
Edwin  J.  Ship|K-n.  Richard  M.  Hodgson.  William  W.  Clemens.  Ctirtus  C.  Pollock.  William  Auman.  William 
Riley,  Edward  T.  Leib.  Daniel  Moser.  William  Brown,  Edward  Nagle.  Godfrey  Leonard.  G.  W.  Bratton.  William 
Heffncr,  Vict<T  Werncrt.  Charles  A.  Glenn.  William  Spcnec.  Patrick  Hanley.  William  J.  Feger.  William 
Lesher.  D.  C.  Pott,  Alba  C.Thompson.  Daniel  Christian.  Samuel  Beard.  Thomas  Irwin.  Henry  Dcntzcr.  Philip 
T.  Dent/er.  H.  Bohbs.John  Pass.  Heber  S.  Thompson.  B.  F.  Jones.  J<.hn  I.  Hetherington.  Peter  Fisher.  William 
Dagan.  J.  R.  Hetherington,  Nelson  Drake,  Charles  A.  Hesscr.  Samuel  Sh<>ci)cr.  Cliarl.  >  Maurer.  James  S.  Silly- 
man.  Henry  Brobst.  Alfred  Huntxinger,  Win.  Alspach.  John  Hotla.  J.  F.  Barth.  William  Cole.  David  Williams, 
George  Kice,  Joseph  Kcar.  Charles  K.  Bc-ck.  F.  B.  Hammer.  Peter  H.  Frailcy.  Thomas  Corby.  Charles  Vanhorn, 
John  Noble,  Joseph  Fyant,  Alexanders.  Bowen,  John  Jones.  Francis  A.  Stit/er.  William  A.  Mai/.e.  William 
Agin,  George  H.  Hartman.  Richard  Bartolet.  Lewis  Douglass.  Richard  Price.  Frederick  Christ.  Valentine 
Stichter,  Francis  B.  Baunan,  William  Bartholomew,  Fnmk  P.  Mycr,  Bernard  Riley,  George  F.  Stalileii,  Edward 
Gay  nor. 

MUSICIANS. 

Thomas  Severn,  Fifer;  Albert  F.  Bowen,  Drummer. 

NATIONAL   LIGHT    INFANTRY,  OF  POTTSVILLE. 

OFFICERS  AND  NON-COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS.— Captain,  E.  McDonald;  First  Lieutenant,  James  Russell; 
Second  Lieutenant,  Henry  I*  Cake  ;  Third  Lieutenant,  Lewis  J.  Martin  ;  First  Sergeant,  La  Mar  S.  Hay;  Second 
Sergeant.  Abraham  Mclntyre;  Third  Sergeant,  W.  F.  Huntzinger;  Fourth  Sergeant.  George  C,.  Boyer;  Quar 
termaster  Sergeant,  Daniel  Downey;  First  Corporal.  Ernst  A.  Sauerbrey ;  Second  Corporal,  Charles  C.  Russell; 
Third  Corporal,  Edward  Moran ;  Fourth  Corporal,  Frederick  W.  Conrad. 

PRIVATES.—.!.  Addison  McCool,  Thomas O.  Bull, William  Becker,  John  Simpson.  Thomas  G.  Houck.  Edward 
Thomas,  Elias  B.  Trifoos.  John  Stodd,  Lawrence  Manayan.  B.  F.  IJarlett.  Win.  Madara.  Emanuel  Savior,  Win.  F. 
Garrett,  John  P.  Womelsdorff,  George  Do  Courcey,  J.  J.  Damprnan.  John  Schmidt.  C."F.  Hoffman.  Jacob  Bast, 
Daniel  Eberle,  Win.  II.  Hodgson.  Ernst  T.  Ellrich.  Amos  Forseman,  C.  F.  Tmberliauer.  James  Sammon.  Win.  R. 
Roberts,  Jonas  W.  Rich,  Charles  Weber,  Terrence  Smith,  F.  A.  Sehoener.  William  Pugh.  Frank  Hanley,  James 


408  A   ROLL   OF   HONOR. 

Smith,  Geo.  W.  Mennig,  James  Marshall,  Ira  Troy,  Uriah  Good,  Win.  Irving,  Patrick  Curtin,  John  Burns,  Edward 
McCabe,  Fred.  Seltzer,  John  Donegan,  John  Mullens,  John  Lamons,  Win.  McDonald,  Geo.  W.  Garber,  F.  W. 
Simpson,  Alexander  Smith,  David  Dilly,  George  Shartle,  A.  D.  Allen,  Charles  F.  Garrett,  Geo.  A.  Lerch,  Jamea 
Carroll,  John  Benedict,  Edmund  Foley,  Thomas  Kelley,  John  Eppinger,  John  Rouch,  David  Howard,  Jeremiah 
Deitrich,  William  Weller,  Win.  A.  Christian,  Mark  Walker,  Kalph  Corby,  Henry  Mehr,  F.  Goodyear,  Wm.  Carl, 
Anthony  Lippman,  John  P.  Deiner,  Wm.  A.  Beidleman,  Chas.  J.  Shoemaker,  Jas.  Donegan,  Herman  Hauser,  Louis 
Weber,  Thomas  H.  Parker,  John  Howell,  Henry  Yerger,  Wm.  Davenport,  James  Landefield,  James  K.  Smith. 
Michael  Foren,  Alex.  Smith,  W.  M.  Lashorn,  Levi  Gloss,  Samuel  Heilner,  Enoch  Lambert,  Frank  Wenrich, 
Joseph  Johnston,  Henry  C.  Nies,  Jacob  Shoey,  John  Hartman,  Win.  Buckley,  Henry  Quin,  Thomas  G.  Buckley, 
Wm.  Becker,  J.  P.  McGinnes,  Charles  J.  Redcay,  Jr.,  Win.  Britton,  Thomas  Smith,  J.  M.  Hughes,  Thomaa 
Martin,  Henry  Gehring,  Dallas  Dampman,  John  Boedefeld,  M.  Edgar  Richards. 

RINGGOLD   LIGHT  ARTILLERY,   OF   READING. 

OFFICERS  AND  NON-COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS.— Captain,  James  M'Knight;  First  Lieutenant,  Henry  Nagle; 
Second  Lieutenant,  Wm.  Graeff ;  First  Sergeant,  G.  W.  Durell ;  Second  Sergeant,  D.  Kreisher ;  Third  Sergeant, 
II.  S.  Rush;  First  Corporal,  Levi  S.  Human;  Second  Corporal,  F.  W.  Folkman ;  Third  Corporal,  Horatio 
Leader;  Fourth  Corporal,  Jacob  Womert;  Bugler,  John  A.  Hock. 

PRIVATES. — James  A.  Fox,  Samuel  Evans,  Amos  Drenkle,  Fred.  Yeager,  Geo.  W.  Silvis,  Ed.  Pearson,  Fred. 
Shacft'er,  Win.  C.  Eben,  Henry  E.  Eisenbeis,  Daniel  Maltzberger,  Adam  Freeze,  Augustus  Berger,  Solomon  Ash, 
Fred.  H.  Phillippi,  Nathaniel  B.  Hill,  James  E.  Lutz,  Geo.  S.  Bickley,  Samuel  Hamilton,  Amos  Huyett,  Andrew 
Helms,  Win.  W.  Bowers,  Henry  Neihart,  Ferd.  S.  Ritter,  Daniel  Whitman,  Jeremiah  Seiders,  Anthony  Ammon, 
Henry  Fleck,  Henry  Rush,  Jacob  J.  Hessler,  Henry  G.  Baus,  Charles  Gebhart,  Henry  Coleman,  Chas.  P.  Muhlen- 
berg,  Jacob  Leeds,  James  Gentzler,  J.  Hiester  McKnight,  B.  F.  Ermentrout,  James  Pflieger,  Charles  Spangler, 
Geo.  W.  Knabb,  D.  Dickinson,  C.  Levan,  Albert  Shirey,  Adam  Faust,  Peter  A.  Lantz,  Geo.  D.  Leaf,  H.  Whiteside, 

A.  Levan,  C.  Frantz,  Wm.  Sauerbier,  Jonathan  Sherer,  H.  Geiger,  Wm.  Lewis,  A.  Seyfert,  Robert  Eltz,  J.  S.  Ken 
nedy,  E.  L.  Smith,  George  Lauman,  Lemuel  Gries,  James  L.  Mast,  Christopher  Loeser,  Howard  M'llvaine,  C. 

B.  Ansart,  Wm.   Haberacker,  John  A.  M'Lenegan,  George  Eckert,  William  Herbst,  Wm.  Rapp,  Isaiah  Rambo, 
Daniel  Levan,  John  Yohn,  Isaac  Leeds,  Francis  Rambo,  Wm.  Christ,  Fred.  Peck,  John  Freeze,  Jr.,  William  Fix, 
Edward  Scull,  Jackson  Sherman,  Ad.  Gehry,  Daniel  Yohn,  James  D.  Koch,  H.  Fox,  F.  Housura,  William  Smith, 

C.  A.  Bitting,  Wm.  P.  Mack,  Wm.  Miller,  Fred.  Smeck,  Milton  Roy,  Geo.  B.  Rhoads,  James  Anthony,  David 
Bechtel,  F.  G.  Ebling. 

LOGAN  GUARDS,  OF  LEWISTOWN. 

OFFICERS  AND  NON-COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS. — Captain,  J.  B.  Selheimer;  First  Lieutenant,  Thomas  M. 
Hulings ;  Second  Lieutenant,  Robert  W.  Patton ;  Third  Lieutenant,  Francis  R.  Sterrett ;  First  Sergeant,  J. 
A.  Matthews;  Second  Sergeant,  Joseph  S.  Wa^eam;  Third  Sergeant,  H.  A.  Eisenbise ;  Fourth  Sergeant, 
William  B.  Weber;  Fifth  Sergeant,  C.  M.  Shull ;  First  Corporal,  E.  W.  Eisenbise;  Second  Corporal,  P.P. 
Butts;  Third  Corporal,  John  Nolle;  Fourth  Corporal,  Frederick  Hart;  Musicians,  S.  G.  McLaughlin,  William 
Hopper,  Joseph  W.  Postlethwait. 

PRIVATES. — William  H.  Irwin  (subsequently  elected  Colonel  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  Pennsylvania  Volun 
teers),  David  Wasson, William  T.  McEwen,  Jesse  Alexander,  James  D.  Burns,  Robert  Betts,  Henry  Comfort,  Frank 
De  Armint,  James  B.  Eckebarger,  Joseph  A.  Ficthorn,  George  M.  Freeborn,  George  Hart,  James  W.  Henry,  John 
S.  Kauffman.  George  I.  Loff,  Elias  W.  Link,  Samuel  B.  Marks,  William  McKnew,  Robert  D.  Morton,  Thomas  A. 
Nuree,  Henry  Printz,  James  N.  Rager,  Augustus  E.  Smith,  James  P.  Smith,  Gideon  M.  Tice,  Gilbert  Waters, 
David  Wertz,  Edwin  E.  Zergler,  William  H.  Bowsun,  William  R.  Cooper,  Jeremiah  Cogley,  Thomas  W.  Dewese, 
Asbery  W.  Elberty,  Abraham  Files,  Daniel  Fessler,  John  Hughes,  John  Jones,  Thomas  Kinhead,  John  S.  Lang- 
ton,  William  G.  Mitchell,  John  S.  Miller,  Robert  A.  Mathner,  William  A.  Nelson,  John  A.  Nale,  John  M.  Postle 
thwait,  James  H.  Sterrett,  Theodore  B.  Smith,  Charles  W.  Stahl,  Thomas  M.  Uttley,  David  B.  Weber,  George 
White,  William  E.  Benner,  William  Cowden,  Samuel  Comfort,  George  W.  Elberty,  William  H.  Freeborn,  J. 
Bingham  Farrer,  Owen  M.  Fowler,  John  T.  Hunter,  James  M.  Jackson,  Henry  F.  Keiser,  Charles  E.  Laub, 
William  R.  McCay,  Joseph  A.  Miller,  John  A.  McKee,  Robert  Nelson,  James  Price,  Bronson  Rothrock.  Wil 
liam  Sherwood,  Nathaniel  W.  Scott,  George  A.  Snyder,  Franklin  H.  Wentz,  Henry  G.  Walters,  Philip  Winterod. 

ALLEN  INFANTRY,  OF  ALLENTOWN. 

OFFICERS  AND  NON-C'OMMISSIONKD  OFFICERS. — Captain,  Thomas  B.  Yeager;  First  Lieutenant,  Joseph  Wilt; 
Second  Lieutenant,  Solomon  Geoble. 

PRIVATES. — .John  G.  Webster,  Samuel  Schneck,  David  Kramer,  David  Jacobs,  Edwin  Gross.  Charles 
Deitrich,  M.  R.  Fuller,  Edwin  H.  Miller,  Ben.  Weiandt,  Darius  Weiss,  John  Romig,  Isaac  Gresser.  Milton  H. 
Dunlap,  Wilson  H.  Derr,  Joseph  Weiss,  William  Kress,  William  Ruhe,  Charles  A.  Schift'ert,  Nathaniel  Hillegar, 
George  A.  Keiper,  James  Geidner,  Gideon  Frederick,  Norman  N.  Cole,  William  Early,  George  Haxworth.  Chas. 
A.  Pfeiffer,  James  M.  Wilson,  M.  G.  Frame,  Joseph  Hettinger,  George  Henry,  Jonathan  W.  Reber,  Henry 
Stork,  John  Hoke,  Martin  W.  Leisenring,  Franklin  Leh,  Ernest  Rottman,  Allen  Wetherhold,  George  W 
Rhoads,  Wm.  H.  Sigmund,  William  Wagner,  Wm.  Wolf,  Lewis  Seip,  Edwin  Hittle,  William  S.  Davis.  C.  Blatter- 
dach. 


CONSPIRATORS   ALARMED   BY   LOYALTY. 


409 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

EVENTS    IN   AND   NEAR  THE   NATIONAL  CAPITAL. 

ALTIMORE  became  the  theater  of  a  sad  tragedy  on  the  day 
after  the  loyal  Pennsylvanians  passed  through  it  to  the 
Capital.  The  conspirators  and  secessionists  there,  who  were 
in  complicity  with  those  of  Virginia,  had  been  compelled,  for 
some  time,  to  be  very  circumspect,  on  account  of  the  loyalty 
of  the  great  body  of  the  people.  Public  displays  of  sympathy 
with  the  revolutionists  were  quickly  resented.  When,  in 
the  exuberance  of  their  joy  on  the  "secession  of  Virginia," 
these  sympathizers  ventured  to  take  a  cannon  to  Federal 
Hill,  raise  a  secession  flag,  and  fire  a  salute,"  the  workmen  in  the 
iron  foundries  near  there  turned  out,  captured  the  great  gun  and  *  AI^  18> 
cast  it  into  the  waters  of  the  Patapsco,  tore  the  banner  into  shreds, 
and  made  the  disunionists  fly  in  consternation.  At  about  the  same  time,  a 
man  seen  in  the  streets  with  a  secession  cockade  on  his  hat  was  pursued  by 
the  populace,  and  compelled  to  seek  the  protection  of  the  police.  These  and 
similar  events  were  such  significant  admonitions  for  the  conspirators  that 
they  prudently  worked  in  secret.  They  had  met  every  night  in  their 
private  room  in  the  Taylor  Building,  on  Fayette  Street;1  and  there  they 
formed  their  plans  for  resistance  to  the  passage  of  Northern  troops  through 
Baltimore. 

On  the  day  when  the  Pennsylvanians  passed  through,6  some  leading  Vir 
ginians  came  down  to  Baltimore  from  Charlestown  and  Winchester 
as  representatives  of  many  others  of  their  class,  and  dcMiianded 
of  the  managers  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway  not  only  pledges, 
.but  guaranties,  that  no  National  troops,  nor  any  munitions  of  war  from  the 
Armory  and  Arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry,  should  be  permitted  to  pass  over 
their  road.  They  accompanied  their  demand  with  a  threat  that,  if  it  should 
be  refused,  the  great  railway  bridge  over  the  Potomac  at  Harper's  Ferry 
should  be  destroyed.  They  had  heard  of  the  uprising  of  the  loyal  people  of 
the  great  Northwest,  and  the  movement  of  troops  toward  the  National 
Capital  from  that  teeming  hive,  and  they  came  to  effect  the  closing  of  the 
most  direct  railway  communication  for  them.  They  had  heard  how  Governor 
Dennison,  with  a  trumpet-toned  proclamation,  had  summoned  the  people  of 
Ohio,  on  the  very  day  when  the  President's  call  appeared,'  to 
"  rise  above  all  party  names  and  party  bias,  resolute  to  maintain 
the  freedom  BO  dearly  bought  by  our  fathers,  and  to  transmit  it  unimpaired 


»  April  IS. 


1  See   page  278. 


410  MEETING   OF   SECESSIONISTS   IN    BALTIMORE. 

to  our  posterity,"  and  to  fly  to  the  protection  of  the  imperiled  Republic. 
They  almost  felt  the  tread  of  the  tall  men  of  the  Ohio  Valley,1  as  they  were 
preparing  to  pass  over  the  "  Beautiful  River "  into  the  Virginia  border. 
They  had  heard  the  war-notes  of  Blair,  and  Morton,  and  Yates,  and  Randall, 
and  Kirkwood,  and  Ramsay,  all  loyal  Governors  of  the  populous  and 
puissant  States  of  that  great  Northwest,  and  were  satisfied  that  the  people 
would  respond  as  promptly  as  had  those  of  New  England ;  so  they  hastened 
to  bar  up  the  nearest  passage  for  them  to  the  Capital  over  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  until  the  disloyal  Minute-men  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  should  fulfill  the  instructions  and  satisfy  the  expec 
tations  of  the  conspirators  at  Montgomery  in  the  seizure  of  the  Capital. 
They  found  ready  and  eager  sympathizers  in  Baltimore ;  and  only  a  few 
hours  before  the  coveted  arms  in  the  Harper's  Ferry  Arsenal  were  set 
a-blazing,  and  the  Virginia  plunderers  were  foiled,  the  "  National  Volunteer 
Association  "  of  Baltimore  (under  whose  auspices  the  secession  flag  had  been 
raised  on  Federal  Hill  that  day,  and  a  salute  attempted  in  honor  of  the 
secession  of  Virginia),  led  by  its  President,  William  Burns,  held  a  meeting 
in  Monument  Square.  T.  Parkins  Scott  presided.  He  and  others  addressed 
a  multitude  of  citizens,  numbered  by  thousands.  They  harangued  the 
people  with  exciting  and  incendiary  phrases.  They  denounced  "  coercion," 
and  called  upon  the  people  to  arm  and  drill,  for  a  conflict  was  at  hand.  "  I 
do  not  care,"  said  Wilson  C.  Carr,  "how  many  Federal  troops  are  sent  to 
Washington,  they  will  soon  find  themselves  surrounded  by  such  an  army 
from  Virginia  and  Maryland  that  escape  to  their  homes  will  be  impossible ; 
and  when  the  severity-five  thousand  who  are  intended  to  invade  the  South 
shall  have  polluted  that  soil  with  their  touch,  the  South  will  exterminate  and 
sweep  them  from  the  earth."2  These  words  were  received  with  the  wildest 
yells  and  huzzas,  and  the  meeting  finally  broke  up  with  three  cheers  for  "  the 
South,"  and  the  same  for  "  President  Davis." 

With  such  seditious  teachings ;  with  such  words  of  encouragement  to 
mob  violence  ringing  in  their  ears,  the  populace  of  Baltimore  went  to  their 
slumbers  on  that  night  of  the  18th  of  April,  when  it  was  known  that  a  por 
tion  of  the  seventy-five  thousand  to  be  slaughtered  were  on  their  way  from 
New  England,  and  would  probably  reach  the  city  on  the  morrow.  While 
the  people  were  slumbering,  the  secessionists  were  holding  meetings  in 
different  wards,  and  the  conspirators  were  planning  dark  deeds  for  that 
morrow,  at  Taylor's  Building.  There,  it  is  said,  the  Chief  of  Police,  Kane, 
and  the  President  of  the  Monument  Square  meeting,  and  others,  counseled 
resistance  to  any  Northern  or  Western  troops  who  might  attempt  to  pass 
through  the  city. 

There  was  much  feverishness  in  the  public  mind  in  Baltimore  on  the 
morning  of  the  19th  of  April.  Groups  of  excited  men  were  seen  on  the 
corners  of  streets,  and  at  the  places  of  public  resort.  Well-known  seces 
sionists  were  hurrying  to  and  fro  with  unusual  agility;  and  in  front  of  the 

1  By  actual  measurement  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine  native  Americans  in  five  counties  in  the  Ohio 
Valley,  taken  indiscriminately,  it  appears  that  one-fourth  of  them  were  six  feet  and  over  in  hight.     As  compared 
with  European  soldiers,  such  as  the  Belgians,  the  English,  and  the  Scotch  Highlanders,  it  was  found  that  the 
average  hight  of  these  Ohio  men  was  four  inches  over  that  of  the  Belgians,  two  and  a  half  inches  above  that 
of  English  recruits,  and  one  and  a  half  inches  above  that  of  the  Scotch  Highlanders. 

2  Greeley's  American  Conflict,  i.  462. 


ATTACK   ON   MASSACHUSETTS   TPwOOPS. 


411 


store  of  Charles  M.  Jackson,  on  Pratt  Street,  near  Gay,  where  lay  the  only 
railway  from  Philadelphia  to  Washington,  through  Baltimore,  a  large  quan 
tity  of  the  round  pavement  stones  had  been  taken  up  during  the  night  and 
piled  in  a  heap ;  and  near  them  was  a  cart-load  of  gravel,  giving  the 
impression  that  repairs  of  the  street  were  about  to  be  made. 

Intelligence  came  at  an  early  hour  of  the  evacuation  and  destruction  of 
the  public  property  at  Harper's  Ferry,  on  the  previous  evening.  The  seces 
sionists  were  exasperated  and  the  Unionists  were  jubilant.  Baltimore  was 
filled  with  the  wildest  excitement.  This  was  intensified  by  information  that 
a  large  number  of  Northern  troops  were  approaching  the  city  from  Philadel 
phia.  These  arrived  at  the  President  Street  Station  at  twenty  minutes  past 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  in  twelve  passenger  and  several  freight  cars, 
the  latter  furnished  with  benches.  The  troops,  about  two  thousand  in  all, 
were  the  Sixth  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  Colonel  Jones,  and 
ten  companies  of  the  Washington  Brigade,  of  Philadelphia,  under  General 
William  H.  {Small.1 

When  the  train  reached  the  President  Street  Station,  between  which  and 
the  Camden  Street  or  Washington  Station  the  cars  were  drawn  singly  by 
horses,  a  mob  of  about  five  hundred  men  were  waiting  to  receive  them. 
These  were  soon  joined  Ify  others,  and  the  number  was  increased  to  at  least 
two  thousand  before  the  cars  were  started.  The  mob  followed  with  yells, 
groans,  and  horrid  imprecations.  Eight  cars,  containing  a  portion  of  the 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  passed  on  without 
much  harm.  The  mob  threw  some  stones  and 
bricks,  and  shouted  lustily  for  u  Jeft*  Davis  and 
the  Southern  Confederacy."  The  troops  re 
mained  quietly  in  the  cars,  and  reached  the 
Camden  Street  Station  in  safety.  There  they 
were  met  by  another  crowd,  who  had  been 
collecting  all  the  morning.  These  hooted  and 
yelled  at  the  soldiers  as  they  were  transferred 
to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway  cars',  and 
threw  some  stones  and  bricks.  One  of  these 
struck  and  bruised  Colonel  Jones,  who  was 
superintending  the  transfer. 

The  mob  on  Pratt  Street,  near  the  head  of 
the  Basin,  became  more  furious  every  moment ; 
and  when  the  ninth  car  reached  Gay  Street,  and 
there  was  a  brief  halt  on  account  of  a  deranged 
brake,  they  could  no  longer  be  restrained.  The 
heap  of  loose  stones,  that  appeared  so  myste 
riously  in  front  of  Jackson's  store,  were  soon  hurled  upon  the  car  as  it 
along  Pratt  Street.  Every  window  was  demolished,  and  several  soldiers 
were  hurt.  Then  the  cry  was  raised,  "Tear  up  the  track!"  There  were  no 
pVesent  means  for  doing  it,  so  the  mob  seized  some  anchors  Iving  on  the 


SIXTH    MASSArilfSRTTS    KKtilMENT. 


1  Six  of  the  ton  companies  were  of  the  First  Regiment,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Berry, 
and  the  other  four  were  of  the  Second  Kegiincnt,  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Schoenleber  and  Major 
Gullman. 


412 


SCENE   OF  THE  PRINCIPAL   CONTEST. 


wharf  near  Jackson's  store,  and,  dragging  them  upon  the  railway  track,  effec. 
tually  barricaded  the  street.  The  tenth  car  was  compelled  to  go  back  to  the 
President  Street  Station,  followed  by  a  yelling,  infuriated  mob,  many  of  them 
maddened  by  alcohol. 

In  the  mean  time  the  remainder  of  the  Massachusetts  troops,  who  were  in 
the  cars  back  of  the  barricade,  informed   of  the  condition  of  affairs  ahead, 


SCENE   OF   THE   PRINCIPAL   FIGHTING   IN   PRATT   STREET.1 

alighted  for  the  purpose  of  marching  to  the  Camden  Street  Station.  They 
consisted  of  four  companies,  namely,  the  Lawrence  Light  Infantry,  Captain 
John  Pickering;  Companies  C  and  D,  of  Lowell,  commanded  respectively  by 
Captains  A.  S.  Follansbee  and  J.  W.  Hart ;  and  the  Stoneham  Company, 
under  Captain  Dike.  They  were  speedily  formed  on  the  side-walk,  and  Cap 
tain  Follansbee  was  chosen  the  commander  of  the  whole  for  the  occasion. 
He  wheeled  them  into  column,  and  directed  them  to  march  in  close  order. 
Before  they  were  ready  to  move  the  mob  was  upon  them,  led  by  a  man  with 
a  secession  flag  upon  a  pole,  who  told  the  troops  that  they  should  never 
march  through  the  city — that  "  every  nigger  of  them"  would  be  killed  before 
they  could  reach  tiie  other  station. 

Captain  Follansbee  paid  no  attention  to  these  threats,  though  his  little 
band  was  confronted  by  thousands  of  infuriated  men.  He  gave  the  words, 
"  Forward,  March  !"  in  a  clear  voice.  The  order  was  a  signal  for  the  mob, 
who  commenced  hurling  stones  and  bricks,  and  every  missile  at  hand,  as  the 
troops  moved  steadily  up  President  Street.  At  the  corner  of  Fawn  and 
President  Streets,  a  furious  rush  was  made  upon  them,  and  the  missiles  filled 
the  air  like  hail.  A  policeman  was  called  to  lead  the  way,  and  the  troops 
advanced  at  the  "  double-quick."  They  found  the  planks  of  the  Pratt  Street 
Bridge,  over  Jones's  Falls,  torn  up,  but  they  passed  over  without  accident, 
when  they  were  assailed  more  furiously  than  ever.  Several  of  the  soldiers 


1  This  is  a  view  of  the  portion  of  Pratt  Street,  between  Gay  and  South  Streets,  where  the  most  severe  con 
test  occurred.  The  large  building  seen  on  the  left  is  the  storehouse  of  Charles  M.  Jackson,  and  the  bow  of  the 
vessel  is  seen  at  the  place  where  the  rioters  dragged  the  anchors  upon  the  railway  track. 


THE   STRUGGLE   IX   THE   STREETS   OF   BALTIMORE.  413 

were  knocked  down  by  stones,  and  their  muskets  were  taken  from  them; 
and  presently  some  shots  were  fired  by  the  populace. 

Up  to  this  time  the  troops  had  made  no  resistance  ;  now,  finding  the  mob 
to  be  intent  upon  murder,  Captain  Follansbee  ordered  them  to  cap  their 
pieces  (which  were  alreacVy  loaded),  and  defend  themselves.  They  had 
reached  Gay  Street.  The  mob,  full  ten  thousand  strong,  was  pressing  heavily 
upon  them,  hurling  stones  and  bricks,  and  casting  heavy  pieces  of  iron  upon 
them  from  windows.  One  of  these  crushed  a  man  to  the  earth.  Self-preser 
vation  called  for  action,  and  the  troops  turned  and  fired  at  random  on  the 
mob,  who  were  dismayed  for  a  moment  and  recoiled.  The  shouts  of  the 
ferocious  multitude,  the  rattle  of  stones,  the  crack  of  musketry,  the  whistle 
of  bullets,  the  shrieks  of  women,  of  whom  some  were  among  the  rioters,  and 
the  carrying  of  wounded  men  into  stores,  made  an  appalling  tragedy.  The 
severest  of  the  fight  was  in  Pratt  Street,  between  Gay  Street  and  Rowley's 
Wharf,  near  Calvert  Street. 

The  Mayor,  alarmed  at  the  fury  of  the  whirlwind  that  his  political  friends 
had  raised,  attempted  to  control  it,  but  in  vain.  With  a  large  body  of  the 
police  (most  of  whom  did  not  share  the  treason  of  their  chief,  and  worked 
earnestly  in  trying  to  quell  the  disturbance)  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  troops,  but  his  power  was  utterly  inoperative,  and  when  stones  and  bul 
lets  flew  about  like  autumnal  leaves  in  a  gale,  he  prudently  withdrew,  and 
left  the  New  En  glanders  \.o  fight  their  way  through  to  the  Camden  Street 
Station.  This  they  did  most  gallantly,  receiving  a  furious  assault  from  a 
wing  of  the  rioters  at  Howard  Street,  when  about  twenty  shots  were  fired, 
anil  Captain  Dike  was  seriously  wounded  in  the  leg.  At  a  little  past  noon, 
the  troops  entered  the  cars  for  Washington.  Three  of  their  number  had 
been  killed  outright,  one  mortally  wounded,  and  eight  were  seriously  and 
several  were  slightly  hurt.1  Nine  citizens  of  Baltimore  were  killed,  and 
many — how  many  is  not  known — were  wounded.  Among  the  killed  was 
Kobert  T.  Davis,  an  estimable  citizen,  of  the  firm  of  Paynter,  Davis  &  Co., 
dry  goods  merchants,  who  was  a  spectator  of  the  scene. 

The  cars  into  which  the  soldiers  were  hurried  were  sent  oft*  for  Washing 
ton  as  soon  as  possible.  The  mob  followed  for  more  than  a  mile,  and 
impeded  the  progress  of  the  train  with  stones,  logs,  and  telegraph  poles, 
which  the  accompanying  police  removed.  The  train  was  fired  into  on  the 
way  from  the  hills,  but  at  too  long  range  to  do  much  damage.  That  evening 
the  Massachusetts  troops,  wearied  and  hungry,  arrived  at  the  Capitol,  and 
found  quarters  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  where,  on  the  following  day,  they 
wrote  letters  to  their  friends  on  the  desks  lately  occupied  by  Davis  and  his 
fellow-conspirators.  Their  advent  gave  great  joy  to  the  loyal  inhabitants. 
Already  the  Capitol  had  been  fortified  by  General  Scott.  The  doors  and 
windows  were  barricaded  with  boards,  and  casks  of  cement  and  huge  stones. 
The  iron  plates  intended  for  the  new  dome  of  the  building  were  used  for 
breastworks  between  the  marble  columns;  and  the  pictures  in  the  rotunda 
and  the  statuary  were  covered  with  heavy  planking,  to  shield  them  from 
harm. 

While  the  fight  between  the  Massachusetts  Sixth*  and  the  Baltimoreans 

1  On  their  arrival  at  Washington,  eighteen  of  their  wounded  were  .sent  to  the  Washington  Infirmary. 

1  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  oflicers  of  tho  staff  and  the  different  companies: — Colonol,  Kdward  F.  Jones, 


414 


PENNSYLVANIA  TROOPS  ATTACKED. 


was  going  on,  the  Pennsylvanians,  under  General  Small,  who  were  entirely 
unarmed,  remained  in  the  cars  at  the  President  Street  Station.  The  General 
tried  to  have  them  drawn  back  out  of  the  city,  and  out  of  reach  of  the  mob, 
but  failed.  The  rioters  were  upon  them  before  an  engine  could  be  procured 
for  that  purpose.  The  mob  had  left  Pratt  Street  when  their  prey  had  escaped, 
and,  yet  thirsting  for  blood,  had  hurried  toward  the  armory  of  the  Mary 
land  Guard,  on  Carroll  Street,  to  seize  the  weapons  belonging  to  that  corps. 
A  small  guard  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  kept  them  at  bay.  They  then  rushed 
toward  the  Custom  House,  to  seize  arms  said  to  have  been  deposited  there, 
when  they  were  diverted  by  information  that  there  were  more  troops  at  the 
President  Street  Station.  Thitherward  they  pressed,  yelling  like  demons,  and 
began  a  furious  assault  upon  the  cars  with  stones  and  other  missiles.  Quite 
a  large  number  of  the  Union  men  of  Baltimore  had  gathered  around  the 
Pennsylvanians.  Many  of  the  latter  sprang  from  the  cars  and  engaged  in  a 
hand-to-hand  fight  with  their  assailants  for  almost  two  hours,  nobly  assisted 


THE   PRATT   STREET   BRIDGE.1 


by  the  Baltimore  Unionists.  The  mob  overpowered  them,  and  the  unarmed 
soldiers — some  of  them  badly  hurt — fled  in  all  directions,  seeking  refuge 
where  they  might.  At  this  juncture,  and  at  this  place,  Marshal  Kane 
appears  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  that  eventful  day.  He  was  well 
known  to  the  secessionists,  and  his  presence  soon  restored  order,  when  the 
fugitive  soldiers  returned  to  the  cars,  and  the  Pennsylvanians  were  all  sent 


Lowell;  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Walter  Shattuck,  Groton;  Major,  Benj.  F.  Watson,  Lawrence;  Adjutant,  Alpha  B. 
Farr,  Lowell;  Quartermaster,  James  Monroe,  Cambridge;  Paymaster,  Eufus  L.  Plaisted,  Lowell ;  Surgeon,  Nor 
man  Smith,  Groton;  Chaplain,  Charles  Babbidge,  Pepperell.  Company  A,  Lowell,  Captain,  J.  A.  Siwtell  ; 
Company  B,  Groton,  Captain,  E.  S.  Clark;  Company  C,  Lowell,  Captain,  A.  S.  Follansbee  ;  Company  D,  Lowell, 
Captain,  J.  W.  Hart;  Company  E,  Acton,  Captain,  David  Totter;  Company  F,  Lawrence,  Captain,  B.  F.  Chad- 
bourne;  Company  H\  Lowell,  Captain,  Jona.  Ladd;  Company  I,  Lawrence,  Captain,  John  Pickering. 

This  regiment  hac?  been  the  recipient  of  the  most  marked  attention  all  the  way  from  Boston.  They  were 
greeted  by  crowds  of  cheering  citizens  everywhere  ;  and  when  they  left  New  York  to  cross  the  Jersey  City 
Ferry,  full  fifteen  thousand  citizens  accompanied  them,  while  the  side-walks  were  densely  crowded.  A  large 
number  of  miniature  American  flags  were  presented  to  the  soldiers,  who  attached  them  to  their  bayonets.  The 
shipping  in  the  harbor  was  bright  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  They  crossed  New  Jersey  in  a  train  of  fifteen 
cars,  and  were  cheered  by  enthusiastic  crowds  at  the  stations.  They  arrived  at  Philadelphia  at  half-past  eight 
o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  ISth,  where  they  were  received  by  the  authorities  and  a  vast  concourse  of  citizens. 
Huzzas  were  given  for  "Bunker  Hill,"  "Old  Massachusetts,"  " General  Scott,"  and  "Major  Anderson,"  as  the 
regiment  went  up  Walnut  and  through  to  Chestnut  Street  to  the  "  Girard  House"  and  the  "Continental  Hotel." 
They  departed  for  Baltimore  at  a  little  past  three  o'clock  the  next  morning,  accompanied  by  over  half  of  the 
Washington  Brigade,  of  Philadelphia.  Their  reception  in  Baltimore  is  recorded  in  the  text. 

1  This  is  a  view  of  the  Pratt  Street  Bridge  and  its  vicinity,  taken  in  December,  1864,  from  the  gallery  of  tho 
11  William  Tell  House."  It  is  between  President  and  Concord  Streets.  It  is  built  of  iron  and  heavy  planks. 


THE   MOB   IN   BALTIMORE   TRIUMPHANT.  415 

back  to  Philadelphia.  After  their  departure,  the  mob  proceeded  to  barricade 
the  Pratt  Street  Bridge,  and  to  break  open  the  store  of  Henry  Meyer,  from 
which  they  carried  off  a  large  number  of  guns  and  pistols.  At  that  moment 
General  Egerton  appeared  in  full  uniform,  imploring  them  to  cease  rioting. 
He  assured  them  that  no  "  foreign  troops  "  were  in  the  city,  and  that  Gov 
ernor  Hicks  had  declared  that  no  more  should  pass  through  it.1 

The  mob  was  quieted  by  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  they  had 
placed  the  city  in  the  hands  of  the  secessionists.  At  that  hour  a  great  meet 
ing  of  the  dominant  party  was  held  at  Monument  Square,  where  General 
George  II.  Stewart  (who  afterward  joined  the  insurgents  in  Virginia-)  had 
paraded  the  First  Light  Division  with  ball  cartridges.  Over  the  platform  for 
the  speakers  floated  a  white  flag  bearing  the  arms  of  Maryland  ;  and  under 
this  Mayor  Brown,  S.  T.  Wallis,  W.  P.  Preston,  and  others,  addressed  the 
vast  multitude,  assuring  them  that  no  more  Northern  troops  should  pass 
through  the  city,  and  advising  them  to  disperse  quietly  to  their  homes. 
Already  Governor  Hicks  and  Mayor  Brown  had  sent  a  dispatch  to  President 
Lincoln,  saying: — "A  collision  between  the  citizens  and  the  Northern  troops 
has  taken  place  in  Baltimore,  and  the  excitement  is  fearful.  Send  no  troops 
here.  We  will  endeavor  to  prevent  bloodshed.  A  public  meeting  of  citi 
zens  has  been  called,  and  the  troops  of  the  State  and  city  have  been  called 
out  to  preserve  the  peace.  They  will  be  enough."  They  had  also  taken 
measures  to  prevent  any  more  troops  coining  over  the  railway  from  Phila 
delphia. 

When  the  meeting  at  Monument  Square  was  convened,  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  invite  Governor  Hicks  to  the  stand.  His  age  was  bordering  on 
seventy  years,  and  caution  was  predominant.  He  was  appalled  by  the  vio 
lence  around  him,  and  after  listening  to  Mayor  Brown,  who  declared  that  it 
was  "folly  and  madness  for  one  portion  of  the  nation  to  attempt  the  subju 
gation  of  another  portion — it  can  never  be  done," — the  Governor  arose  and 
gaij  : — "  I  coincide  in  the  sentiment  of  your  worthy  Mayor.  After  three 
conferences  we  have  agreed,  and  I  bow  in  submission  to  the  people.  I  am  a 
Marylander ;  I  love  my  State,  and  I  love  the  Union ;  but  I  will  suffer  my 
riijht  arm  to  be  torn  from  my  body  before  I  will  raise  it  to  strike  a  sister 
State."3 

The  meeting  adjourned,  but  the  populace  were  not  quiet.  They  paraded 
the  streets,  uttering  threats  of  violence  to  Union  citizens,  who. were  awed 
into  silence,  and  driven  into  the  obscurity  of  their  homes.  About  five  hun 
dred  men,  headed  by  two  drums,  went  to  the  President  Street  Station  to 
•seize  arms  supposed  to  be  there.  They  found  none.  Disappointed,  they 
marched  to  Barnum's  Hotel,  and  called  for  Ex-Governor  Louis  E.  Lowe,  who 
made  a  speech  to  them  under  a  Maryland  flag,  from  a  balcony,  in  which  he 

1  Kilos  of  the  Baltimore  journals  from  the  '20th  to  the  23d  of  April.     Let  tor  of  Captain  Follansboe  to  the 
Loirell  Courier.     Colonel  Jones's  official  report  to  General  Butler.     Verbal  statements  to  the  author  by  citizens 
of  Baltimore. 

2  Gent-nil  Stewart's  abandoned  mansion  and  beautiful  p-ounds  around  it,  at  the  head  of  Baltimore  Street 
were  taken  possession  of  by  the  Government,  and  there  the  Jnrrix   Hospital,  one  of  the  most  perfect  of  its 
kind,  was  established  for  the  use  of  disabled  soldiers  during  the  war.     It  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  situa 
tions  in  or  near  Baltimore.     It  was  on  an  eminence  that  overlooked  a  larpe  portion  of  the  city,  the  Patapsco,  th» 
harbor,  and  the  land  and  water  out  to  Chesapeake  Bay.     The  mansion  was  built  by  the  father  of  Bruntz  Mayer, 
a  leadinjr  citizen  of  Baltimore. 

»  Baltimore  Clipper,  April  20,  1861. 


416 


ATTITUDE   OF   THE   PUBLIC   AUTHORITIES. 


assured  them  that  they  should  have  ample  assistance  from  his  county 
(Frederick),  when  they  marched  off,  shouting  for  "Jeff.  Davis  and  a  Southern 
Confederacy,"  and  saluted  the  Maryland  flag  that  was  waving  from  the 
head-quarters  of  the  conspirators  on  Fayette  Street.1  On  the  same  evening, 
Marshal  Kane  received  an  offer  of  troops  from  Bradley  Johnson,  of  Fred 
erick,  who  was  afterward  a  brigadier  in  the  Confederate  Army..  Kane  tele 
graphed  back,  saying  : — "  Thank  you  for  your  offer.  Bring  your  men  by  the 
first  train,  and  we  will  arrange  with  the  railroad  afterward.  Streets  red 
with  Maryland  blood  !  Send  expresses  over  the  mountains  and  valleys  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia  for  the  riflemen  to  come  without  delay.  Further 
hordes  [meaning  loyal  volunteers]  will  be  down  upon  us  to-morrow.  We 
will  fight  them  and  whip  them,  or  die."  Early  the  next  morning  Johnson 
posted  handbills  in  Frederick,2  calling  upon  the  secessionists  to  rally  to  his 
standard.  Many  came,  and  with  them  he  hastened  to  Baltimore," 
"  AiS6i2°'  an(^  ma^e  hi§  head-quarters  in  the  house  No.  34  Holliday  Street, 

opposite  Kane's  office  in  the  old  City  Hall. 

Governor  Hicks  passed  the  night  of  the  19th  at  the  house  of  Mayor 
Brown.  At  eleven  o'clock  the  Mayor,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Gover 
nor,  sent  a  committee,  consisting  of  Lenox  Bond, 
George  W.  Dobbin,  and  John  C.  Brune,  to  President 
Lincoln,  with  a  letter,  in  which  he  assured  the  chief 
magistrate  that  the  people  of 'Baltimore  were  "exas 
perated  to  the  highest  degree  by  the  passage  of 
troops,"  and  that  the  citizens  were  "  universally  de 
cided  in  the  opinion  that  no  more  should  be  ordered 
to  come."  But  for  the  exertions  of  the  authorities,  he 
said,  a  fearful  slaughter  would  have  occurred  that 
day  ;  and  he  conceived  it  to  be  his  solemn  duty,  under 
the  circumstances,  to  inform  the  President  that  it  was 
"  not  possible  for  more  soldiers  to  pass  through  Balti 
more,  unless  they  fight  their  way  at  every  step." 
He  concluded  by  requesting  the  President  not  to  order 
or  permit  any  more  troops  to  pass  through  the  city. 
"  If  they  should  attempt  it,"  he  said,  "  the  responsi 
bility  for  the  bloodshed  will  not  rest  upon  me." 

Having  performed  this  duty,  the  Governor  and  the  Mayor  went  to  bed. 
Their  slumbers  were  soon  broken  by  Marshal  Kane  and  Ex-Governor  Lowe, 
who  came  at  midnight  for  authority  to  commit  further  outrages  upon  the 


JOHNSON'S  HEAD-QUARTERS. 


1  Baltimore  Clipper,  April  20,  1861.     On  that  day  Mr.  Wales,  the  editor  of  the  Clipper,  spoke  out  boldly 
and  ably  in  denunciation  of  the  disloyal  movements.     Under  the  title  of  The  Madnexti  of  the  Hour,  he  said: — 
"Secession  is  political  madness.     It  is  an  attempt  to  save  a  house  by  setting  it  on  fire,  and  trying  to  tear  out 
what  can  be  gathered  from  the  devouring  element.     The  frenzy  of  secessionists  with  us  is  an  unanswerable 
evidence  of  it." 

2  The  following  is  a  copy  of  Johnson's  handbill : — 

"MARYLANDEPwS,    AROUSE! 

"  FREDERICK,  Saturday,  7  A.  M. 

"At  twelve  o'clock  last  night  I  received  the  following  dispatch  from  Marshal  Kane,  of  Baltimore,  by  tele* 
graph  to  the  Junction  and  expressed  to  Frederick.  [Here  follows  Kane's  dispatch  given  in  the  text.]  All  men 
who  will  go  with  me  will  report  themselves  as  soon  as  possible,  with  such  arms  and  accouterments  as  they 
can.  Double-barreled  shot-guns  and  buck-shot  are  efficient.  They  will  assemble,  after  reporting  themselves, 
at  half- past  ten  o'clock,  so  as  to  go  down  in  the  half-past  cloven  train." 


DESTRUCTION   OF   BRIDGES    AUTHORIZED.  417 

Government  and  private  property,  which  had  been  planned  by  the  conspira 
tors  some  days  before,  and  "had  been  proclaimed  in  other  parts  of  the 
State."1  Kane  said  that  he  had  received  information  by  telegraph  that  other 
troops  were  on  their  way  to  Baltimore  by  the  railways  from  Harrisburg  and 
Philadelphia,  and  proposed  the  immediate  destruction  of  bridges  on  these 
roads,  to  prevent  the  passage  of  cars.  The  Mayor  approved  the  plan,  but 
said  his  jurisdiction  was  limited  to  the  corporate  boundaries  of  the  city. 
The  Governor  had  the  power  to  order  the  destruction  ;  and  to  his  chamber 
the  three  (with  a  brother  of  the  Mayor)  repaired,  Mr.  Hicks  being  too  ill  to 
rise.  They  soon  came  out  of  that  chamber  with  the  Governor's  acquiescence 
in  their  plans,  they  said  ;  but  which  he  afterward  explicitly  denied  in  a  com 
munication  to  the  Maryland  Senate,  and  later*  in  an  address  to 
the  people  of  Maryland.  Their  own  testimony  shows  that  his  aMay11« 
consent  was  reluctantly  given,  if  given  at  all,  in  the  words : — "  I 
suppose  it  must  be  done  ;"  and  then  only,  according  to  common  rumor  and 
common  belief,  after  arguments  such  as  South  Carolina  vigilance  committees 
generally  used  had  been  applied.2  With  this  alleged  authority,  Kane  and 
Lowe,  accompanied  by  Mayor  Brown  and  his  brother,  hastened  to  the  office 
of  Charles  Howard,  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Police,  who  was  waiting 
for  them,  when  that  officer  and  the  Mayor  issued  orders  for  the  destruction 
of  the  bridges.3  The  work  was  soon  accomplished.  A  gang  of  lawless  men 
hastened  out  to  the  Canton  bridge,  two  or  three  miles  from  the  city,  on  the 


DESTRUCTION    OF    THE    BRIDGE   OVER    GUNPOWDER    CREEK.4 

Philadelphia,  Wilmington,  and  Baltimore  Railway,  and  destroyed  it.  As 
the  train  from  the  North  approached  the  station,  it  was  stopped  by  the  inter 
ference  of  a  pistol  fire<J  at  the  engineer.  The  passengers  were  at  once  turned 
out  of  the  cars,  and  these  were  filled  by  the  mob,  who  compelled  the  engineer 
to  run  his  train  Jback  to  the  long  bridges  over  the  Gunpowder  and  Bush 
Creeks,  arms  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  These  bridges  were  fired,  and  large 

1  See  Addreit*  to  the  People  of  Maryland.  May  11, 1661,  by  Governor  Hicks.  a  The  same. 

3  Communication  from  the  Mayor  of  Baltimore  with  the  Mayor  and  Board  of  Police-  of  Baltimore 
Oily:  Document  G,  Maryland  House  of  Delegates,  May  10,  1S61. 

4  This  is  from  a  sketch  of  the  bridtre  made  by  the  author  in  November,  1861,  from  the  Baltimore  side  of 
Gunpowder  Creek.     The  picture  of  conflagration  has  been  added  to  show  the  relative  position  of  the  portion  of 
the  bridge  that  was  burnt  at  that  time. 

VOL.  1—27' 


418  COMMUNICATION   WITH    THE    CAPITAL   CUT    OFF. 

portions  of  them  were  speedily  consumed.  Another  party  went  up  the  North 
ern  Central  Railway  to  Cockeysville,  about  fifteen  miles  north  of  Baltimore, 
and  destroyed  the  two  wooden  bridges  there,  and  other  smaller  structures 
on  the  road.  In  the  mean  time  the  telegraph  wires  had  been  cut  on  all  the 
lines  leading  out  of  Baltimore,  excepting  the  one  that  kept  the  conspirators 
in  communication  with  Richmond  by  the  way  of  Harper's  Ferry.  Thus,  all 
communication  by  railway  or  telegraph  between  the  seat  of  government  and 
the  loyal  States  of  the  Union  was  absolutely  cut  off,  or  in  the  hands  of  the 
insurgents.1 

The  Committee  sent  to  the  President  by  Governor  Hicks  and  Mayor 
Brown  had  an  interview  with  him  at  an  early  hour  on  the  morning  of  the 
20th.  The  President  and  General  Scott  had  already  been  in  consultation  on 
the  subject  of  the  passage  of  troops  through  Baltimore,  and  the  latter  had 
hastily  said :  "  Bring  them  around  ttie  city."  Acting  upon  this  hint,  the 
President  assured  the  Committee  that  no  more  troops  should  be  called 
through  Baltimore,  if  they  could  pass  around  it  without  opposition  or  moles 
tation.  This  assurance  was  telegraphed  by  the  Committee  to  the  Mayor,  but 
it  did  not  satisfy  the  conspirators.  They  had  determined  that  no  more  troops 
from  the  North  should  pass  through  Maryland,  and  so  they  would  be  excluded 
from  the  Capital.  Military  preparations  went  actively  on  in  Baltimore  to 
carry  out  this  determination,  and  every  hour  the  isolation  of  the  Capital 
from  the  loyal  men  of  the  country  was  becoming  more  and  more  complete. 

The  excitement  in  Washington  was  fearful ;  and  at  three  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  21st  (Sunday)  the  President  sent  for  Governor  Hicks  and 
Mayor  Brown.  The  former  was  not  in  the  city.  The  latter,  with  Messrs. 
Dobbin  and  Brune,  and  S.  T.  Wallis,  hastened  to  Washington,  where  they 
arrived  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  At  that  interview  General  Scott  pro- 


1  For  a  few  clays  succeeding  the  riot,  no  person  was  allowed  to  leave  Baltimore  for  the  North  without  a  pass 
from  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Police,  approved  by  the  Mayor;*  and  these  permissions  were  sparingly  issued. 
Neither  were  the  mails  allowed  to  go  North,  for  it  \v:is  desirable  to  keep  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States 
Ignorant  of  affairs  at  Washington  until  the  seizure  of  the  Capital,  by  the  insurgents,  should  be  accomplished. 

The  first  mail-bag  that  passed  through  Baltimore  after  the  riot  there,  was 
carried  by  James  D.  Gay,  a  member  of  the  Einggold  Artillery  from 
Reading,  already  mentioned.  He  left  Washington  for  home  on  the  even 
ing  of  the  19th  of  April,  with  a  carpet-bag  full  of  letters  from  members 
of  his  company  to  their  friends.  He  was  in  Baltimore  during  the  fearful 
night  of  the  19th.  when  the  railway  bridges  were  burned :  and.  after 
escaping  many  personal  perils,  he  managed  to  reach  Cockeysville.  in  a 
carriage  with  some  others,  on  the  20th.  where,  north  of  the  burnt 
bridges,  he  took  the  cars  for  home  on  the  Northern  Central  Eailway. 
He  reached  York  that  night,  and  Reading  the  next  day.  where  the  con 
tents  of  his  bag  were  soon  distributed.  These  letters,  some  of  which 
THE  PRIVATE  MAIL-BAG.  were  addressed  to  editors  and  were  published,  gave  the  first  authentic 

intelligence  to  the  loyal  people  of  the  state  of  affairs  at  the  Capital,  and 

in  a  degree  quieted  the  apprehensions  for  its  safety.     That  private  mail-bag,  which,  for  the  time,  took  the  place 
of  the  United  States  mail,  was  afterwards  placed  among  the  curiosities  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 

*  The  following  is  a  copy  of  one  of  the  passes,  now  before  me  :— 

"OFFicfe  OF  BOARD  OF  POLICE,  I 
BALTIMORE.  April  22,  1S61.      j 

"Messrs.  Edward  Childe  and  P.  H.  Birkhead  being  about  to  proceed  to  the  North  upon  their  private  business,  and  having  Mrs.  Stein- 
brenner  under  their  charge,  we  desire  that  they  be  allowed  by  all  persons-  to  pass  without  molestation  by  the  way  of  Port  Deposit,  or  Yorh, 
Pennsylvania,  or  otherwise,  as  they  ni^y  Gee  fit. 

"  By  order  of  the  Board  :  CHARLKS  HOWARD,  PrtJt. 

The  Mayor  of  the  City  concurs  in  the  above.  GEORGE  HUNT  BROWK. 

"  By  his  private  Secretary,  HOBKUT  D.  BROWN. 

"Mr.  F.  Meredith  Dryden  will  accompany  the  party. 

"CHARLES  HOWARD.  President   lioa'd  oj  Polit€." 


DEGRADING   PROPOSITIONS   TO   THE   GOVERNMENT.          419 

posed  to  bring  troops  by  water  to  Annapolis,  and  march  them  from  there, 
across  Maryland,  to  the  Capital,  a  distance  of  about  forty  miles.  The  Mayor 
and  his  friends  were  not  satisfied.  The  soil  of  Maryland  must  not  be  polluted 
a?iyw/terc  with  the  tread  of  Xorthem  troops ;  in  other  words,  they  must  be 
kept  from  the  seat  of  government,  that  the  traitors  might  more  easily  seize 
it.  They  urged  upon  the  President,  "  in  the  most  earnest  manner,  a  course 
of  policy  which  would  give  peace  to  the  country,  and  especially  the  with 
drawal  of  all  orders  contemplating  the  passage  of  troops  through  any  part 
of  Mary  land."1 

When  the  Mayor  and  his  friends  reached  the  cars  to  return,  they  were 
met  by  an  electrograph  from  Mr.  Garrett,  President  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railway,  informing  them  that  a  large  number  of  troops  were  at  Cock- 
eysville,  on  their  way  to  Baltimore.  They  immediately  returned  to  the 
President,  who  summoned  General  Scott  and  some  of  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet  to  a  conference.  The  President  was  anxious  to  preserve  the  peace, 
and  show  that  he  had  acted  in  good  faith  in  calling  the  Mayor  to  Washing 
ton  ;  and  he  expressed  a  strong  desire  that  the  troops  at  Cockeysville  should 
be  sent  back  to  York  or  Harrisburg.  "General  Scott,''  said  the  Mayor  in 
his  report,  "  adopted  the  President's  views  warmly,  and  an  order  was  accord 
ingly  prepared  by  the  Lieutenant-General  to  that  effect,  and  forwarded  by 
Major  Belger  of  the  Army,"  who  accompanied  the  Mayor  to  Baltimore. 

Even  this  humiliation  of  the  Government  did  not  appease  the  conspirators 
and  their  friends,  and  they  so  far  worked  viciously  upon  the  courage  and 
firmness  of  Governor  Ilicks,  that  he  was  induced  to  send  a  message  to  the 
President  on  the  22<1,  advising  him  not  to  order  any  more  troops  to  pass 
through  Maryland,  and  to  send  elsewhere  some  which  had  already  arrived  at 
Annapolis.  lie  urged  him  to  offer  a  truce  to  the  insurgents  to  prevent 
further  bloodshedding,  and  said  :  "  I  respectfully  suggest  that  Lord  Lyons 
[the  British  Minister]  be  requested  to  act  as  mediator  between  the  contending 
parties  of  our  country."  To  these  degrading  propositions  Secretary  Seward 
replied,  in  behalf  of  the  President,  in  which  he  expressed  the  deepest  regret 
because  of  the  public  disturbances,  and  assured  the  Governor  that  the  troops 
sought  to  be  brought  through  Maryland  were  "  intended  for  nothing  but  the 
defense  of  the  Capital."  lie  reminded  his  Excellency  that  the  route  chosen 
by  the  General-in-chief  for  the  march  of  troops  absolutely  needed  at  the 
Capital,  was  farthest  removed  from  the  populous  cities  of  the  State ;  and 
then  he  administered  the  following  mildly  drawn  but  stinging  rebuke  to  the 
chief  magistrate  of  a  State  professing  to  hold  allegiance  to  the  Union,  who 
had  so  far  forgotten  his  duty  and  the  dignity  of  his  Commonwealth  as  to 
make  such  suggestions  as  Governor  Ilicks  had  done.  "The  President  can 
not  but  remember,"  he  said,  "  that  there  has  been  a  time  in  the  history  of 
our  country  [1814]  when  a  General  [Winder]  of  the  American  Union,  with 
forces  designed  for  the  defense  of  its  Capital,  was  not  unwelcome  anywhere 
in  the  State  of  Maryland,  and  certainly  not  at  Annapolis,  then,  as  now,  the 
capital  of  that  patriotic  State,  and  then,  also,  one  of  the  capitals  of  the  Union. 
If  eighty  years  could  have  obliterated  all  the  other  noble  sentiments  of  that 
age  in  Maryland,  the  President  would  be  hopeful,  nevertheless,  that  there  is 


Mayor  Brown's  report  of  the  interview. 


420  THE   PRESIDENT,  AND   BALTIMORE  EMBASSIES. 

one  that  would  ever  remain  there  as  everywhere.  That  sentiment  is,  that  no 
domestic  contention  whatever,  that  may  arise  among  the  parties  of  this  Re 
public,  ought  in  any  case  to  be  referred  to  any  foreign  arbitrament,  least  of 
all  to  the  arbitrament  of  a  European  monarchy."1 

Still  another  embassy,  in  the  interest  of  the  secessionists  of  Baltimore, 
waited  upon  the  President.  These  were  delegates  from  five  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations  of  that  city,  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Fuller,  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  at  their  head.'  The  President  received  them  cordially,  and 
treated  them  kindly.  He  met  their  propositions  and  their  sophisms  with 
Socratic  reasoning.  When  Dr.  Fuller  assured  him  that  he  could  produce 
peace  if  he  would  let  the  country  know  that  he  was  "  disposed  to  recognize 
the  independence  of  the  Southern  States — recognize  the  fact  that  they  have 
formed  a  government  of  their  own;  and  that  they  will  never  again  be  united 
with  the  North,"  the  President  asked,  significantly,  "  And  what  is  to  become 
of  the  revenue  ?"  When  the  Doctor  expressed  a  hope  that  no  more  troops 
would  be  allowed  to  cross  Maryland,  and  spoke  of  the  patriotic  action  of  its 
inhabitants  in  the  past,  the  President  simply  replied,  substantially,  "  I  must 
have  troops  for  the  defense  of  the  Capital.  The  Carolinians  are  now  march 
ing  across  Virginia  to  seize  the  Capital  and  hang  me.  What  am  I  to  do  ? 
I  must  have  troops,  I  say ;  and  as  they  can  neither  crawl  under  Maryland, 
nor  fly  over  it,  they  must  come  across  it."  With  these  answers  the  delega 
tion  returned  to  Baltimore.  The  Government  virtually  declared  that  it 
should  take  proper  measures  for  the  preservation  of  the  Republic  without 
asking  the  consent  of  the  authorities  or  inhabitants  of  any  State ;  and  the 
loyal  people  said  Amen !  Neither  Governor  Hicks,  nor  the  Mayor  of  Balti 
more,  nor  the  clergy  nor  laity  of  the  churches  there,  ever  afterward  troubled 
the  President  with  advice  so  evidently  emanating  from  the .  implacable 
enemies  of  the  Union. 

The  National  Capital  and  the  National  Government  were  in  great  peril, 
as  we  have  observed,  at  this  critical  juncture.  The  regular  Army,  weak  in 
numbers  before  the  insurrection,  was  now  utterly  inadequate  to  perform  its 
duties  as  the  right  arm  of  the  nation's  power.  Twiggs's  treason  in  Texas 
had  greatly  diminished  its  available  force,  and  large  numbers  of  its  officers, 
especially  of  those  born  in  Slave-labor  States,  were  resigning  their  commis 
sions,  abandoning  their  flag,  and  joining  the  enemies  of  their  country.2 

Among  those  who  resigned  at  this  time  was  Colonel  Robert  Edmund  Lee, 
of  Virginia,  an  accomplished  engineer  officer,  and  one  of  the  most  trusted  and 
beloved  by  the  venerable  General-in-chief.  His  patriotism  had  become  weak 
ened  by  the  heresy  of  State  Supremacy,  and  he  seems  to  have  been  easily 


1  Letter  of  Secretary  Seward  to  Governor  Hicks,  April  22,  1861. 

3  Notwithstanding  a  greater  number  of  those  who  abandoned  their  flag  and  joined  the  insurgents  at  that 
time  were  from  the  Slave-labor  States,  a  large  number  of  officers  from  those  States  remained  faithful.  From  a 
carefully  prepared  statement  made  by  Edward  C.  Marshall,  author  of  The  ffixtory  of  the,  Naval  Academy,  it 
appears  that  in  I860,  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  there  were  seven  hundred  and  forty-seven  graduates 
of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  to  which  might  be  added  seventy-three  who  graduated  in 
June,  1S61,  making  a  total  of  eight  hundred  and  twenty.  These  were  all  officers.  At  the  close  of  1S61,  the 
number  of  graduates  who  had  resigned  or  had  been  dismissed  within  the  year  was  only  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven,  leaving  six  hundred  and  seventeen  graduates  who  remained  loyal.  The  number  of  graduates  from  the 
Slave-labor  States  was  three  hundred  and  eleven,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  remained  loyal.  The 
remainder  were  disloyal.  To  these  add  nineteen  who  were  born  in  Free-labor  States,  and  we  have  the  total  of 
only  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven,  of  the  eight  hundred  and  twenty  graduates,  who  were  unfaithful. 


RESIGNATION   OF   COLONEL   LEE.  421 

seduced  from  bis  allegiance  to  his  flag  by  the  dazzling  offers  of  the  Virginia 
conspirators.  So  early  as  the  14th  of  April,  he  was  informed  by  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Virginia  Convention  that  that  body  would,  on  the  nomination  of 
Governor  Letcher,  appoint  him  commander  of  all  the  military  and  naval 
forces  of  the  Commonwealth.1  When,  on  the  17th,  the  usurpers,  through 
violence  arid  fraud,  passed  an  ordinance  of  secession,  he  said,  in  the  common 
phrase  of  the  men  of  easy  political  virtue,  "  I  must  go  with  my  State ;" 
and,  on  the  20th,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  General  Scott,  from  his  beautiful 
seat  of  "Arlington  House,"  on  Arlington  Ilights,  opposite  Washington  and 


ARLINGTON    IIOVSK   IN   1SC0.8 

Georgetown,  he  proffered  the  resignation  of  his  commission  in  terms  of  well- 
feigned  reluctance.3  He  then  hastened  to  Richmond,  and  offered  his 
services  to  the  enemies  of  his  country.  He  was  received  by  the 
Convention"  with  profound  respect,  for  he  was  the  representative 
of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  families  of  the  State,  and  brought  to  the 
conspirators  an  intimate  knowledge  of  General  Scott's  plans,  and  the  details 
of  the  forces  of  the  National  Government,  with  which  he  had  been  fully 
intrusted.  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Lieutenant  Maury  of  the  National 


1  Richmond  Correspondence  of  the  Charleston  Mercury. 

a  This  view  of  Arlington  House,  the  seat  of  the  lute  Georpe  Washington  Parke  Oustis,  the  adopted  son 
of  Washington,  and  father-in-law  of  Colonel  Lee,  was  drawn  by  the  author  in  1S60. 

•  The  following  is  a  copy  of  Colonel  Lee's  letter  to  General  Scott : — 

"  ARLINGTON  HOUSE,  April  20,  1S61. 

"GENERAL: — Since  my  interview  with  yon  on  the  ISth  inst.,  I  have  felt  that  I  ought  not  longer  to  retain 
my  commission  in  the  Army.  I  therefore  tender  my  resignation,  which  I  request  you  will  recommend  for 
acceptance.  It  would  have  been  presented  at  once,  but  for  the  stnifrirle  it  has  cost  me  to  separate  myself  from 
a  service  to  which  I  have  devoted  all  the  best  years  of  my  life  and  all  the  ability  I  possessed. 

"  During  the  whole  of  that  time — more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century — I  have  experienced  nothing  but  kind 
ness  from  my  superiors  and  the  most  cordial  friendship  from  my  comrades.  T°  n°  on<>-  General,  have  I  been 
so  much  indebted  as  to  yourself  for  uniform  kindness  and  consideration,  and  it  has  always  been  my  ardent 
desire  to  merit  your  approbation.  I  shall  carry  to  the  prave  the  most  grateful  recollections  of  your  kind  con 
sideration,  and  your  name  and  fame  will  always  be  dear  to  me. 

"Save  in  defense  of  mv  native  State,  I  never  desire  airain  to  draw  my  sword.  Be  pleased  to  accept  my 
most  earnest  wishes  for  the  continuance  of  vour  happiness  and  prosperity,  and  believe  me,  most  truly  yours, 

>•  It.  E.  'LF.E. 

"Lieutenant-General  WIMMF.LD  SCOTT,  Commanding  United  States  Army." 

At  that  time,  according  to  the  correspondent  of  the  Charleston  Mercury,  Lee  knew  that  he  was  to  be  the 
General -in  chief  of  the  Virginia  forces,  -and  had  necessarily  resolved  to  draw  his  sword  not  only  in  defense  of 
his  native  State,  but  against  the  National  Government,  whenever  the  conspirators  should  order  him  to  do  so. 


422  LEE'S   INDUCEMENTS   TO   BE   LOYAL. 

Observatory,1  Governor  Letcher,  and  others  who  were  present,  joined  in 
the  reception  of  Lee,  standing.  He  was  then  greeted  by  the  President,  who 
made  a  brief  speech,  in  which  he  announced  to  the  Colonel  that  the  Conven 
tion  had,  on  that  day,  on  the  nomination  of  Governor  Letcher,  appointed 
him  General-in-chief  of  the  Commonwealth ;  to  which  the  recipient  replied 
in  a  few  words,  accepting  the  so-called  honor.2  In  time,  Lee  became  the 
General-in-chief  of  all  the  armies  in  rebellion  against  his  Government,  at 
whose  expense  he  had  been  educated,  and  whose  bread  he  had  eaten  for 
more  than  thirty  years.3 

No  man  had  stronger  inducements  to  be  a  loyal  citizen  than  Robert  E. 
Lee.  His  ties  of  consanguinity  and  association  with  the  founders  of  the 
Republic,  and  the  common  gratitude  of  a  child  toward  a  generous  and 
loving  foster-parent,  should  have  made  him  hate  treason  in  its  most  seductive 
forms,  instead  of  embracing  it  in  its  most  hideous  aspect.  He  was  a  grand 
son  of  the  "Lowland  Beauty,"  spoken  of  by  the  biographer  as  the  object  of 
Washington's  first  love.  He  was  a  son  of  glorious  <l  Legion  Harry  Lee," 
who  used  his  sword  gallantly  in  the  old  war  for  independence  and  the  rights 
of  man,  in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  especially  in  the 
Southern  States,  and  who  was  the  leader  of  an  army  to  crush  an  insurrec 
tion.4  He  was  intimately  associated  with  the  Washington  family,  having 
married  the  daughter  of  an  adopted  son  of  the  Father  of  his  Country 
(George  Washington  Parke  Custis) ;  and  his  residence,  "  Arlington  House," 
was  filled  with  furniture,  and  plate,  and  china,  and  pictures,  from  Mount 
Yernon,  the  consecrated  home  of  the  patriot.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
desirable  residences  in  the  country.  Around  it  spread  out  two  hundred 
acres  of  lawn,  and  forest,  and  garden ;  and  before  it  flowed  the  Potomac,  be 
yond  which,  like  a  panorama,  lay  the  cities  of  Washington  and  Georgetown. 

A  charming  family  made  this  home  an  earthly  paradise.  The  writer  had 
been  a  frequent  guest  there  while  the  founder  of  Arlington  House  (Mr. 
Custis)  was  yet  alive.  He  was  there  just  before  the  serpent  of  secession 
beguiled  the  later  master.  It  was  his  ideal  of  a  home  that  should  make  the 
possessor  grateful  for  the  blessings,  political  and  social,  that  flow  from  our 
beneficent  Government,  under  which  all  rights  are  fully  secured  to  every  citi 
zen.  War  came  and  wrought  great  changes  in  the  relations  of  men  and 
things.  The  writer  visited  Arlington  House  again  with  two  traveling  com 
panions  (F.  J.  Dreer  and  Edwin  Greble,  of  Philadelphia),  not  as  a  guest,  but 
as  an  observer  of  events  that  sadden  his  heart  while  he  makes  the  record. 
It  was  just  before  sunset  on  a  beautiful  day  in  early  May,  1865,  when  the 
possessor  of  Arlington5  had  been  engaged  for  four  years  in  endeavors  to 

1  See  note  3,  page  394. 

2  Richmond  Enquirer,  April  24,  1861. 

3  lie  was  graduated  at  West  Point  Military  Academy  in  June,  1825. 
*  The  "  Whisky  Insurrection  "  in  Western  Pennsylvania. 

6  The  Arlington  estate  was  not  the  actual  property  of  Colonel  Lee.  The  late  Mr.  Custis,  by  his  Will,  left  it 
to  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Lee,  during  her  life,  when  it  was  to  become  the  property  of  her  eldest  son,  who  also  became 
a  general  in  the  army  in  rebellion  against  his  Government.  The  property,  therefore,,  was  not  liable  to  confisca 
tion.  It  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Government  when  it  was  sold  to  liquidate  a  claim  for  unpaid  taxes. 
The  grounds  near  the  mansion  were  dedicated  by  the  Government  as  the  resting-place  of  the  remains  of  sol 
diers,  a  few  of  whom  belonged  to  the  Confederate  Army.  Among  them  were  the  remains  of  a  large  number  of 
colored  soldiers.  The  whole  number  of  graves  at  that  time  was  a  little  more  than  seven  thousand. 

On  another  part  of  the  estate  was  afreedman's  village,  containing  about  one  hundred  neat  dwellings,  a  church, 
and  a  school-house.  There  were  residing  the  families  of  freedmen  who  were  mostly  employed  on  the  Government 


ARLINGTON   HOUSE   AND  ITS   SURROUNDINGS.  423 

destroy  his  Government,  and  to  build  upon  its  ruins  a  hideous  empire  founded 
upon  human  slavery.  How  altered  the  aspect !  The  mighty  oaks  of  the  fine 
old  forest  in  the  rear  of  the  mansion  had  disappeared,  and  strewn  thickly 
over  the  gently  undulating  ground,  and  shaded  by  a  few  of  the  smaller  trees 
that  the  ax  had  spared,  were  the  green  graves  of  seven  thousand  of  our  coun 
trymen — many  of  them  of  the  flower  of  the  youth  of  the  Republic — who  had 
died  on  the  battle-field,  in  the  camp,  or  in  the  hospital.  It  was  a  vast  ceme 
tery,  belonging  to  the  National  Government,  having  long  graveled  lanes  among 
the  graves.  Even  in  the  garden,  and  along  the  crown  of  the  green  slope  in 
front  of  the  mansion,  were  seen  little  hillocks,  covering  the  remains  of  officers. 
In  the  midst  of  this  garner  of  the  ghastly  fruits  of  the  treason  of  Lee  and  his 
associates — fruits  that  had  been  literally  laid  at  his  door — were  the  beautiful 
white  marble  monuments  erected  to  the  memory  of  the  venerable  Custis  and 
his  life-companion — the  founders  of  "  Arlington  House  "  and  the  parents  of 
Lee's  wife.  On  that  of  the  former  we  read  the  sweet  words  of  Jesus,  "Blessed 
are  the  merciful,  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy"  Then  we  thought  of  Belle 
Island,  in  the  James  River,  which  we  had  just  visited,  and  of  the  hundreds  of 
our  starved  countrymen  held  there  as  prisoners  in  the  blistering  summer's  sun 
and  the  freezing  winter's  storm,  into  whose  piteous  faces,  where  every  linea 
ment  was  a  tale  of  unutterable  suffering  vainly  pleading  in  mute  eloquence 
for  mercy,  Robert  E.  Lee  might  have  looked  any  hour  of  the  day  with  his 
field-glass  from  the  rear  gallery  of  his  elegant  brick  mansion  on  Franklin 
Street,  in  Richmond.  It  seemed  almost  as  if  there  was  a  voice  in  the  air, 
saying,  "  Vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay."1 

While  army  and  navy  officers  were  abandoning  their  flag,  it  was  painfully 
evident  to  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  that  Washington  City  was  full  of 
resident  traitors,  who  were  ready  to  assist  in  its  seizure.  Many  of  the  Dis 
trict  militia,  who  had  been  enrolled  for  the  defense  of  the  Government,  were 
known  to  be  disloyal;5  and  when,  on  the  18th  of  April,  word  came  to  some 
guests — true  men — at  Willurd's  Hotel,  that  a  large  body  of  Virginians  were 
to  seize  Harper's  Ferry  and  its  munitions  of  war,  and  the  rolling  stock  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway,  that  evening,  and,  during  the  night,  make  a 
descent  upon  the  Capital,  while  secessionists  in  Washington  were  to  rise  in 
rebellion,  set  fire  to  barns  and  other  combustible  buildings,  and,  in  the  confu 
sion  and  terror  that  conflagration  would  produce,  join  the  invaders,  and 
make  the  seizure  of  the  President  and  his  Cabinet,  the  archives  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  ami  public  buildings  an  easy  task,  it  seemed  as  if  the  prophecy  of 
Walker,  at  Montgomery,3  was  about  to  be  fulfilled.  It  was  one  of  those 


farms  in  the  neighborhood.  A  greater  portion  of  the  one  thousand  acres  of  the  Arlington  estate  was  then  under 
excellent  cultivation  as  »uch  farms.  The  village  originated  in  an  order  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  direct 
ing  the  then  commandant  at  Arlington  to  supply  the  aged  negroes  on  the  estate  with  subsistence.  Mr. 
Custis,  in  his  Will,  directed  that  his  slaves  should  all  t>e  set  free  five  years  after  his  decease,  which  occurred  in 
October,  1ST)".  It  is  said  that  when  Colonel  Lee  abandoned  his  home  and  his  flag  to  make  war  on  his  Govern 
ment,  he  took  with  him  all  the  slaves  excepting  the  aged  and  infirm.  The  writer  saw  some  of  the  latter  whom 
he  had  known  when  Mr.  Custis  was  master  of  Arlington  House.  Among  these  was  Ephraim,  the  butler  ; 
Daniel,  the  coachman  ;  and  "Aunt  Eleanor,"  who  was  the  nurse  of  Mrs.  Lee  in  her  infancy.  These  were  all  over 
seventy  years  of  age,  and  were  well  cared  for  by  their  true  friends,  the  otlicers  of  the  Government. 

•  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Homans,  xii.  19. 

a  The  regular  Army  oath  was  administered  to  these  troops  by  Adjutant-General  Thomas,  when  many 
refused  to  take  it.  and  were  dismissed.  Some  of  these,  then  ready  to  betray  the  Government  into  tho  hands  of 
its  enemies,  at'trrward  joined  the  ranks  of  tho  insurgents. 

*  See  page  889. 


CASSIUS    M.    CLAY. 


424  PREPARATIONS   TO   DEFEND  THE   CAPITAL. 

moments  upon  which  have  hung  the  fate  of  empires.  .Happily,  the  men  at 
WillarcTs  at  that  time,  to  whom  the  startling  message  came,  comprehended 
the  magnitude  of  the  danger  and  had  nerve  to  meet  it.  They  assembled  in 
secret  all  the  loyal  guests  in  that  house,  and,  forming  them  into  committees, 
sent  them  to  the  other  hotels  to  seek  out  guests  there  who  were  known  to  be 
true,  and  invite  them  to  a  meeting  in  a  church  on  F  Street,  in  the  rear  of 
Willard's,1  that  evening.  A  large  number  assembled  at  the  appointed  hour. 
They  took  a  solemn  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  old  flag,  and  signed  a  pledge  to  do 

every  thing  in  their  power  in  defense  of 
the  Capital,  and  to  be  ready  for  action 
at  a  moment's  warning,  when  called  by 
General  Scott.  Cassius  M.  Clay,  the 
distinguished  Kentuckian,  was  among 
them.  He  was  appointed  their  leader, 
and  thus  was  formed  the  notable  CAS 
SIUS  M.  CLAY  BATTALIOX,  composed  of 
some  of  the  noblest  and  most  distin 
guished  men  in  the  country,  in  honor, 
wealth,  and  social  position.  They  chose 
efficient  officers ;  and  all  that  night  they 
patroled  the  streets  of  the  city  to  guard 
against  incendiaries,  and  prevent  the 
assembling  of  the  secessionists.  Another 
party,  commanded  by  General  Lane,  of 

Kansas,  went  quietly  to  the  "  White  House  " — the  Presidential  mansion — to 
act  as  a  body-guard  to  his  Excellency.  They  made  the  great  East  Room 
their  quarters,  where  they  remained  until  the  danger  was  passed.  The  prin 
cipal  passages  of  the  Treasury  building  were  guarded  by  howitzers.  The 
Pennsylvanians,  as  we  have  observed,  occupied  the  Halls  of  Congress,  in  the 
Capitol ;  and  General  Scott  took  measures  to  make  that  building  a  well 
garrisoned  citadel.  Thither  stores  and  munitions  of  war  were  carried,  and  in 
it  howitzers  were  planted ;  and  behind  the  massive  walls  of  that  magnificent 
structure,  with  a  few  hundred  men  as  defenders,  the  President  and  his  Cabi 
net  and  the  archives  of  the  nation  would  have  been  safe  until  the  thousands 
of  the  men  of  the  loyal  North,  then  aroused  and  moving,  could  reach  and 
rescue  them. 

Although  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  were  not  actually  compelled  to 
take  refuge  in  the  well-guarded  Capitol,  yet  for  several  days  after  the  affair 
in  Baltimore,  and  the  interruption  of  communication  with  the  Free-labor 
States,  they  and  the  General-in-chief  were  virtually  prisoners  at  the  seat  of 
Government.  Soldiers  from  the  Gulf  States  and  others  below  the  Roanoke, 
with  those  of  Virginia,  were  pressing  eagerly  toward  the  Capital,  while  the 
Minute-men  of  Maryland  and  the  secessionists  of  Washington  were  barely 
restrained  from  action  by  the  Pennsylvanians  and  the  Cassius  M.  Clay  Bat 
talion,  until  the  speedy  arrival  of  other  troops  from  the  North  gave  abso 
lute  present  security  to  the  Government. 

1  This  church  had  lately  been  attached  to  Willard's  Hotel  for  the  purpose  of  a  concert  room,  and  was  th* 
hall  in  which  the  Peace  Convention  assembled  a  few  weeks  before.  See  page  236. 


THE   CAPITAL   IN    DANGER. 


425 


The  massacre  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore,"  and  the  dangers  that  threatened 
the    isolated    Capital,    produced   the   most   intense    anxiety  and 
excitement  throughout  the  Free-labor  States,  while  the  conspira-     " 
tors  and  insurgents    were  jubilant,  because   they  regarded   the 
stand  taken  by  the  secessionists  of  that  city  as  a  sure  promise  of  the  active 


TIIK    EAHT    KUOll.1 


and  effective  co-operation  of  all  Marylanders  in  the  work  of  seizing  the 
Capital.2  That  massacre  seemed  to  the  loyal  people  as  an  imperative  call  to 
patriotic  duty,  and  like  one  of  the  repetitions  of  history.  It  was  on  the  19th 
of  April,  1775,  that  the  blood  of  the  citizen  soldiery  of  Massachusetts,  the 


1  This  is  the  great  room  in  the  Presidential  mansion  in  which  the  attendants  upon  the  public  receptions  of 
the  President  are  assembled.  It  is  so  called,  because  it  is  in  the  extreme  eastern  portion  of  the  White  House. 
It  is  nn  elegantly  finished  and  furnished  room. 

'  "  The  glorious  conduct  of  Maryland."  said  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  "decides  the  contest  at  hand.  With 
a  generous  bravery,  worthy  of  her  ancient  renown,  she  has  thrown  herself  into  the  pathway  of  the  enemy,  and 
made  of  her  body  a  shield  "for  tho  South.  She  stands  forth  in  our  day  the  leader  of  the  Southern  cause.  .  .  .  Th« 
heart  of  all  Maryland  responds  to  the  action  of  Baltimore,  and  that  nursery  of  fine  regiments,  instead  of  being 
the  camping-ground  of  the  enemy,  preparing  to  rush  upon  the  South,  will  speedily  become  the  camping-ground 
of  the  South,  preparing  to  cros»  the  line  of  Mason  and  Dixon.  .  .  .  To  have  gained  Maryland  is  to  have  sained  a 
host  It  insures  Washington  City,  and  the  ignominious  expulsion  of  Lincoln  from  the  White  House.  It  trans 
fers  the  line  of  battlo  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Pennsylvania  border.  It  proclaims  to  the  North  that  the  South 
is  a  unit  against  them,  henceforth  and  forever.  It  gives  us  the  entire  waters  of  the  Chesapeake.  It  runs  up  th* 
Southern  seaboard  to  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware.  It  rounds  out  the  fairest  domain  on  the  globe  for  the  South 
ern  Confederation." 

In  a  speech  at  Atlantn,  in  Georgia,  on  the  80th  of  April,  when  on  his  return  to  Montgomery  from  his  mission 
to  Richmond,  Alexander  H.  Stephens  said :— ••  As  I  told  you  when  I  addressed  you  a  few  days  ago,  Lincoln  may 
bring  his  seventy-five  thousand  soldiers  .-urainst  us  ;  but  seven  times  seventy-five  thousand  men  can  never  con 
quer  us.  We  have  now  Maryland  and  Virginia  and  all  the  Border  States  with  us.  We  have  ten  millions  of 
people  with  us,  heart  and  hand,  to  defend  us  to  the  death.  We  can  call  out  a  million  of  people  if  need  be ;  and 
when  they  are  cut  down,  we  can  call  out  another,  and  still  another,  until  the  last  man  of  the  South  finds  a 
bloody  grave,  rather  than  submit  to  their  foul  dictation.  But  a  triumphant  victory  and  independence,  with  an 
unparalleled  career  of  glory,  prosperity,  and  progress  await  us  in  the  future.  God  is  on  our  side,  and  who  shall 
be  against  us?  None  but  His  Omnipotent  hand  can  defeat  us  in  this  strusgle."  And  so  this  conspirator  went 
from  place  to  place,  deceiving  the  people  with  false  hopes,  arousing  their  baser  passions,  and  precipitating  them 
into  the  gulf  of  a  horrid  rebellion,  to  endure  woes  unutterable. 


426  THE  MARTYRS  OF   THE   BALTIMORE   MASSACRE. 

first  that  was  shed  in  that  revolution  in  which  the  liberties  of  the  American 
people  were  secured,  moistened  the  green  sward  at  Lexington ;  now,  on  the 
19th  of  April,  1861,  the  blood  of  the  citizen  soldiery  of  Massachusetts  was 
the  first  that  was  shed  in  defense  of  those  liberties  endangered  by  a  malig 
nant  internal  foe.  The  slain  at  Lexington,  in  1775,  and  the  slain  in  Balti 
more,  in  1861,  were  regarded  as  equal  martyrs;  and  with  the  hot  indignation 
that  burned  in  every  loyal  bosom  was  mingled  a  reverential  recognition  of 
the  dignity  and  significance  of  that  sacrifice,  for  thoughtful  men  read  in  it  a 
prophecy  of  the  purification  and  strengthening  of  the  nation  by  the  good 
providence  of  God. 

Luther  C.  Ladd,  a  young  mechanic  of  Low 
ell,  only  a  little  more  than  seventeen  years  of 
age  ;  Addison  O.  Whitney,  another  young  me 
chanic  of  Lowell,  but  twenty-one  years  of  age  ; 
and  Charles  A.  Taylor,  a  decorative  painter,  of 
Boston,  who  were  killed  outright,1  and  Sumner 
H.  Needham,  of  Lawrence,  a  plasterer  by  trade, 
who  was  mortally  wounded,  were  the  slain  of 
the  New  England  troops  in  Baltimore.  "  I  pray 
you,  cause  the  bodies  of  our  Massachusetts  sol 
diers,  dead  in  battle,"  telegraphed  Governor 
Andrew  to  Mayor  Brown,  "  to  be  immediately 
laid  out,  preserved  in  ice,  and  tenderly  sent  for 
ward  by  express  to  me.  All  expenses  will  be 
paid  by  this  Commonwealth."  The  Mayor 
promised  acquiescence  in  the  request ;  reminded  the  Governor  that  the  Mas 
sachusetts  troops  were  considered  invaders  of  the  soil  of  Maryland  ;  told  him 
that  the  wounded  were  "  tenderly  cared  for,"  and  said  :  "  Baltimore  will 
claim  it  as  her  right  to  pay  all  expenses  incurred."  The  Governor  thanked 
the  Mayor  for  his  kind  attention  to  the  wounded  and  dead,  and  then,  with 
rebukeful  words  that  will  ever  be  remembered,  he  exclaimed  :  "  I  am  over 
whelmed  with  surprise  that  a  peaceful  inarch  of  American  citizens  over  the 
highway  to  the  defense  of  our  common  Capital,  should  be  deemed  aggressive 
to  Baltimore.  Through  New  York  the  march  was  triumphal." 

It  was  several  days  before  the  bodies  of  the  young  martyrs    reached 
Boston.     On  the  6th  of  May,a  those  of  Ladd  and  Whitney  ar 
rived  at  Lowell  by  a  special  train.     The  day  was  dark  and  stormy. 
All  the  mills  of  the  city  were  stopped  running,  the  stores  were  closed,  and 
all  business  was  suspended.     The  bodies  were  received  by  a  great  concourse 
of  citizens  and  six  military  companies  just  organized  for  the  war,  and  escorted 
to  Huntington  Hall,   which   was  draped  in  black.     There  funeral  services 
were    held,    during    which,    the    Rev.    W.    R.    Clark,   of    the    Methodist 
Church,    preached    an    impressive    sermon   before    the    authorities   of   the 
city   and    the    people  ;2    and   then   the   two   bodies    were   laid   in    a  vault 


1  Ladd  was  pierced  by  several  bullets,  and  Whitney  by  only  one,  which  entered  his  breast  and  passed  down 
wards  in  his  body.     It  evidently  came  from  a  window  above  him. 

2  All  denominations  engaged  in  the  services.     The  Scriptures  were  read  by  the  Eev.  W.  C.  Himes.  Episco 
palian  ;  the  Eev.  Dr.  Cleaveland,  Conr/regationalist.  prayed  :  an  original  hymn  was  read  by  the  Eev.  J.  J. 


LUTHER   C.    LADD. 


FUNERAL   OF   THE    FIRST    MARTYRS. 


427 


in  the  Lowell  Cemetery.  A  little  more  than  four  years  afterward,  the 
remains  of  these  "first  martyrs"  were  laid  beneath  a  beautiful  monument 
of  Concord  granite,  erected,  to  commemorate  their  history,  in  Merrimack 
Square,  in  Lowell.  It  was  formally 
dedicated  on  the  17th  of  June,  1865, 
in  the  presence  of  nearly  twenty 
thousand  people,  who  were  addressed 
by  the  same  chief  magistrate  of  the 
Commonwealth  who  had  besought 
the  Mayor  of  Baltimore  to  send  the 
bodies  of  the  young  men  "tenderly  " 
to  him.  In  the  mean  time  Mary 
land  had  disappointed  the  hopes  of 
the  conspirators,  and  dissipated  the 
cloud  that  then  hung  over  her  like  a 
pall.  Baltimore  had  soon  attested 
and  vindicated  its  loyalty  and  at 
tachment  to  the  Union  ;  and  Mary 
land  had  not  only  spurned  the  trai 
tors,  but  had  purged  her  soil  of  the 
evil  root  of  slavery,1*  for  the  perpetu 
ation  of  which  they  had  taken  up 
arms.  And  more.  At  the  conclu 
sion  of  the  consecrating  ceremonies 
at  the  tomb  of  the  young  martyrs 
in  Lowell,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Mor 
ris,  of  the  staff  of  Governor  Brad 
ford,  of  Maryland,  presented  to  Governor  Andrew,  as  the  representative 
of  Massachusetts,  a  beautiful  National  banner,  made  of  silk,  and  wrought  by 


MARTYRS     MONUMENT.1 


Twlss,  rnivtr*<ili*t ;  the  closing  prayer  was  by  tho  Rev.  D.   Mott,  B<ipti*t ;  and  the  benediction  was  pro 
nounced  by  the  llev.  F.  Hinckley,  l'nit>iri<tn.     Over  the  rostrum  wore  displayed  the  words:— 

'•  Amu.  19,  1775;  APRIL  I'J,  1*61." 

1  By  the  act  of  a  Convention  of  the  people  in  the  autumn  of  Is62,  and  by  the  ratification  of  the  Amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  abolishing  Slavery,  by  act  of  the  Maryland  General  Assembly,  February 
3,1865. 

1  Tho  monument  is  of  Concord  granite,  and  its  entire  hlcht  twenty-seven  feet  six  inches.  The  plan  is 
cruciform,  the  larger  arms  measuring  fifteen  feet,  and  tho  shorter,  twelve  feet.  It  consists  of  a  central  shaft 
placed  upon  a  plinth,  with  a  high  base,  UJH»H  two  sides  of  which,  forming  the  longer  arms,  are  two  sarcophagi, 
having  on  each  side,  resect ively,  the  names  of  the  j-ounsr  martyrs.  Inserted  in  the  ends  are  raised  laurel 
wreaths.  The  cornices  of  tho  sarcophagi  are  ornamented  with  thirteen  raised  stars  each.  Upon  the  other  two 
Bides  of  the  base,  forming  the  shorter  arms,  are  two  plinths,  tho  same  hight  as  the  sarcophagi,  with  inscriptions. 
On  the  Merrimuck  Street  hide  are  the  words:— 

"ADDISON  O.  WHITXKY,  BORN  IN  WALDO,  ME.,  Orr.  30,  1  «vJ9 ;  LUTHER  C.  LADD.  BORN  IN 
ALEXANDRIA,  N.  II.,  DEO.  2-2,  1-43;  MAR.-IIKU  FROM  LOWELL  IN  THE  SIXTH  M.  V.  M.  TO  THE  DEFENSE  or 
TUK  NATIONAL  CAPITAL,  AND  FELL  MORTALLY  WOUNDED  is  THE  ATTA.-K  ON  THEIR  KE.;IMRNT  WHILE  PASSING 
THROI-GII  BALTIMORE,  APRIL  19™,  1S61.  THE  COMMONWEALTH  or  MASSACHUSETTS  AND  THE  CITY  OF  LOWELL 

DEDICATE   THIS    MoNUMENT   TO    THEIR    MEMORY." 

-APRIL  19,  1S65." 
.On  the  Moody  Street  side  are  the  following  words:— 

"  NOTHING    IS    HERE    FOR   TEARS,  NOTHING  TO  WAIL    OR    KNOCK    THE    BREAST;     NO  WEAKNESS,  NO  CONTEMPT, 

DISPRAISE  OR  BLAME;   NOTHING  m  T  WELL  AND  FAIR,  AND  WHAT  MAY  QUIET  rs  IN  A  DEATH  so  NOBLE." 

"ISfil." 

The  horizontal  lines  are  merged  into  the  vertical  ones  by  fluted  trusses,  with  raised  stirs  resting  upon  tbe 
four  arms,  and  above  these  is  a  plinth,  on  two  sides  of  which  are  bronzed  medallions  of  the  arms  of  Massa 
chusetts  and  tho  city  of  Lowell.  The  engraving  is  from  a  photograph  kindly  sent  to  me  by  Major-General 
Butler. 

This  monument  was  dedicated  on  the  17th  of  June,  1SC5,  with  imposing  ceremonies  by  the  Masonic  frater- 


428  THE   MARTYRS'  MONUMENT   DEDICATED. 

the  loyal  women  of  Baltimore  for  the  purpose.  It  was  of  regimental  size, 
and  surmounted  by  a  carved  eagle  holding  thunderbolts  in  its  talons,  and 
an  olive-branch  in  its  beak.  On  the  polished  black-walnut  staff  was  a  silver 
plate,  bearing  an  engraving  of  the  arms  of  Maryland  and  of  Massachusetts, 
and  the  words,  "MARYLAND  TO  MASSACHUSETTS,  APRIL  19,  1865.  MAY  THE 
UNION  AND  FRIENDSHIP  OF  THE  FUTURE  OBLITERATE  THE  ANGUISH  OF  THE 
PAST."  This  was  the  crowning  evidence  of  the  sorrow  of  true  Marylanders 
for  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  citizens  of  Massachusetts  in  their  commercial  capi 
tal,  and  a  desire  to  obliterate  the  feelings  occasioned  by  them.  Only  a  few 
months  after  the  occurrence,  and  when  the  Union  men  of  the  State  had  ob 
tained  partial  control  of  the  public  affairs  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  Legis 
lature  took  steps a  to  "  wipe  out,"  as  they  expressed  it,  "  the  foul 
blot  of  tlie  Baltimore  riot ;"  an(3  on  the  5th  of  March,  1862,  the 
General  Assembly  appropriated  seven  th6usand  dollars,  to  be 
disbursed,  under  the  direction  of  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  for  the  relief 
of  the  families  of  those  who  were  then  injured.  To-day  Massachusetts  and 
Maryland  cordially  embrace  each  other  as  loving  sisters  in  the  great  family 
of  the  Nation. 

"  Through  New  York  the  march  [of  Massachusetts  troops]  was  trium 
phal,"  said  Governor  Andrew.  It  was  so.  The  patriotism  of  the  people  of 
that  great  city  and  of  the  State  had  been  thoroughly  aroused,  as  we  have 
observed,  by  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter;  and  now,  when  the  National 
Government  was  struggling  for  life  in  the  toils  of  the  conspirators,  with  no 
ability  to  make  its  perils  known  to  the  loyal  people,  they  put  forth  the  strong 
arm  of  their  power  without  stint.  Already  the  Legislature  had  authorized 
the  Governor  to  enroll  thirty  thousand  troops  for  two  years,  instead  of  for 
three  months,  and  appropriated  three  millions  of  dollars  for  war  purposes. 
Now,  the  citizens  of  the  metropolis,  in  concert  with  General  Wool,  per 
formed  services  of  incalculable  value,  which  the  General-in-chief  afterward 
declared  had  been  mainly  instrumental  in  saving  the  Capital  from  seizure,  and 
the  Republic  from  ruin.1  They  heard  the  call  of  the  President  for  seventy- 
five  thousand  men  with  profound  satisfaction.  On  the  same  evening  some 
gentlemen  met  at  the  house  of  an  influential  citizen,  and  resolved  to  take 
immediate  measures  for  the  support  of  the  Government.  On  the  following 
day,6  they  invited,  by  a  printed  circular  letter,  other  citizens  to 
*  APril  16'  join  them,  for  the  purpose  of  making  arrangements  for  a  public 
meeting  of  men  of  all  parties,  "  to  sustain  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  in  the  present  crisis."2  The  arrangements  were  made,  and  the 


nity,  a  large  number  of  military  companies,  and  citizens,  and  the  Otto  (Singing)  Club.  Governor  Andrew 
delivered  an  oration,  after  which  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thomas  J.  Morris  presented  the  Maryland  flag  mentioned 
in  the  text.  There  was  a  collation  at  Huntington  Hall,  where  toasts  were  given  and  speeches  made.  Among 
the  speakers  was  Major-General  Butler,  whose  military  experience  in  Maryland,  just  after  the  riot  in  Baltimore, 
made  him  a  deeply  interested  participant  in  the  ceremonies.  He  paid  a  fine  tribute  to  the  volunteer  soldiers, 
and  to  the  Navy. 

1  Speech  of  General  Scott  before  the  Union  Defense  Committee  of  New  York,  November  8,  1S61.     See 
the  published  Reports,  Resolutions,  and  Documents  of  that  Committee. 

2  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  circular: — "Sin:    At  a  meeting  held  at  the  house  of  E.  H.  McCurdy,  Esq., 
you  were  appointed  member  of  a  Committee  to  make  arrangements  for  a  public  meeting  of  citizens,  of  all 
parties,  to  sustain  the  Federal  Government  in  the  present  crisis.     You  are  earnestly  requested  to  attend  a  meet 
ing  of  said  Committee,  for  the  above-named  purpose,  at  the  rooms  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  corner  of 
William  and  Cedar  Streets,1' 


UNION   DEFENSE   COMMITTEE   IN   NEW   YORK.  429 

great  meeting  at  Union  Square,  already  mentioned,1  was  held  on  the  20th  of 
April,  when  a  Committee  of  Safety  was  appointed.  It  was  composed  of 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  Xew  York,  of  all  parties.  They 
organized  that  evening,  with  the  title  of  THE  UNION  DEFENSE  COMMITTEE.' 

Intelligence  had  already  gone  over  the  land  of  the  attack  on  the  Massa 
chusetts  troops  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore,  and  the  isolation  and  perils  of  the 
Capital ;  and  the  first  business  of  the  Committee  was  to  facilitate  the  equip 
ment  and  outfit  of  regiments  of  volunteer  militia,  and  their  dispatch  to  the 
seat  of  Government.  So  zealously  and  efficiently  did  they  work,  that  within 
ten  days  from  the  time  when  the  President  made  his  call  for  troops,  no  less 
than  eight  thousand  well-equipped  and  fully  armed  men  had  gone  to  the  field 
from  the  city  of  Xew  York.  Already,  before  the  organization  of  the  Com- 
•mittee,  the  celebrated  Seventh  Regiment  of  the  National  Guard  of  Xew 
York,  Colonel  Marshall  Lefierts,  had  left  for  Washington  City ;  and  on  the 
day  after  the  great  meeting  (Sunday,  the  21st),  three  other  regiments  had 
followed,  namely,  the  Sixth,  Colonel  Pinckney ;  the  Twelfth,  Colonel  Butter- 
field  ;  and  the  Seventy-first,  Colonel  Vosburg. 

Major-General  Wool,  next  in  rank  to  the  General-in-chief,  and  the  Com 
mander  of  the  Eastern  Department,  which  comprised  the  whole  country 
eastward  of  the  Mississippi  River,  was  then  at  his  home  and  head-quarters  at 
Troy,  Xew  York.  When  he  heard  of  the  affair  at  Baltimore,  he  hastened  to 
Albany,  the  State  capital,  to  confer  with  Governor  Morgan.  While  he  was 
there,  the  Governor  received  an  electrograph,  urging  him  to  send  troops 
forward  to  Washington  as  speedily  as  possible.  At  the  same  time  he  received 
an  offer  of  the  regiment  of  Colonel  Ellsworth,  whose  skillfully  executed  and 
picturesque  Zouave  tactics  had  lately  excited  the  attention  and  admiration  of 
the  country.  These  volunteers  were  accepted,  and  the  Governor  determined 
to  push  forward  troops  as  fast  as  possible.  General  Wool  at  once  issued 
orders*  to  Colonel  Tompkins,  the  United  States  Quartermaster  at 
Xew  York,  to  furnish  all  needful  transportation ;  and  Major 
Eaton,  the  Commissary  of  Subsistence,  was  directed  to  issue  thirty 
days'  rations  to  each  soldier  that  might  be  ordered  to  Washington. 

Governor  Morgan  went  to  Xew  York  on  the  evening  of  the  20th,  and 
was  followed  by  General  Wool  on  the  22d.  The  veteran  made  his  head 
quarters  at  the  St.  Xicholas  Hotel,  and  there  he  was  waited  upon  by  the 
Union  Defense  Committee  on  the  23d,  when  a  plan  of  operations  for  the 

1  See  page  8M. 

'The  Committee  was  composed  of  the  following  citizens:— John  A.  Dix,  Chairman;  Simeon  Draper, 
Vlct-Chairman ;  William  M.  Kvarts,  Stcrttary;  Theodore  Dehon,  Trtaxurfr ;  Moses  Taylor,  Richard  M. 
Blatchford,  Edwards  Pierrepont,  Alexander  T.  Stewart,  Samuel  Sloane,  John  Jacob  Astor,  Jr..  John  J.  Cisco, 
James  S.  Wadsworth.  Isaac  Bell.  James  Boorman.  Charles  H.  Marshall,  Robert  H.  McCurdy,  Moses  H.  Grin- 
nell,  Uoyal  Phelps.  William  E.  Dodge.  Greene  C.  Bronson,  Hamilton  Fish,  William  F.  Havemeyer.  Charles  H. 
Russell,  James  T.  Brady,  Rudolph  A.  Witthaus,  Abiel  A.  Low,  Prosper  M.  Wetmore,  A.  f.  Richards,  and  the 
Mayor,  Controller,  and  Presidents  of  the  two  Boards  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York.  The 
Committee  had  rooms  at  No.  80  Pine  Street,  opon  all  day,  and  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  open  in  the  evening. 
The  original  and  specific  duties  assigned  to  the  Committee,  by  the  great  meeting  that  created  it,  were,  "to 
represent  the  citizens  in  the  collection  of  funds,  and  the  transaction  of  such  other  business,  in  aid  of  the  move 
ments  of  the  Government,  as  the  public  interests  may  require." 

During  the  existence  of  this  Committee,  which  continued  about  a  year,  it  disbursed  almost  a  million  of 
dollar*,  which  the  Corporation  of  New  York  had  appropriated  for  war  purposes,  and  placed  at  its  disposal.  It 
assisted  in  the  organization,  equipment  Ac.,  of  forty-nine  regiments,  or  about  forty  thousand  men.  For 
military  purposes',  it  spent,  of  the  city  fund,  nearly  seven  hundred  and  fifty-nine  thousand  dollars,  and  for  the 
•elief  of  soldiers'  families,  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  dollars. 


April  20, 
1S61. 


430          GENERAL   WOOL   AND   UNION   DEFENSE   COMMITTEE. 

salvation  of  the  Capital  was  arranged  between  them.  No  communication 
could  be  made  to  the  Government,  as  we  have  observed.  The  General-in- 
chief  could  not  speak  to  a  single  regiment  outside  of  the  District  of 
Columbia ;  and  General  Wool  was  compelled,  in  order  to  act  in  conformity 
to  the  demands  of  the  crisis  and  desires  of  the  loyal  people,  to  assume  great 
responsibilities.  He  did  so,  saying  : — "I  shall  probably  be  the  only  victim  ; 
but,  under  the  circumstances,  I  am  prepared  to  make  the  sacrifice,  if  thereby 
the  Capital  may  be  saved."  Day  and  night  he  labored  with  the  tireless 
energy  of  a  strong  man  of  forty  years,  until  the  work  was  accomplished. 
Ships  were  chartered,  supplies  were  furnished,  and  troops  were  forwarded 
to  Washington  with  extraordinary  dispatch,  by  way  of  Chesapeake  Bay  and 
the  Potomac  River.  The  transports  were  convoyed  by  armed  steamers  to 
shield  them  from  pirates  ;  and  one  of  them — the  Quaker  City — was  ordered 
to  Hampton  Roads,  to  prevent  the  insurgents  transporting  heavy  guns  from 
the  Gosport  Navy  Yard  with  which  to  attack  Fortress  Monroe,  the  military 
key  to  Virginia.  To  that  immensely  important  military  work,  Wool  sent 
gun-carriages,  ammunition,  and  provisions,  that  it  might  be  held,  and  com 
mand  the  chief  waters  of  Virginia.  A  dozen  State  Governors  applied  to 
him,  as  the  superior  military  officer  that  could  be  reached,  for  advice  and  for 
munitions  of  war,  and  he  assisted  in  arming  no  less  than  nine  States.1  In 
reply  to  Governor  Yates,  of  Illinois,  asking  for  five  thousand  muskets  and  a 
complement  of  ammunition,  he  directed  him  to  send  a  judicious  officer,  with 
four  or  five  companies,  to  take  possession  of  the  Arsenal  at  St.  Louis,  which 
he  believed  to  be  in  danger  of  seizure  by  the  secessionists  of  Missouri.  He 
'Iso  telegraphed  to  Frank  P.  Blair,  of  St.  Louis  (afterward  a  major-general 
in  the  National  Army),  to  assist  in  the  matter.  By  judicious  management, 
twenty-one  thousand  stand  of  small  arms,  two  field-pieces,  and  one  hundred 
and  ten  thousand  rounds  of  ammunition  were  transferred  from  St.  Louis  to 
Illinois.  Wool  also  ordered  heavy  cannon,  carriages,  et  ccetera,  to  Cairo, 
Illinois,  which  speedily  became  a  place  of  great  interest,  in  a  military  point 
of  view.  He  authorized  the  Governors  of  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts 
to  put  the  coast  defenses  within  the  borders  of  their  respective  States  in  good 
order,  and  approved  of  other  measures  proposed  for  the  defense  of  the  sea 
port  towns  supposed  to  be  in  danger  from  the  pirate  vessels  of  the 
"  Confederacy,"  then  known  to  be  afloat.  He  also  took  the  responsibility  of 
sending  forward  to  Washington  Colonel  Ellsworth's  Zouave  Regiment, 
composed  principally  of  New  York  firemen,  who  were  restrained,  for  the 
moment,  by  official  State  authority.2 


1  General  Wool  ordered  the  following  ordnance  and  ordnance  stores  to  be  issued  to  the  Governors  of  the 
following  States :— PENNSYLVANIA,  16,000  muskets,  640.000  cartridges,  150,000  caps,  3,080  muskets  for  six  Ohio 
regiments,  and  117,889  cartridges  for  the  same.     OHIO,  10,000   muskets  and  400.000  cartridges,  and  5,000  mus 
kets  from  Illinois.     INDIANA,  5,000  muskets  and  200.000  cartridges,  with  caps.     ILLINOIS,  200,000  cartridges. 
MASSACHUSETTS,  4,000  stand  of  arms.     NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  2.000  muskets  and  20,000  cartridges.      VERMONT,  300 
rifles.     NEW  JERSEY,  2.SSO  muskets  with  ammunition.     In  addition  to  these,  he  ordered  the  issue  of  10,000 
muskets  and  400.000  cartridges  to  General  Patterson,  then  in  command  in  Pennsylvania;  16.000  muskets  to 
General  Sandford,  of  New  York,  and  forty  rifles  to  General  Welch. 

2  While  General  Wool  was  reviewing  this  regiment,  when  on  its  march  to  embark  for  Washington,  an  order 
was  received  from  the  Governor  of  the  State,  acting  under  authority  of  law,  forbidding  their  embarkation, 
unless  the  regiment,  which  was  of  maximum  number,  should  be  reduced  to  seventy-seven  men  to  a  company. 
No  part  of  the  regiment  would  go  without  the  remainder,  and,  fortunately  for  the  public  good.  General  Wool 
took  the  responsibility  of  ordering  them  forward  as  a  whole.     They  were  escorted  to  the  water  by  five  thou 
sand  firemen. 


THE   GOVERNMENT   AND   GENERAL   WOOL. 


431 


JOIIX    ELLIS    WOOL. 


Troops  and  subsistence  so  promptly  forwarded  to  Washington  by  the 
Union  Defense  Committee,  under  the  direction  of  General  Wool,  and  with  the 
cordial  co-operation  of  Commodores  Breese 
and  Stringharn,  saved  the  Capital  from  seiz 
ure.1  Fortress  Monroe,  made  secure  by  the 
same  energetic  measures,  held,  during  the 
entire  war,  a  controlling  power  over  all 
lower  and  eastern  Virginia  and  upper  North 
Carolina ;  and  the  possession  of  the  arms 
in  the  St.  Louis  Arsenal  by  the  friends  of 
the  Government,  at  that  time,  was  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  the  National  cause 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  We  shall  con 
sider  this  matter  presently. 

When  the  troops  sent  forward  had  opened 
the  way  to  Washington,  the  first  communi 
cation  that  General  Wool  received  from  his 
superiors  was  an  order  from  the  General-in- 

chief "  to  return  to  his  head-quarters  at  Troy,  for  "the  recovery    "April  so, 
of  his  health,  known   to  be  feeble."     The  General's  health  was 
perfect.     lie,  and  the  Union  Defense  Committee  (who  appreciated  his  ser* 
vices,  and  heartily  thanked  him  for  them),  and  the  people,  were  surprised. 
The  Secretary  of  War  was  a<ked*  by   the  veteran   why  he  had   been  sent 
into  retirement  at  that  critical    juncture    of  affairs.      A    month      »Ma\9. 
later/  the  minister  replied: — u  You   were  ordered   to   return   to 
your  head-quarters  at  Troy,  because  the  issuing  of  orders  by  you, 
on  the  application  of  the  various  Governors,  for  arms,  ammunition,  ft  cutcra, 
without  consultation,  seriously  embarrassed  the  prompt  and  proper  adminis 
tration  of  the  Department.''     This  sentence  in  the  letter  seemed  more  extra 
ordinary  than  the  order  of  the   General-in-chief.     The  Government,  during 
the  time  alluded  to,  could  not  be  consult ed.     It  was,  as  it  were,  shut  up  in 
prison,  and  its  rescue  from  imminent  peril   had  been  effected    only   by  the 
employment   of  unauthorized    measures,   less   grave   than    the    Government 
itself  was  compelled  to  resort  to  for  its  own  preservation — measures  which 
it  afterward  asked  Congress  to  sanction  by  special  act.9     The  people  were 


1  UI  remember  how  you  sustained  the  Government  by  forwarding  troops  for  the  defense  of  the  National 
Capital;  how,  \>y  your  zeal  in  equipping  and  sending  forward,  with  the  moans  at  your  disposal,  large  bodies  of 
patriotic  and  excellent  troops,  which  came  in  good  time,  the  tide  of  rebellion,  which  commenced  at  Baltimore, 
was  turned  against  the  enemies  of  «.ur  country.  The  Government  had  not  the  means  of  defending  itself,  when 
they  were  most  needed.  This  Committee  came  forward  and  applied  the  remedy,  and  averted  the  danger."- 
S]#ech  of  (,'rnfrnf  St-ott  brfort.  the  Cnion  Dtftnxt  ( 'otninittet.  November  S.  1S61.  Before  the  close  of  the  year 
1S61,  one  hundred  and  seven  volunteer  regiments  had  gone  to  the  field  from  the  State  of  New  York,  sixty-six 
of  which  were  aided  by  the  Union  Defense  Committee.  Of  these  regiments,  ninety  were  infantry,  ten  were 
cavalry,  five  were  artillery,  one  of  engineers,  and  one  a  coast-guard. 

•On  the  81st  of  April,  IsGl.  the  Union  Defense  Committee,  by  unanimous  vote,  adopted  the  following 
resolutions:— 

"  IlfKolred,  That  this  Committee  regard  it  as  an  incumbent  duty  to  express  their  hisrh  appreciation  of  the 
wisdom,  energy,  and  patriotism  of  Major-General  John  K.  Wool,  commanding  this  Military  District,  evinced  in 
moments  of  critical  emergency  in  the  atVairs  of  the  country. 

"  Re«olve<1,  As  the  deliberate  judgment  of  this  Committee,  that  the  zeal,  activity,  and  patriotism  of  General 
Wool  have  been  eminently  conspicuous  in  the  arrangements  made  by  him  for  expediting  the  transport  of 
a-oops  and  supplies  to  the  scene  of  action  ;  and  especially  so  in  assuming  the  responsibility  of  dispatching  the 


432  FAITHFUL   SERVICES   APPRECIATED. 

not  satisfied,  and,  they  complained.     Their  murmurs  were  heeded ;  and,  a  few 
weeks"  later,  General  Wool  was  called  from  his  retirement  and 
"  AUi86itl1'    P^ace^  m  command  of  the  Department  of  Southeastern  Virginia, 
which   had   been    recently    created,    with   his   head-quarters    at 
Fortress  Monroe.     He  succeeded  General  Butler,  who  was  assigned  to  an 
other  field  of  active  duty. 


fine  regiment  of  New  York  Fire  Zouaves,  commanded  by  Colonel  Ellsworth,  thus  avoiding  the  delays  which 
might  otherwise  have  detained  them  for  several  days. 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Committee  desire  to  express  in  these  resolutions  their  grateful  sense  of  the  distin 
guished  services  rendered  by  General  Wool  since  entering  upon  his  duties  in  this  city;  and  their  acknowledg 
ments  to  the  War  Department  for  affording  this  community  the  great  advantage  of  hia  military  skill  and  long 
•experience  in  the  service  of  his  country. 

"  Resolved,  That  while  the  organization  of  the  Western  Department  of  the  United  States,  comprising  within 
its  limits  the  National  Capital,  under  the  able,  judicious,  and  patriotic  management  of  Lieutenant-General 
Scott,  Commanding  General  of  the  Army,  insures  public  confidence  and  the  protection  of  the  National  honor, 
the  Committee  deem  it  fortunate  for  the  country  that  the  President  has  exercised  the  sagacious  discretion  of 
placing  the  Eastern  Department  under  the  control  of  an  officer  worthy  of  all  the  confidence  reposed  in  him. 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Committee  desire  most  emphatically  to  express  their  gratitude  to  Major-General  Wool 
for  the  promptness  and  readiness  with  which  he  has  yielded  to  their  wishes  and  requests,  and  assumed  great 
and  heavy  responsibilities,  which  the  exigency  of  the  case  and  the  difficulties  of  communicating  with  the  Gov 
ernment  rendered  necessary;  and  they  most  earnestly  request  the  War  Department  and  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  ratify  and  approve  the  conduct  and  action  of  Major-General  Wool  in  these  particulars;  and 
also,  that  he  may  be  continued  in  command  in  this  city  and  of  this  Department. 

"  Resolved,  That  copies  of  the  preceding  resolutions,  properly  authenticated,  be  transmitted  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  Lieuteuant-General  Scott,  and  Major-General  Wool." 


BUTLER'S   EXPEDITION  TO   MARYLAND.  435 

Late  in  the  evening  General  Butler  summoned  all  of  his  officers,  thirteen 
in  number,  to  his  room.  It  was  a  singular  council  of  war.  On  his  table 
lay  thirteen  revolvers.  "  I  propose,"  said  the  General,  substantially,  "  to 
join  with  Colonel  Lefferts,  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  of  New  York,  sail  for 
Annapolis  from  Havre  dc  Grace,  arrive  there  to-morrow  afternoon  at  four 
o'clock,  occupy  the  capital  of  Maryland,  and  call  the  State  to  account  for  the 
death  of  Massachusetts  men,  my  friends  and  neighbors.  If  Colonel  Lefferts 
thinks  it  best  not  to  go,  I  propose  to  take  this  regiment  alone."  Then, 
taking  up  one  of  the  revolvers,  he  said :  "  I  am  ready  to  take  the  responsi 
bility.  Every  officer  willing  to  accompany  me  will  please  take  a  pistol." 
Not  one  hesitated;  and  then  the  General  sketched  a  plan  of  his  proposed 
operations,  to  be  sent  to  Governor  Andrew  after  his  departure.  He  proposed 
to  hold  Annapolis  as  a  means  of  communication,  and,  by  a  forced  march  with 
a  part  of  his  command,  reach  the  Capital  in  accordance  with  his  orders.  He 
telegraphed  to  the  Governor  to  send  the  Boston  Light  Battery  to  Annapolis 
to  assist  in  the  march  on  Washington.1 

Colonel  Lefferts  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  accept  General  Butler's  propo- 
§ition,  and  the  latter  made  preparations  to  go  on  with  the  Massachusetts 
troops  alone.  The  President  of  the  Philadelphia,  Wilmington,  and  Balti 
more  Railway  Company  placed  their  great  steam  ferry-boat  Jf<u'i/lan<1,  at 
Perryville,  at  his  disposal;  ami  two  companies  were  ordered  to  go  forward 
early  in  the  morning  and  take  possession  of  it.  Word  came  meanwhile  that 
the  insurgents  had  already  seized  and  barricaded  it,  and  Butler  resolved  to 
push  on  with  his  whole  force  and  capture  it.  "If  I  succeed,"  he  wrote  to 
Governor  Andrew,  "success  will  justify  me.  If  I  fail,  purity  of  intention 
will  excuse  want  of  judgment,  or  rashness.9 

Butler  left  Philadelphia  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,"  and  a  Ar>r>il  20' 
when  near  the  Susquehanna  his  troops  were  ordered  from  the 
cars,  placed  in  battle  order,  and  inarched  toward  the  ferry,  in  expectation  of 
a  fight.  Rumor  had  been  untrue.  There  were  no  insurgents  in  arms  at 
Perryville  or  Havre  de  Grace  ;  and  there  lay  the  powerful  ferry-boat  in  the 
quiet  possession  of  her  regular  crew.  The  troops  were  soon  embarked,  and 
at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  huge  vessel — with  a  captain  who  seemed  to 
need  watching  by  the  vigilant  and  loyal  eyes  of  the  soldiers,  lest  he  should 
run  them  into  Baltimore  or  aground — went  out  toward  Chesapeake  Bay. 
Making  good  time,  she  was  off  the  old  capital  of  Maryland  at  a  little  past 
midnight,  when,  to  Butler's  surprise,  Annapolis  and  the  Naval  Academy  were 
lighted  up,  and  the  people  were  all  astir.  The  town  and  the  Academy  were 
in  possession  of  the  secessionists.  They  were  expecting  some  insurgents 
from  Baltimore,  and  they  intended,  with  united  force,  to  seize  the  venerable 
frigate  Constitution,  then  moored  there  as  a  school-ship,  and  add  her  to 
the  "  Confederate  navy."  For  four  days  and  nights  her  gallant  commander, 


North  Carolina;  and  while  they  avoided,  as  far  as  possible,  the  practices  of  war,  whieh  their  conscience  and  Dis 
cipline  condemned,  they  aided  the  Government  in  every  other  way,  such  as  services  in  hospitals,  and  other 
employments  in  which  non-combalants  might  engage.  A  larce  number  of  their  young  men,  however,  bore  arms 
in  the  field,  and  acted  in  compliance  with  the  spirit  of  the  alleged  injunction  of  the  Philadelphia  mother:— 
"Let  thy  musket  not  hold  a  silent  meeting  before  the  enemy." 

1  Gfntrnl  Butler  in  AV»r  Orlfttnn,  «Vc. :  by  James  I'arton,  page  71. 

3  Report  of  the  Adjutant-General  of  Massachusetts,  December  31,  1561,  page  22. 


436  FRIGATE   CONSTITUTION    SAVED   FROM   SEIZURE. 

Captain  Blake,  Superintendent  of  the  Academy,  had  kept  her  guns  double- 
shotted,  expecting  an  attack  every  moment. 

The  arrival  of  the  Massachusetts  troops  was  just  in  time  to  save  the 
Constitution.  Communication  was  speedily  opened  between  General  Butler 
and  Captain  Blake,  and  a  hundred  of  the  troops,  who  were  seamen  at  home, 
with  the  Salem  Zouaves  as  a  guard,  were  detailed  to  assist  in  getting  the 
Constitution  from  the  wharf,  and  putting  her  out  beyond  the  bar  in  a  place 
of  safety.  With  the  help  of  the  Maryland,  acting  as  a  tug,  this  was  accom 
plished.  That  venerable  vessel,  in  which  Hull,  and  Bainbridge,  and  Stewart 
had  won  immortal  honors  in  the  Second  War  for  Independence,  was  built  in 
Boston,  and  was  first  manned  by  Massachusetts  men  ;  now  she  was  preserved 
to  the  uses  of  the  Government,  for  whose  sovereignty  she  had  gallantly 
fought,  by  the  hands  of  Massachusetts  men.  "  This,"  said  General  Butler,  in 
an  order  thanking  the  troops  for  the  service,  "  is  a  sufficient  triumph  of  right ; 
a  sufficient  triumph  for  us.  By  this  the  blood  of  our  friends,  shed  by  the 
Baltimore  mob,  is  so  far  avenged."  We  will  add,  that  the  Constitution  was 
soon  afterward  taken  to  New  York  ;  and  when  the  naval  school  was  removed 
to  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  she  became  a  school-ship  there. 

In  assisting  to  get  out  the  Constitution,  the  Maryland  grounded  on  a 
sand-bank.  The  suspected  captain  was  confined,  and  the  vessel  was  put 
under  the  management  of  seamen  and  engineers  from  among  the  Massachu 
setts  troops.1  There  she  lay  helpless  all  that  day  and  the  next  night,  to  the 
great  discomfort  of  her  passengers.  Her  water-casks  were  nearly  emptied, 
and  their  provisions  were  almost  exhausted.  In  the  mean  time  Governor 
Hicks,  who  was  in  Annapolis,  and  still  under  the  malign  control  of  the  seces 
sionists,  was  urging  Butler  not  to  land  "  Northern  troops."  "  The  excite 
ment  here  is  very  great,"  he  said ;  "  and  I  think  that  you  had  better  take 
your  men  elsewhere."  Butler,  in  reply,  spoke  of  his  necessities  and  his 
orders,  and  took  the  occasion  to  correct  the  Governor's  sectional  phraseology 
by  saying  of  his  force  :  "  They  are  not  '  Northern  troops  ;'  they  are  a  part 
of  the  whole  militia  of  the  United  States,  obeying  the  call  of  the  President." 
This  was  the  root  of  the  matter.  Therein  was  the  grand  idea  of  nationality 
as  opposed  to  State  Supremacy,  in  which  the  General  acted  throughout  with 
the  clearest  advantage. 

Butler  now  went  ashore,  and  had  a  personal  conference  with  the  Gov 
ernor  and  the  Mayor  of  Annapolis.  "All  Maryland,"  they  said,  "is  at  the 
point  of  rushing  to  arms.  The  railway  is  broken  up,  and  its  line  guarded  by 
armed  men.  It  will  be  a  fearful  thing  for  you  to  land  and  attempt  to  march 
on  Washington." — "  I  must  land,"  said  the  General,  "  for  my  troops  are 
hungry." — "  No  one  in  Annapolis  will  sell  them  any  thing,"  replied  these 
authorities  of  the  State  and  city.  Butler  intimated  that  armed  men  were  not 
always  limited  to  the  necessity  of  purchasing  food  when  famishing ;  and  he 
gave  both  magistrates  to  understand  that  the  orders  and  demands  of  his 
Government  were  imperative,  and  that  he  should  land  and  march  on  the 
Capital  as  speedily  as  possible,  in  spite  of  all  opposition.  At  the  same  time 

1  The  composition  of  this  regiment  was  very  remarkable.  It  contained  men  skilled  in  almost  every  trade 
and  profession ;  and  Major  Winthrop,  who  went  out  with  the  New  York  Seventh  Regiment,  was  nearly  right 
when  he  said,  that  if  the  words  were  jriven,  "  Poets,  to  the  front!1'  or  "  Painters,  present  arms!"  or  "Sculptors, 
charge  bayonets!"  there  would  be  ample  responses. 


NATIONAL   TROOPS   AT   ANNAPOLIS. 


437 


he  assured  them  that  peaceable  citizens  should  not  be  molested,  and  that  the 
laws  of  the  State  should  be  respected.  And  more.  He  was  ready  to  co-operate 
with  the  local  authorities  in  suppressing  a  slave  insurrection,  or  any  other 
resistance  to  law.  The  Governor  contented  himself  with  simply  protesting 
against  the  landing  of  troops  as  unwise,  and  begged  the  General  not  to  halt 
them  in  Annapolis. 

All  the  night  of  the  21st,  the  Maryland  lay  aground,  and  immovable  by 
wind  or  tide.  At  dawn  on  the  22d,  another  steamer  appeared  approaching. 
It  was  the  Boston,  bearing  the  New  York 
Seventh  Regiment.  Colonel  Lefferts  had 
become  convinced  that  he  could  not  pass 
through  Baltimore,  so  he  chartered  this 
steamer  at  Philadelphia  with  the  intention  of 
going  to  Washington  by  way  of  the  Poto 
mac.  They  embarked  at  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon."  Only  ^J20' 
a  few  officers  were  intrusted  with 
the  secret ;  the  men  had  no  knowledge  of 
their  route.  Quietly  they  passed  down  the 
Delaware  to  the  ocean,  on  a  beautiful  April 
evening,  and  entered  the  waters  of  Virginia 
between  its  great  Capes,  Charles  and  Henry. 
Informed  of  batteries  near  Alexandria,  and 
finding  no  armed  vessel  to  convoy  the  Boston,  Colonel  Leiferts  deemed  it 
prudent  to  follow  General  Butler  to  Annapolis ;  so  they  went  up  the  Chesa 
peake,  and  came  in  sight  of  the  grounded  Maryland  at  dawn.  The  Seventh 
cheered  the  old  flag  seen  at  her  fore,  and  the  two  regiments  soon  exchanged 
greetings. 

The  Boston  now  attempted  to  got  the  Maryland  from  the  ground.     For 
many  hours  both  regiments  worked  faithfully,  but  in  vain.    The  Massachusetts 


MARSHALL   LEFFKRTS. 


LANDING    AT  THK    NAVAL    ACADEMY1     GROUNDS. 


troops  were  without  a. drop  of  liquid  of  any  kind  to  drink  for  twelve  hours, 
and  were  suffering  intensely.  Finally  it  was  agreed  that  the  Boston  should 
land  the  Seventh  at  the  Naval  Academy's  wharf,  and  then  take  the  Eighth 
from  the  Maryland  and  put  them  ashore  at  the  same  place.  This  was  done, 


1  In  this  view  the  buildings  of  the  United  States  Naval  Academy  are 


438  PREPARATIONS   TO  MARCH   THROUGH  MARYLAND. 

and  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon  both  regiments  were  landed  and  quartered 
in  the  buildings  of  the  Academy  (the  National  property),  when  the  members 
of  the  Seventh  hastened  to  share  their  rations  with  their  famished  friends. 
The  threat  of  the  secessionists,  that  if  Butler  should  land  with  the  intention 
of  passing  over  the  railway  to  Washington,  the  track  should  be  destroyed, 
was  carried  out.  The  rails  were  removed  and  hidden,  and  locomotives  were 
taken  in  pieces  and  concealed. 

Terrible  stories  of  the  gathering  of  insurgents  at  Annapolis  Junction,  and 
other  places  on  the  route  to  Washington,  now  came  to  the  ears  of  General 
Butler  and  Colonel  Lefferts.  The  former  did  not  believe  half  that  was  told 
him.  He  had  positive  information  that  the  secessionists  had  torn  up  much 
of  the  railway  between  Annapolis  and  the  Junction,  and  carried  off  the  mate 
rials,  and  that  bitterness  of  spirit  prevailed  everywhere ;  yet  he  resolved  to 
move  forward  at  once  and  rebuild  the  road,  for  over  it  supplies,  and  also 
other  troops,  must  follow  him.  He  again  invited  Colonel  Lefferts  to  join  him. 
At  first  that  prudent  commander  declined,  thinking  it  best  to  wait  for  re- 
enforcements.1  He  changed  his  mind,  and  early  the  next  morning  the  two 
regiments  joined  hands  in  vigorous  preparations  for  that  strange,  eventful 
march  on  the  Capital,  which  has  no  parallel  in  history. 

In  the  mean  time,  two  companies  of  the  Massachusetts  troops  had  seized 
the  railway  station,  and  there  found  a  locomotive  engine  disabled  and  con 
cealed.  "Does  any  one  know  any  thing  about  this  machine?"  inquired 
General  Butler.  "  Our  shop  made  that  engine,  General,"  said  Charles 
Homans,  of  the  Beverly  Light  Guard,  as  he  looked  sharply  at  it.  "  I  guess 
I  can  put  her  in  order  and  run  her." — "Do  it,"  said  the  General ;  and  it  was 
soon  done,  for  that  regiment  was  full  of  engineers,  workers  in  metal,  and 
mechanics  of  all  kinds.  It  seemed  like  a  providential  organization,  made 
expressly,  with  its  peculiar  leader,  for  the  work  in  hand.  Such  impediments 
of  civil  authority,  hostile  feeling,  armed  resistance,  and  destructive  malignity, 
would  have  appalled  almost  any  other  man  and  body  of  men ;  but  Butler 
generally  exhibited  an  illustration  of  the  truth  of  the  saying,  "Where  there's 
a  will  there's  a  way,"  and  the  Massachusetts  Eighth  was  an  embodiment  of 
the  axiom.  The  engine  was  speedily  repaired ;  the  rails  hidden,  some  in 
thickets,  and  some  in  the  bottom  of  streams,  were  hunted  up,  and  on  the 
evening  of  the  23d,  the  troops  were  nearly  ready  for  a  forward  movement, 
when  General  Butler  formally  took  military  possession  of  the  Annapolis  and 
Elkridge  Railway.  Governor  Hicks  protested  against  such  occupation,  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  prevent  the  assembling  of  the  Legislature,  called  to. 
meet  at  Annapolis  on  the  26th.  General  Butler  reminded  the  Governor  that 
his  Excellency  had  given  as  a  reason  why  the  troops  should  not  land,  that 
they  could  not  pass  over  the  road  because  "  the  Company  had  taken  up  the 
rails,  and  they  were  private  property.  It  is  difficult  to  see,"  said  the  General, 
"  how  it  can  be,  that  if  my  troops  could  not  pass  over  the  railroad  one  way, 
the  members  of  the  Legislature  could  pass  the  other  way.m  He  told  the 
Governor  that  he  was  there  to  maintain  the  laws,  and,  if  possible,  protect  the 
road  from  destruction  by  a  mob.  "  I  am  endeavoring,"  he  said,  "to  save  and 

1  Letter  of  Colonel  Lefferts  to  General  Butler,  Monday  night,  April  22,  1861. 
3  Correspondence  between  General  Butler  and  Governor  Hicks,  April  23,  1861. 


THE   MARCH   TO   ANNAPOLIS  JUNCTION.  439 

not  to  destroy ;  to  obtain  means  of  transportation,  so  that  I  can  vacate  the 
capital  prior  to  the  sitting  of  the  Legislature,  and  not  be  under  the  necessity 
of  encumbering  your  beautiful  city  while  the  Legislature  is  in  session."  This 
logic  and  this  irony  were  unanswerable,  and  the  General  was  never  again 
troubled  with  the  protests  of  the  Maryland  Executive. 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th,  the  combined  regiments  moved  forward  at 
the  rate  of  about  a  mile  an  hour,  laying  the  track  anew  and  building  bridges. 
Skirmishers  went  ahead  and  scouts  on  the  flanks.  The  main  column  was  led 
by  a  working  party  on  the  road,  behind  which  followed  a  car  with  a  howitzer 
loaded  with  grape-shot,  in  charge  of  Lieutenant  Bunting.  It  was  a  hot  April 
morning,  and  the  men  suffered  much  from  heat  and  fatigue.  They  had  a 
•stretch  of  twenty-one  miles  to  go  over  between  Annapolis  and  the  Junction. 
A  shower  in  the  afternoon,  and  balmy  air  and  bright  moonlight  in  the 
evening,  with  the  freshness  of  early  spring,  gave  them  pleasure  in  the  midst  of 
their  toil.  All  night  long  they  moved  forward,  keeping  very  vigilant  eyes  upon 
the  surrounding  country,  but  falling  in  with  none  of  those  terrible  Marylanders 
which  the  Governor  and  the  Mayor  of  Annapolis  had  predicted  would  be 
upon  them.  These  braves  seemed  to  have  a  wholesome  fear  of  the  "  Yan 
kees,"  and  made  their  observations,  if  at  all,  at  a  safe  distance.  The  country 
appeared  to  be  depopulated.  The  inhabitants  had  fled  or  hidden,  with  the 
evident  expectation  of  an  invasion  by  almost  savage  men.  "  I  know  not," 
said  a  member  of  the  Seventh,1  u  if  I  can  describe  that  night-march.  I  have 
a  dim  recollection  of  deep  cuts  through  which  we  passed,  gloomy  and 
treacherous-looking,  with  the  moon  shining  full  on  our  muskets,  while  the 
banks  were  wrapped  in  shade,  each  moment  expecting  to  see  the  flash  and 
hear  the  crack  of  the  rifle  of  the  Southern  guerrillas.  .  .  .  On  all  sides  dark 
and  lonely  pine  woods  stretched  away,  and,  as  the  night  wore  on,  the 
monotony  of  the  march  became  oppressive." 

The  troops  reached  Annapolis  Junction   on   the  morning  of  the   25th, 
when  the  cooperation  of  the  two  regiments  ceased,  the  Seventh  New  York 
going  on   to   Washington,   and   the    Eighth  Massachusetts    remaining   to 
hold    the    road    they 
had  just  opened.     !'><•- 

fore    their    departure  |^\ 

from  Annapolis,  the 
Jiiiltii;  a  large  steam 
ship  transport,  had 
arrived  there  with 
troops,  and  others 
•speedily  followed. 
General  Scott  ordered 
General  Butler  to  re 
main  there,  hold  the  ANNAPOLIS  JUNCTION  IN  1S61. 
town  and  the  road,  and 

superintend  the  forwarding  of  troops  to  the  Capital.  The  "  Department  of 
Annapolis,"  which  embraced  the  country  twenty  miles  on  each  side  of  the 
railway,  as  far  as  Bladensburg,  was  created,  and  General  Butler  was  placed  in 

1  Fitz  James  O'Brien,  a  young  and  brilliant  writer,  who  afterward  gave  his  life  to  the  cau^e. 


440  THE  NEW   YORK   SEVENTH   IN  WASHINGTON. 

command  of  it,  with  ample  discretionary  powers  to  make  him  a  sort  of 
military  dictator.  This  power,  as  we  shall  observe  presently,  he  used  with 
great  efficiency. 

The  railway  from  Annapolis  Junction  to  Washington  was  uninjured  and 
unobstructed,  and  the  Seventh  Regiment  reached  the  Capital  early  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  25th,  where  they  were  heartily  welcomed  by  the  loyal 
people.  They  were  the  first  troops  that  arrived  at  the  seat  of 
"  AISGI  19'  Government  after  the  sad  tragedy  in  Baltimore  six  days  befere," 
and  they  were  hailed  as  the  harbingers  of  positive  safety  for  the 
Capital.  Although  they  were  wearied  and  footsore,  they  marched  up  Penn 
sylvania  Avenue  with  the  firm  and  united  step  which  always  characterized 
their  parade  marches  in  Broadway,  and  halted  only  when  they  arrived  at 
the  front  of  the  "  White  House,"  whither  they  went  to  pay  homage  to  the 
President,  whom  they  had  come  to  protect  and  support.  Their  discipline 
and  fine  appearance  were  a  marvel,  and  loyal  crowds  followed  them  to  the 
President's  house,  and  filled  the  air  with  vociferous  cheering.1  Then  they 
marched  to  the  Capitol,  and  made  their  quarters  there  ;  and  that  night  the 
anxious  loyal  citizens  of  Washington  went  to  rest  with  a  sense  of  positive 
security.  That  security  was  well  assured  the  next  day,  when  the  Seventh, 
Twelfth,  and  Seventy-first  New  York  Volunteer  Regiments  arrived,  and  re 
ported  the  Fifth,  Eighth,  and  Sixty-ninth  at  Annapolis. 

Baltimore,  in  the  mean  time,  had  become  firmly  grasped  by  the  secession 
ists;  and  the  authorities 
there,  civil  and  military, 
had  prepared  to  dispute  the 
passage  of  any  more  loyal 
troops  through  their  city. 
Armed  men  flocked  into  the 
town  from  the  country,  with 
all  sorts  of  weapons,  scarcely 
knowing  for  what  purpose ; 
while  the  secessionists  in  the 
city  were  organized  for  trea- 


STEAM-GUN. 

J.  R.  Trimble  and  others. 
On  Sunday,  the  21st,  cannon  were  exercised  openly  in  the  streets.  A  remark 
able  piece  of  ordnance,  called  a  steam-gun,  invented  by  Charles  S.  Dickinson, 
and  manufactured  by  Ross  Winans,  a  wealthy  iron-worker  of  Baltimore, 
was  purchased  by  the  city  authorities  at  the  price  of  twenty-five  hundred 
dollars.  Much  was  expected*  of  this  invention,  for  it  was  claimed  that  it 
could  throw  two  hundred  balls  a  minute  a  distance  of  two  miles.  It  was 
supposed  to  be  ball-proof,  and  admirably  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  city 
defense.2  Marshal  Kane,  under  the  direction  of  a  city  ordinance,  passed 

1  This  is  the  almost  universal  testimony.  There  is  one  dissenting  voice.  In  a  letter  to  the  author,  dated 
"Arlington  House,  May  1,  1S61,"  the  writer  says:—"  I  was  in  Washington  the  day  the  Seventh  Kegiment  ar 
rived,  the  one  most  entitled  perhaps  to  a  warm  reception  here,  and  their  march  through  the  city  resembled  a 
funeral  procession.  Not  a  single  cheer  was  raised  from  even  a  small  boy  among  the  motley  crowd  that  fol 
lowed  them,  and  the  countenances  of  the  citizens  were  dark  and  sad.  I  saw  tears  in  the  eyes  of  several.  When 
the  regiment  reached  the  President's  house,  there  was  some  cheering  from  men  hired  for  the  purpose,  I  am 
told.  These  are  plain  facts  and  speak  for  themselves." 

a  This  gun  was  protected  by  a  ball-proof  cone  of  iron,  and,  with  its  motive-power  apparatus,  mounted  on 


EXASPERATION   AGAINST   BALTIMORE.  441 

by  the  Common  Council,  ordered  the  National  flag  to  be  humbled  for 
thirty  days,  by  forbidding  its  display  during  that  time,  under  the  pretense 
that  it  would  cause  "  a  disturbance  of  the  public  peace."  The  old  flag  sud 
denly  disappeared,  and  on  the  day  when  the  order  went  forth,  only  a  single 
banner  was  seen  in  the  harbor  of  Baltimore,  and  that  was  a  secession  ensign 
floating  over  the  steamer  Loyan.  For  a  few  days,  it  seemed  as  if  all 
patriotism,  all  national  feeling  had  suddenly  died  out  in  Maryland,  and  the 
exasperation  felt  toward  the  city  of  Baltimore  in  the  Free-labor  States  was 
intense  and  universal.  The  stand  taken  by  its  authorities  was  perilous  to 
its  very  existence.  That  action  was  considered  a  national  insult ;  and,  so 
long  as  that  gate  stood  barred  across  the  great  highway  to  the  Capital 
against  the  passage  of  troops  summoned  for  its  protection,  the  nation  was 
dishonored.  The  people  could  hardly  be  restrained  from  banding  in  thou 
sands  and  tens  of  thousands,  for  the  purpose  of  opening  that  way.  "Turn 
upon  it  the  guns  of  Fort  McIIenry !"  cried  one. — "  Lay  it  in  ashes !"  cried 
another. — "  Fifty  thousand  men  maybe  raised  in  an  hour,"  exclaimed  a  third, 
"  to  march  through  Baltimore." 

"  Bow  down  in  haste  tliy  euilty  head ! 

God's  wrath  is  swift  and  sore: 
The  sky  with  jrathiTini;  bolts  is  red- 
Cleanse  from  thy  skirts  the  slaughter  shed, 
Or  make  thyself  an  ashen  bed, 

O  Baltimore !" 

wrote  Bayard  Taylor.  And  an  active  citizen  of  Xew  York  (George  Law), 
in  a  letter  to  the  President,  in  which  he  declared  that  the  people  of  the 
Free-labor  States  demanded  of  the  Government  measures  to  open  and  estab 
lish  lines  of  direct  communication  with  the  Capital,  said:  "Unless  this  is 
done,  they  will  be 
compelled  to  take 
the  matter  into 
their  own  hands, 
let  the  consequen 
ces  be  what  they 
may,  and  let  them 
fall  whore  they 
will."  The  same 
sentiment  anima 
ted  the  Govern 
ment  as  soon  as 

it  felt  assured  of  its  own  safety  by  the  presence  of  many  troops,  and 
measures  were  speedily  adopted  for  taking  military  possession  of  Balti 
more.  Preparations  were  made  to  repair  the  burnt  bridges  between  Havre 


four  wheels,  BO  as  to  he  quickly  moved  from  place  to  place.  It  could  be  made  to  project  missiles  of  any  size, 
from  a  bullet  to  a  100-pound  cannon-ball.  It  was  believed  that  one  of  these,  of  musket-ball  caliber,  would 
be  terribly  destructive  in  front  of  an  army,  mowing  down  regiments  like  grass.  It  was  specially  recommended 
for  sea-fights.  Its  efficiency  was  never  tested.  It  was  captured  from  the  insurgents  in  less  than  a  month  after 
the  city  of  Baltimore  purchased  it,  by  Colonel  Jones,  of  the  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment,  when  on  its  way  to 
the  Insurgent  camp  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  was  placed  in  position  to  guard  the  viaduct  over  the  Patuient  of 
the  Washington  Branch  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway. 


* 
442        PLANS   OF   SCOTT   AND   BUTLER   AGAINST  BALTIMORE. 

de  Grace  and  Baltimore ;  and  a  singular  railway  battery  was  constructed  in 
Philadelphia,  to  be  used  for  the  protection  of  the  men  engaged  in  the  work. 
It  was  a  car  made  of  heavy  boiler  iron,  musket-proof,  with  a  24-pound  can 
non  mounted  at  one  end,  on  a  gun-carriage.  This  was  to  fire  grapo,  can 
ister,  and  chain  shot,  while  a  garrison  of  sixty  men  inside  would  have  an 
opportunity  to  employ  musketry,  through  holes  pierced  in  the  sides  and 
ends  for  the  purpose. 

General  Scott  planned  a  grand  campaign  against  Baltimore.     "  I  sup 
pose,"  he  said,  in  a  letter  to  General  Butler,  General  Patterson, 
"  Ai86i 29'     an<^  others,"  "  that  a  column  from  this  place  [Washington]  of 
three  thousand  men,  another  from  York  of  three  thousand  men, 
a  third  from  Perryville,  or  Elkton,  by  land  or  water,  or  both,  of  three  thou 
sand  men,  and  a  fourth  from  Annapolis,  by  water,  of  three  thousand  men, 
might  suffice."     Twelve  thousand  men,  it  was  thought,  might  be  wanted  for 
the  enterprise.     They  were  not  in  hand,  for  at  least  ten  thousand  troops 
were  yet  needed  at  the  capital,  to  give  it  perfect  security.     The  Lieutenant- 
General  thought  some  time  must  elapse  before  the  expedition  could  be  under 
taken  against  the  rebellious  city. 

General  Butler  had  other  views.  He  had  become  satisfied  that  the  seces 
sion  element  in  Baltimore  was  numerically  weak,  and  that  the  Union  men, 
with  a  little  help,,  might  easily  reverse  the  order  of  things  there.  He 
hastened  to  Washington  to  consult  with  General  Scott.  He  did  not  venture 
to  express  any  dissent  to  the  plans  of  the  General-in-chief.  He  simply  asked 
permission  to  take  a  regiment  or  two  from  Annapolis,  march  them  to  the 
Relay  House,  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway,  nine  miles  from  Baltimore, 
and  hold  it,  so  as  to  cut  the  secessionists  off  from  facile  communication  with 
Harper's  Ferry.  It  was  granted.  He  then  inquired,  what  were  the  powers 
of  a  General  commanding  a  Department.  "Absolute,"  replied  the  Lieu- 
tenant-General ;  "  he  can  do  whatever  he  thinks  best,  unless  restricted  by 
specific  orders  or  military  law."1  Butler  ascertained  that  Baltimore  was 
within  his  Military  Department,  and,  fvdth  a  plan  of  bold  operations  teeming 
his  brain,  he  returned  to  Annapolis. 

At  the  close  of  April,  General  Butler  had  full  ten  thousand  men  under 
his  command  at  Annapolis,  and  an  equal  number  were  guarding  the  seat  of 
Government.  Already  the  Unionists  of  Maryland  were  openly  asserting 
their  rights  and  showing  their  strength.  An  extraordinary  session  of  the 
Legislature,  called  by  Governor  Hicks  at  Annapolis,  was  not  held  there, 
for  obvious  reasons,  but  was  opened  on  the  27th,5  at  Fred 
erick,  about  sixty  miles  north  of  Baltimore,  and  far  away  from 
National  troops.  In  his  message  to  that  body,  the  Governor  said  it  was  his 
solemn  conviction  that  the  only  safety  for  Maryland  lay  in  its  maintaining  a 
neutral  position  in  the  controversy,  that  State  having  "  violated  no  right  of 
either  section."  He  said:  "I  cannot  counsel  Maryland  to  take  sides  against 
the  General  Government,  until  it  shall  commit  outrages  upon  us  which  would 
justify  us  in  resisting  its  authority.  As  a  consequence,  I  can  give  no  other 
counsel  than  that  we  shall  array  ourselves  for  Union  and  peace,  and  thus  pre 
serve  our  soil  from  being  polluted  with  the  blood  of  brethren.  Thus,  if  war 

1  Parton. 


OPPOSING   POLITICAL   FORCES   IN  MARYLAND.  443 

must  be  between  the  North  and  the  South,  we  may  force  the  contending 
parties  to  transfer  the  field  of  battle  from  our  soil,  so  that  our  lives  and 
property  may  be  secure." 

The  secessionists  in  the  Legislature,  doubtful  of  gaining  control  of  Mary 
land  by  constitutional  means,  if  not  made  circumspect  by  a  threat,  said  to  have 
been  made  by  General  Butler,  that  he  would  arrest  them  all  if  they  should  pass 
an  Ordinance  of  Secession,  changed  their  tactics.  They  procured  a  vote  against 
the  secession  of  the  State,  and  then  proceeded  to  appoint  a  State  Board  of 
Public  Safety,  which  was  invested  with  full  powers  to  control  the  organiza 
tion  and  direction  of  all  the  military  forces  in  the  commonwealth,  and  to 
44  adopt  measures  for  its  safety,  peace,  and  defense."  The  members  of  the 
Board  were  all'  active  secessionists,  excepting  Governor  Hicks.  They  were 
not  required  to  take  the  usual  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  were  left  free  to  act  in  accordance  with  their  revolutionary  pro 
clivities.  It  was  evident  from  the  composition  of  the  Board,  and  the  char 
acter  of  the  men  who  established  it — men  who  openly  advocated  the  secession 
of  Maryland,  and  uniformly  denounced  the  acts  of  the  National  Government 
as  tyrannical — that  it  was  to  be  used  as  a  revolutionary  machine,  fraught  with 
immense  power  to  do  mischief.  The  loyal  people  of  the  State,  perceiving 
with  amazement  the  practical  patriotism  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Free-labor 
States,  and  feeling  the  tread  of  tens  of  thousands  of  armed  men  hurrying 
across  Maryland  to  the  defense  of  the  Government,  recovered,  in  the  presence 
of  this  new  danger,  from  the  paralysis  produced  by  the  terrible  events  of  the 
19th,  and  were  aroused  to  action.  A  Home  Guard  of  Unionists  was  fo lined  in 
Frederick,  under  the  direct  observation  of  the  disloyal  Legislature.  Similar 
action  was  taken  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  especially  in  the  more  northern 
portion ;  and,  on  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  May,  an  immense  Union  meeting 
was  held  in  Baltimore,  whereat  the  creation  of  the  Board  of  Public  Safety 
and  other  revolutionary  acts  of  the  Legislature  were  heartily  condemned. 
On  the  same  day,  Otho  Scott,  Robert  McLane,  and  W.  .1.  Koss,  a  Committee 
of  that  Legislature,  were  in  Washington,  remonstrating  with  the  President 
and  Secretary  of  War  against  the  military  occupation,  by  National  troops, 
of  the  capital  of  Maryland  and  of  some  of  the  railways  of  the  State,  They 
returned  to  their  constituents  "  painfully  confident,"  they  said,  "that  a  war 
was  to  be  waged  to  reduce  all  the  seceding  States  to  allegiance  to  the  United 
States  Government,  and  that  the  whole  military  power  of  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  would  be  exerted  to  accomplish  that  purpose."1 

General  Butler  was  aware  of  the  latent  force  of  the  Unionism  of  Mary 
land,  and  of  its  initial  developments,  and  felt  that  it  was  time  for  him  to 
move.  He  had  proposed  to  himself  to  do  at  once,  with  a  few  men,  what 
the  Lieutenant-General,  with  more  caution,  had  proposed  to  do  at  some  in 
definite  time  in  the  future,  with  twelve  thousand  men,  namely,  seize  and  hold 
the  city  of  Baltimore.  Accordingly,  on  Saturday  afternoon,  the  4th  of 
May,  while  the  Commissioners  of  the  Maryland  Legislature  were  protesting 
before  the  President  against  Butler's  occupation  of  their  political  capital, 
he  issued  orders  for  the  Eighth  Ne\v  York  and  Sixth  Massachusetts  regi 
ments,  with  Major  A.  M.  Cook's  battery  of  the  Boston  Light  Artillery,  to  be 


1  lieport  of  the  Commissioners.  May  6,  1S61. 


444 


EVENTS   AT   THE   RELAY   HOUSE. 


THE   RELAY   HOUSE    IN   1864. 


ready  to  march  at  two  o'clock  the  next  morning.  These  troops  were  in 
Washington  City.  At  dawn  on  the  5th,  they  left  the  Capital  in  thirty  cars ; 
and  about  two  hours  later  they  alighted  at  the  Relay  House,  within  nine 

miles  of  Baltimore, 
seized  the  rail 
way  station  there, 
spread  over  the 
hills  in  scouting 
parties,  and  pre 
pared  to  plant  can 
non  so  as  to  com- 
man'd  the  Wash 
ington  Junction  of 
the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railway  at 
the  great  viaduct 
over  the  Patapsco 
Valley,  and  the 

roads  leading  to  Baltimore  and  Harper's  Ferry.  General  Butler  accompanied 
the  troops,  and  established  a  camp  on  the  hills,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
the  Relay  House,  near  the  residences  of  P.  O'Hern  and  J.  H.  Luckett.  The 
writer  visited  this  interesting  spot  late  in  1864.  Brigadier-General  John  R. 
Kenly,  whose  meritorious  services  in  Baltimore  will  be  noticed  presently, 
was  then  in  command  there.  On  the  hights  back  of  the  Relay  House, 
near  which  General  Butler  encamped,  was  a  regular  earthwork,  called  Fort 
Dix,  and  a  substantial  block-house  built  of  timber,  which  is  seen  in  our  little 
picture.  It  was  a  commanding  position,  overlooking  the  narrow  valley  of 
the  Patapsco  above  the  viaduct  toward  Ellicott's  mills,  up  which  passes  the 
railway  to  Harper's  Ferry,  and  the  expanding  valley  and  beautifully  rolling 
country  below  the 
viaduct,  wherein 
may  be  seen,  nest 
ling  at  the  foot  of 
hills,  the  ancient 
village  of  Elkridge 
Landing,  to  which, 
in  former  days,  the 
Patapsco  was  navi 
gable.  Near  here, 
on  a  range  of  lofty 
hills  running  north 
ward  from  Elk- 
ridge,  are  the  residences  of  several  gentlemen  of  wealth,  among  them  J.  H. 
B.  Latrobe,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Maryland,  whose  house  may  be  observed 
on  the  wooded  hills  seen  beyond  the  viaduct  in  the  little  accompanying 
picture. 

General  Butler  remained  a  little  more  than  a  week  at  the  Relay  House, 
preparing  to  carry  out  his  plan  for  seizing  Baltimore.  Meanwhile  General 
Patterson,  anxious  to  vindicate  the  dignity  and  honor  of  his  Government, 


GREAT   VIADUCT   AT   THE   WASHINGTON   JUNCTION. 


LOYAL  TROOPS  PASS  THROUGH  BALTIMORE.       445 

and  to  teach  the  secessionists  of  Maryland  a  practical  lesson  of  its  power,  and 
compel  them  to  submit  to  lawful  authority,  sent  the  First  Pennsylvania 
Volunteer  Artillery  (Seventeenth  in  the  line)  and  Sherman's  Battery,  in  all 
nine  hundred  and  thirty  men,  under  the  command  of  his  son,  Francis  E.  Pat 
terson,  to  force  a  passage  through  Baltimore.  These  troops  left  Philadelphia 
on  the  8th  of  May,  and  on  the  following  morning,  accompanied  by  a  portion 
of  the  Third  Infantry  Regiment  of  regulars  from  Texas,  embarked  on  the 
steamers  Faulty  Cadwalader  and  JHitryland^  and  went  down  Chesapeake 
Bay.  The  whole  force  under  Colonel  Patterson  was  about  twelve  hundred. 
They  debarked  at  Locust  Point,  near  Fort  McIIenry,  under  cover  of  the 
guns  of  the  Harriet  Lane  and  a  small  gunboat,  at  about  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  same  day,  in  the  presence  of  the  Mayor  of  Baltimore,  the 
Police  Commissioners,  and  Marshal  Kane  and  a  considerable  police  force.1 
A  counter-revolution  in  public  sentiment  was  then  making  the  Unionists  of 
Maryland  happy.  The  presence  of  troops  at  the  Relay  House  was  promo 
ting  and  stimulating  the  Union  feeling  amazingly,  and  these  troops  landed 
and  passed  through  the  city  on  their  way  toward  Washington  without 
molestation.  The  wharves  were  crowded  with  excited  citizens  when  the 
debarkation  took  place,  and  hundreds  of  these  gave  the  Pennsylvanians 
hearty  shouts  of  welcome.  These  were  the  first  of  that  immense  army  that 
streamed  through  Baltimore  without  hinderance,  thousands  after  thousands, 
while  the  great  war  that  ensued  went  on. 

General  Butler  was  visited  at  the  Relay  House  by  many  Unionists  from 
Baltimore,  who  gave  him  all  desired  information ;  and  he  received  such  com 
munications  from  General  Scott,  on  application,  that  he  felt  warranted  in 
moving  upon  the  town.  lie  had  informed  Scott  of  the  increasing  power  of 
the  Unionists  in  Baltimore;  reminded  him  that  the  city  was  in  the  Depart 
ment  of  Annapolis;  and  expressed  the  belief  that,  with  his  force  in  hand  at 
the  Relay  House,  he  could  march  through  it.  Colonel  (afterward  General) 
Schuyler  Hamilton,  who  had  accompanied  the  Xew  York  Seventh  to  Wash 
ington,  was  then  on  the  staff  of  the  General-in-chief  He  had  learned  the 
metal  of  General  Butler,  and  was  not  inclined  to  cast  any  obstacles  in  his 
way.  The  orders  of  General  Scott,  prepared  by  him,  gave  Butler  permission 
to  arrest  secessionists  in  and  out  of  Baltimore,  prevent  armed  insurgents  from 
going  to  join  those  already  in  force  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  to  look  after  a 
large  quantity  of  gunpowder  said  to  be  stored  in  a  church  in  Baltimore  for 
the  use  of  the  secessionists.  To  do  this,  Butler  must  use  force;  and  as  no 
word  that  came  from  the  General-in-chief  forbade  his  going  into  Baltimore 
with  his  troops,  he  prepared  to  do  so.  Already  a  party  of  the  Sixth  Massa 
chusetts  had  performed  good  service,  in  connection  with  a  company  of  the 
New  York  Eighth  and  two  guns  of  the  Boston  Light  Artillery, 
all  under  Major  Cook,  in  capturing  Winans's  steam-gun  at  Elli- 
cott's  Mills,'1  together  with  Dickinson,-  the  inventor.  Butler  had 
promised  Colonel  Jones,  of  the  Sixth,  which  had  fought  its  way  through  Bal- 


1  It  Is  related  that  when  the  troops  landed.  Marshal  Kane,  with  a  false  pretense  of  loyalty,  approached 
Major  Sherman  of  the  battery,  and  said:  "  Can  I  be  of  any  assistance  to  you.  Major?"—"  Who  are  you.  Sir?"  in 
quired  Sherman. — "  I  am  Marshal  of  the  Police  of  Baltimore."  he  replied,  "and  would  render  any  assistance." 
— "  O,  yes."  Sherman  replied.  "  we  have  hoard  of  you  in  the  repion  from  whence  we  came  ;  we  have  no  need  of 
you.  We  can  help  ourselves."  The  Marshal  retired,  with  all  his  force,  an  object  of  supreme  contempt. 

a  See  pajfe  440.     Winans  was  an  aired  man,  a  thorough  secessionist,  and  worth,  it  was  estimated,  about 


446 


BUTLER'S   DESCENT   UPON  BALTIMORE. 


timore  on  the  1 9th  of  April,  that  his  regiment  should  again  march  through 
that  city,  and  now  it  was  invited  to  that  duty. 

Toward  the  evening  of  the  13th,  the  entire  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regi 
ment,  and  a  part  of  the  New  York  Eighth,  with  the  Boston  Light  Artillery 
men  and  two  field-pieces — about  one  thousand  men  in  all — and  horses 
belonging  to  the  General  and  his  staff,  were  on  a  train  of  cars  headed  toward 
Harper's  Ferry.  Before  this  train  was  a  short  one,  bearing  fifty  men,  who 
were  ordered  up  to  Frederick  to  arrest  Winans.  When  these  trains  moved 
up  along  the  margin  of  the  Patapsco  Valley,  a  spy  of  the  Baltimore  conspira 
tors  started  for  that  city  with  two  fast  trotting  horses,  to  carry  the  important 
information.  The  trains  moved  slowly  for  about  two  miles,  and  then  backed 
as  slowly  to  the  Relay  House,  and  past  it,  and  at  twilight  had  backed  to  the 
Camden  Street  Station  in  Baltimore.  Intensely  black  clouds  in  the  van  of 
an  approaching  thunder-storm  were  brooding  over  the  city,  threatening  a 


FEDERAL   HILL   IN   MAY,    1861. ] 


fierce  tempest,  and  few  persons  were  abroad,  or  aware  of  this  portentous 
arrival.  The  Mayor  was  informed  of  it  in  the  course  of  the  evening,  and  at 
once  wrote  a  note  to  General  Butler,  saying  that  the  sudden  arrival  of  a  large 
body  of  troops  would  create  much  surprise,  and  he  would  like  to  know 
whether  the  General  intended  to  remain  at  the  station,  that  the  police  might 
be  notified,  and  take  proper  precautions  for  preserving  the  peace.  Butler 
and  his  troops  had  disappeared  in  the  gloom  when  the  messenger  with  this 
note  arrived  at  the  Station;  but  the  inquiry  was  fully  answered,  to  the  aston 
ishment  of  the  whole  city,  loyal  and  disloyal,  early  the  next  morning,  by  a 
proclamation  from  the  General  in  the  columns  of  the  faithful  Clipper,  dated 
"Federal  Hill,  Baltimore,  May  14,  1861,"  in  which  it  was  announced  that  a 
detachment  under  his  command  occupied  the  city,  "for  the  purpose,  among 
other  things,  of  enforcing  respect  and  obedience  to  the  laws,  as  well  of  the 


fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  It  was  reported  that  he  contributed  largely  in  aid  of  the  revolutionists  ;  and  that, 
among  other  things  for  their  use,  he  manufactured  five  thousand  pikes  in  his  iron-works.  He  was  arrested  on  a 
charge  of  treason,  but  the  lenient  Government  released  him. 

1  This  is  a  view  of  Federal  Hill  before  General  Butler  occupied  it.  It  was  so  named,  because,  upon  its 
summit,  there  was  a  grand  celebration  in  honor  of  the  final  ratification  of  the  "  Federal"  or  National  Constitu 
tion,  in  1788.  It  overlooks  the  harbor  ;  and  upon  it  was  a  telegraphic  station,  th«  old-fashioned  semaphorio 
apparatus  being  used.  It  is  seen  toward  the  left  of  the  picture. 


MILITARY   OCCUPATION   OF  FEDERAL   HILL.  447 

State,  if  requested  thereto  by  the  civil  authorities,  as  of  the  United  States 
laws,  which  are  being  violated  within  its  limits  by  some  malignant  and 
traitorous  men  ;  and  in  order  to  testify  the  acceptance  by  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  of  the  fact,  that  the  city  and  all  the  well-intentioned  portion  of  its 
inhabitants  are  loyal  to  the  Union  and  the  Constitution,  and  are  to  be  so 
regarded  and  treated  by  all." 

How  came  Butler  and  his  men  on  Federal  Hill?  was  a  question  upon  thou 
sands  of  lips  on  that  eventful  morning.  They  had  moved  stealthily  from  the 
station  in  the  gloom,  at  halt-past  seven  in  the  evening,  piloted  by  Colonel  Rob 
ert  Hare,  of  Ellicott's  Mills,  and  Captain  McConnell,  through  Lee,  Hanover, 
Montgomery,  and  Light  Streets,  to  the  foot  of  Federal  Hill.  The  night  was 
intensely  dark,  made  so  by  the  impending  storm.  The  flashes  of  lightning 
and  peals  of  thunder  were  terrific,  but  the  rain  was  withheld  until  they  had 
nearly  reached  their  destination.  Then  it  came  like  a  flood,  just  as  they 
commenced  the  ascent  of  the  declivity.  "The  spectacle  was  grand,"  said 
the  General  to  the  writer,  while 
on  the  B<  n  J)(f<>rd,  lying  on" 
Fort  Fisher  one  pleasant  evening 
iii  December,  1804.  "I  was- the 
first  to  reach  the  summit.  The 
rain  was  falling  in  immense  vol 
umes,  and  the  lightning  flashes 
followed  each  other  in  rapid  suc 
cession,  making  the  point  of 

every  bayonet  in  that  slow-mov-  ,,  ,,,.,..„  IIKAI).gl.ARTEIW 

ing  column  appear  like  a  tongue 
of  flame,  and  the  burnished  brass  cannon  like  sheets  of  fire." 

Officers  and  men  were  thoroughly  drenched,  and  on  the  summit  of  the 
hill  they  found  very  little  shelter.  A  house  of  refreshment,  with  a  long 
upper  and  lower  piazza,  kept  by  a  German,  was  taken  possession  of  and 
made  the  General's  head-quarters  ;  and  there,  dripping  with  the  rain,  he  sat 
down  and  wrote  his  proclamation,  which  appeared  in  the  morning.  His  men 
had  procured  wood  when  the  storm  ceased,  lighted  fires,  and  were  making 
themselves  comfortable.  At  eight  o'clock,  long  after  his  proclamation  had 
been  scattered  over  the  town,  he  received  the  Mayor's  message  of  the  pre 
vious  evening.  Important  events  had  transpired  since  it  was  written,  twelve 
hours  before.  The  Massachusetts  Sixth  had  again  marched  through  Balti 
more,  not,  as  before,  the  objects  of  assault  by  a  brutal  mob,  but  as  a  potential 
force,  to  hold  that  mob  and  all  others  in  subserviency  to  law  and  order,  and 
welcomed  as  deliverers  by  thousands  ot  loyal  citizens. 

So  confident  was  General  Butler  in  the  moral  and  physical  strength  of  his 
position,  and  of  the  salutary  influence  of  his  proclamation,  in  which  he 
promised  security  to  the  peaceful  and  true,  punishment  to  the  turbulent  and 
false,  and  justice  to  all,  that  he  rode  through  the  city  with  his  staff  on  the 
day  after  his  arrival,  dined  leisurely  at  the  Gillmore  House,  and  had  confer 
ences  with  friends.  In  that  proclamation  he  forbade  transportation  of  sup 
plies  to  the  insurgents ;  asked  for  commissary  stores,  at  fair  prices,  to  the 
amount  of  forty  thousand  rations,  and  also  clothing;  forbade  all  assemblages 
of  irregular  military  organizations  ;  directed  State  military  officers  to  report 


448 


BUTLER   RECALLED   FROM  BALTIMORE. 


to  him ;  offered  aid  to  the  corporate  authorities  of  Baltimore,  in  the  due 
administration  of  law  ;  forbade  the  display  of  any  secession  flags  or  banners  ; 
and  assured  the  people  that  he  had  such  confidence  in  their  loyalty  that  of  the 
many  thousands  of  troops  which  he  might  immediately  concentrate  there,  he 
had  come  with  scarcely  more  than  a  guard.  He  made  some  important  seiz 
ures  of  materials  of  war  intended  for  the  insurgents  j1  cast  Ross  Winans  into 
Fort  McHenry,  in  accordance  with  orders  from  Washington,  and  was  pre 
paring  to  try  him  by  court-martial  for  his  alleged  crimes,  when  a  letter, 
bearing  a  sting  of  reproof,  came  from  General  Scott,  saying : — "  Your 
hazardous  occupation  of  Baltimore  was  made  without  my -knowledge,  and, 
of  course,  without  my  approbation.  It  is  a  God-send  that  it  was  without  a 
conflict  of  arms.  It  is  also  reported  that  you  have  sent  a  detachment  to 
Frederick,  but  this  is  impossible.  Not  a  word  have  I  heard  from  you  as  to 
either  movement.  Let  me  hear  from  you." 

The  operations  of  a  night  with  a  thousand  men  and  a  ready  pen  had  made 
a  future  campaign  with  twelve  thousand  men,  which  the  Geueral-in-chief  had 
planned,  unnecessary.     The  Lieutenant-General 
thought    that    the    Brigadier    had    used    too 
daringly  the   "absolute"  power  accorded  to  a 
"  commander    of    a   department,"   unless    "  re 
stricted   by  specific    orders   or  military  law," 
and  overlooking,  for  the  moment,  the  immense 
advantages  gained  for  the  Gov 
ernment    by    such    exercise   of 
power,  he  insisted  upon  the  re- 
call  of  General  Butler  from  Bal 
timore.     It  was  done.     Viewed 
in  the  light  of  to-day,  that  recall 
appears  like  an  almost  fatal  mis 
take.      "I  always  said,"    wrote 
Mr.  Cameron,  then  Secretary  of 
War,  from  St.  Petersburg,  many 
months  afterward,  "  that  if  you 

had  been  left  in  Baltimore,  the  rebellion  would  have  been  of  short 
duration."2 

There  was  no  rebuke   in  President  Lincoln's  recall  of  General   Butler 


THE   DEPARTMENT   OF    ANNAPOLIS. 


1  General  Butler  ascertained  that  a  larce  quantity  of  arms,  in  charge  of  the  city  authorities,  were  stored  in 
a  warehouse  on  the  corner  of  Gay  and  Second  Streets,  and  he  sent  Colonel  Hare,  with  thirty-five  soldiers,  to 
demand  their  surrender  into  his  custody.  This  force  reached  the  warehouse  at  about  four  o'clock  in  the  after 
noon,  where  three  policemen  were  found  in  charge.  Hare  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  building  and  its  con 
tents,  in  the  name  of  the  National  Government.  The  policemen  refused  compliance,  until  they  should  receive 
orders  to  that  effect  from  Marshal  Kane,  to  whom  word  was  immediately  sent.  A  large  crowd  rapidly  collected 
at  the  spot,  but  were  quiet.  Kane  soon  appeared,  with  a  deputy  marshal  and  several  policemen,  when  Hare,  in 
the  name  of  General  Butler,  repeated  the  demand  for  a  surrender.  Kane  replied  that  he  could  not  do  so  with 
out  the  sanction  of  the  Police  Commissioners.  In  the  mean  time,  Commissioner  J.  W.  Davis  had  arrived,  and, 
after  consultation,  he  hastened  to  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Police,  when  that  body  determined  to  surrender  the 
arms  under  protest,  and  they  did  so.  The  doors  of  the  warehouse  were  then  opened,  and  thirty -five  drays  and 
furniture  wagons  were  employed  in  carrying  away  the  arms.  They  were  in  boxes,  ready  for  shipment  to  the 
insurgents  in  Virginia  or  elsewhere,  and  consisted  of  two  thousand  two  hundred  muskets,  and  four  thousand 
and  twenty  pikes  or  spears,  manufactured  by  Winans.  While  the  vehicles  were  a-loading,  the  crowd,  which 
had  become  large,  were  somewhat  agitated  by  persons  who  desired  a  collision,  but  there  was  very  little  dis 
turbance  of  any  kind.  The  arms  were  taken  to  Federal  Hill,  and  from  there  to  Fort  McHenry. 

3  Parton's  General  Butler  at  New  Orleans,  page  117. 


THE   PRESIDENT   EXERCISES  WAR   POWERS.  449 

from  Baltimore,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  General  Scott.  On 
the  contrary,  it  had  the  appearance  of  commendation,  for  he  immediately 
offered  him  the  commission  of  a  Major-General  of  Volunteers,  and  the  com 
mand  of  a  much  more  extended  military  district,  including  Eastern  Virginia 
and  the  two  Carolinas,  with  his  head-quarters  at  Fortress  Monroe.  He  was 
succeeded  in  command  at  Baltimore  by  General  Cad \valader,  of  Philadel 
phia,  and  the  troops  were  temporarily  withdrawn.  Afterward  the  Fifth 
New  York  Regiment  (Zouave),  Colonel  Abraham  Duryce,  occupied  Federal 
Hill,  and  thereon  built  the  strong  earthwork  known  as  Fort  Federal  Hill, 
whose  cannon  commanded  both  the  town  and  Fort  McIIenry. 

The  14th  of  May  was  a  memorable  one  in  the  annals  of  Maryland,  as  the 
time  when  the  tide  of  secession,  which  for  weeks  had  been  threatening  to 
ingulf  it  in  revolution,  was  absolutely  checked,  and  the  Unionists  of  the 
State  were  placed  upon  solid  vantage-ground,  from  which  they  were  never 
driven  a  line,  but  were  strengthened  every  hour.  On  that  day  General 
Butler  broke  the  power  of  the  conspirators,  by  the  military  occupation  of 
Baltimore  and  the  promulgation  of  his  proclamation,  which  disarmed  treason. 
On  that  day  the  dangerously  disloyal  Legislature  adjourned,  and  Governor 
Hicks,  relieved  of  the  pressure  of  rampant  treachery  around  him,  and  assured 
by  the  Secretary  of  War  that  Maryland  troops  would  not  be  ordered  out  of 
the  State,  issued  a  proclamation  calling  for  the  four  regiments  named  in  the 
Secretary's  requisition  for  militia  as  the  quota  of  that  Commonwealth. 
Thenceforth  the  tongues  of  loyal  Marylanders  were  unloosed,  and  treason 
became  weaker  every  hour;  and  their  State  was  soon  numbered  among 
the  stanchest  of  loyal  Commonwealths,  outstripping  in  practical  patriotism 
Delaware,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri.  On  that  eventful  14th  of  May,  the 
veteran  Major  W.  W.  Morris,  in  command  at  Fort  McIIenry.  near  Balti 
more  (which  had  lately  been  well  garrisoned),  first  gave  practical  force  to  the 
suspension  of  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habetm  citrons,  which  the  exigency 
of  the  times  seemed  to  give  constitutional  sanction  for.1  A  man  claiming  to 
l)e  a  soldier  of  the  Maryland  State  Militia,  was  imprisoned  in  Fort  McIIenry. 
Judge  Giles,  of  Baltimore,  issued  a  writ  of  habeas  corjms  for  his  release, 
which  Major  Morris  refused  to  obey.  His  letter  to  the  Judge  was  a  spirited 
protest  against  the  treasonable  practices  around  him,  and  seemed  to  be  a  full 
justification  of  his  action.  "At  the  date  of  issuing  your  writ,"  he  said,  "and 
for  two  weeks  previous,  the  city  in  which  you  live,  and  where  your  court  lias 
been  held,  was  entirely  under  the  control  of  revolutionary  authorities. 
Within  that  period  United  States  soldiers,  while  committing  no  offense,  had 
Tjeeii  perfidiously  attacked  and  inhumanly  murdered  in  your 
streets  ;a  no  punishment  had  been  awarded,  and,  I  believe,  no 
arrests  had  been  made  for  these  atrocious  crimes  ;8  supplies  of 
provisions  intended  for  this  garrison  had  been  stopped ;  the  intention  to  cap- 

1  The  second  clause  of  the  ninth  section  of  the  first  Article  of  the  National  Constitution  says: — uThc 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless  when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the 
public  safety  may  require  it." 

3  In  the  Maryland  Legislature,  S.  T.  Wallis  moved — "That  the  measures  adopted  and  conduct  pursued  by 
the  authorities  of  the  City  of  Baltimore,  on  Friday,  the  19th  of  April,  and  since  that  time,  be,  and  the  same  are 
hereby,  made  valid  by  the  General  Assembly."  This  would  cover  the  conspirators  and  their  tools,  the  mob, 
from  punishment.  In  furtherance  of  this  project  for  shielding  the  guilty,  T.  Parkins  Scott  proposed,  in  Ui«  Fam« 
body,  a  bill  to  suspend  the  operations  of  the  criminal  laws,  and  that  the  Grand  Jury  should  be  stopped  from 
finding  indictments  against  any  of  the  offenders. — Baltimore  Clipper,  June  23,  1S61. 

VOL.  L— 29 


450 


IMPRISONMENT   OF   ALLEGED   DISLOYALISTS. 


ture  this  fort  had  been  boldly  proclaimed  ;  your  most  public  thoroughfares 
were  daily  patrolled  by  large  numbers  of  troops,  armed  and  clothed,  at  least 
in  part,  with  articles  stolen  from  the  United  States ;  and  the  Federal  flag, 
while  waving  over  the  Federal  offices,  was  cut  down  by  some  person  wear 
ing  the  uniform  of  a  Maryland  soldier.1  To  add  to  the  foregoing,  an  assem 
blage  elected  in  defiance  of  law,  but  claiming  to  be  the  legislative  body  of 
your  State,  and  so  recognized  by  the  Executive  of  Maryland,  was  debating 
the  Federal  compact.  If  all  this  be  not  rebellion,  I  know  not  what  to  call  it. 
I  certainly  regard  it  as  sufficient  legal  cause  for  suspending  the  privilege  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus"  He  added : — "  If,  in  an  experience  of  thirty- 
three  years,  you  have  never  before  known  the  writ  to  be  disobeyed,  it  is  only 
because  such  a  contingency  in  political  affairs  as  the  present  has  never  before 
arisen." 

Since  the  19th  of  April,  the  Government  had  felt  compelled  to  resort  to 
extraordinary  measures  for  its  preservation,  and  much  was  done  "  without 
due  form  of  law,"  excepting  what  the  exercise  of  the  war  powers  of  the 
President  might  justify.  On  the  day  after  the  massacre  at  Baltimore,  the 


VIEW    OF    FORT   M  HENRY. 


original  dispatches  in  the  telegraph  offices  in  all  the  principal  cities  in  the 
Free-labor  States,  received  during  a  year  previously,  were,  by 
order  of  the  Government,  issued  on  the  19th,"  seized  by  the  United 
States  Marshals  at  the  same  hour,  namely,  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon.  The  object  was,  to  obtain  evidence  of  the  complicity  of  politicians 
in  those  States  with  the  conspirators.  Every  dispatch  that  seemed  to  indicate 
such  complicity  was  sent  to  Washington,  and  the  Government  was  furnished 
with  such  positive  evidence  of  active  sympathy  with  the  insurgents  that  the 
offenders  became  exceedingly  cautious  and  far  less  mischievous.  At  about 
the  same  time,  the  necessity  for  arresting  and  imprisoning  seditious  persons 
in  the  Free-labor  States  seemed  clear  to  the  apprehension  of  the  Govern 
ment,  and  such  were  made  on  simply  the  warrant  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 
These  offenders  were  confined  in  Fort  McHenry,  at  Baltimore ;  Fort  Lafay 
ette,  near  New  York,  and  Fort  Warren,  in  Boston  harbor.  Writs  of  habeas 


1  This  was  also  done  on  Federal  Hill,  a  few  days  before  the  arrival  of  General  Butler,  by  order  of  Marshal 
Kane.  A  bold  Union  boy,  standing  near  when  the  work  was  accomplished,  exclaimed: — "  Why  don't  yon  try 
your  hand  on  that  flag?"  pointing  to  the  one  floating  over  Fort  MeHenry.  The  boy  saved  himself  from  pun 
ishment  by  the  secessionists  by  superior  fleetness  of  foot. 


AID   FOR   THE   GOVERNMENT   SUPPLIED.  451 

corpus  were  issued  for  their  release.  At  first  some  of  them  were  obeyed, 
but  finally,  by  order  of  the  Government,  they  were  disregarded,  and  their 
issue  ceased.  The  most  notable  of  these  cases,  at  the  beginning,  was  that 
of  John  Merryman,  a  member  of  the  Maryland  Legislature,  who  was  cast 
into  Fort  McIIenry  late  in  May.  The  Chief- Justice  of  the  United  States 
(R.  B.  Taney),  residing  in  Baltimore,  took  action  in  the  matter,  but  General 
Cadwalader,  the  commander  of  the  department,  refused  to  obey  the  man 
dates  of  this  functionary,  as  well  as  that  of  the  inferior  judge,  and  the  matter 
was  dropped,  excepting  in  the  form  of  personal,  newspaper,  and  legislative 
discussions  of  the  subject,  the  chief  questions  at  issue  being,  Which  branch 
of  the  Government  has  the  power  to  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ?  and 
Do  circumstances  warrant  the  exercise  of  that  power  ?  We  will  not  discuss 
that  question  here.  Many  arrests  were  made ;  among  them  a  large  number 
of  the  members  of  the  Maryland  Legislature,  the  Mayors  of  Baltimore  and 
Washington,  Marshal  Kane  and  the  Police  Commissioners  of  Baltimore,  and 
a  number  of  other  prominent  men  throughout  the  country.  Within  the  space 
of  six  months  after  the  tragedy  in  Baltimore,  no  less  than  one  hundred  pris 
oners  of  state,  to  whom  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  ftabeds  corpus  was  denied, 
\vere  confined  in  Fort  Lafayette  alone. 

The  Government  not  onjy  resorted  to  these  extreme  measures,  but  made 
greater  preparations  for  a  conflict  of  arms,  plainly  perceiving  that  insurrec 
tion,  was  rapidly  assuming  the  proportions  of  formidable  and  extended 
rebellion.  By  a  proclamation  on  the  27th  of  April,  the  blockade1  was 
extended  to  the  ports  of  Xorth  Carolina  and  Virginia;  and  by  another 
proclamation  on  the  3d  of  May,  the  President  called  into  the  service  of  the 
United  States  forty-two  thousand  volunteers  for  three  years ;  ordered  an 
increase  of  the  regular  Army  of  twenty-two  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
fourteen  officers  and  enlisted  men,  for  not  less  than  one  year  nor  more  than 
three  years ;  and  for  the  enlistment  of  eighteen  thousand  seamen  for  the 
naval  service.  This  was  the  first  call  for  volunteers^  the  former  requisition 
being  for  the  militia  of  the  several  States,5  full  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
of  whom  were  organized  or  were  forming  at  the  close  of  April.  The  response 
to  this  was  equally  if  not  more  remarkable.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  people 
was  unbounded.  Money  and  men  were  offered  in  greater  abundance  than 
the  Government  seemed  to  need.  The  voluntary  contributions  offered  to  the 
public  treasury,  and  for  the  fitting  out  of  troops  and  maintaining  their  fami 
lies,  by  individuals,  associations,  and  corporations,  amounted,  at  the  beginning 
of  May,  to  full/'o/Vy  millions  of  dollars! 

Six  weeks  earlier  than  this,  that  sagacious  Frenchman,  Count  Agonor  de 
Gasparin,  one  of  the  few  foreigners  who  seemed  to  comprehend  the  American 
people,  and  the  nature  and  significance  of  the  impending  struggle,  wrote, 
almost  prophetically,  saying  : — u  At  the  present  hour,  the  Democracy  of  the 
South  is  about  to  degenerate  into  demagogism.  But  the  North  presents 
quite  a  different  spectacle.  Mark  what  is  passing  there ;  pierce  beneath  ap* 
pearances,  beneath  the  inevitable  wavering  of  a  debut,  so  well  prepared  for 


1  See  page  872. 

*  The  Act  of  1795.  under  the  authority  of  which  the  President  called  for  seventy-five  thousand  militia,  re 
stricted  their  service  to  three  months.     See  nott-3  2  and  8,  page  336. 


452 


MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  NATIONAL  CAPITAL. 


by  the  preceding  Administration,  and  you  will  find  the  firm  resolution  of  a 
people  uprising.  Who  speaks  of  the  end  of  the  United  States  ?  This  end 
seemed  approaching  but  lately,  in  the  hour  of  prosperity ;  then,  honor  was 
compromised,  esteem  for  the  country  was  lowered,  institutions  were  becom 
ing  corrupted  apace ;  the  moment  seemed  approaching  when  the  confedera 
tion,  tainted  with  Slavery,  could  not  but  perish  with  it.  Now,  every  thing 
has  changed  in  aspect.  The  friends  of  America  should  take  confidence,  for 
its  greatness  is  inseparable,  thank  God !  from  the  cause  of  justice.  Justice 
can  not  do  wrong.  I  like  to  recall  this  maxim,  when  I  consider  the  present 
state  of  America."1 

At  the  middle  of  May,  Washington  City  was  safe,  for  thousands  of  well- 
armed  loyal  men  were  within  its  borders.  Troops  were  quartered  in  the 
immense  Patent  Office  building.  The  Capitol  was  a  vast  citadel  Its  legis 
lative  halls,  its  rotunda,  and  other  rooms  were  filled  with  soldiery,  and  its  base 
ment  galleries  were  converted  into  store-rooms  for  barrels  of  beef,  pork,  and 
other  materials  for  army  rations  in  great  abundance.  Under  the  direction  of 
Lieutenant  T.  J.  Cate,  of  the  Massachusetts  Sixth,  the  vaults  under  the  broad 

terrace  on  the  west 
ern  front  of  the 
Capitol  were  con 
verted  into  bakeries, 
where  sixteen  thou 
sand  loaves  of  bread 
were  baked  every 
day.  The  chimneys 
of  the  ovens  pierced 
the  terrace  at  the 
junction  of  the  free 
stone  pavement  and 
the  grassy  slope  of 
the  glacis,  as  seen  in 
the  picture ;  and 
p!  there,  for  months, 
smoke  poured  forth 
in  dense  black  col 
umns  like  the  issues  of  a  smoldering  volcano.  Before  the  summer  had 
begun,  Washington  City  was  an  immense  garrisoned  town,  and  strong  fortifi- 


GOVERNMENT   BAKERIES   AT  THE   CAPITOU 


1  Tfie  Uprising  of  a  Great  People  :  by  Count  Agenor  de  Gasparin.  Translated  by  Mary  L.  Booth.  These 
sentences  were  written  in  March,  1S61,  just  after  President  Lincoln's  Inaugural  Address  reached  Europe,  and 
when  the  legislative  proceedings  and  public  meetings  in  the  Free-labor  States  were  just  made  known  there, 
and  gave  assurance  that  the  great  body  of  the  Nation  was  loyal  and  would  sustain  the  incoming  Administration. 
Speaking  of  the  departure  of  Mr.  Lincoln  for  Washington,  and  the  farewell  to  his  friends  and  neighbors,  mentioned 
on  page  275,  the  Count  exclaims :  "What  a,  debut  for  a  Government!  Have  there  been  many  inaugurations 
here  below  of  such  thrilling  solemnity  ?  Do  uniforms  and  plumes,  the  roar  of  cannon,  triumphal  arches,  and 
vague  appeals  to  Providence,  equal  these  simple  words,  '  Pray  for  me!1  '  We  will  pray  for  you.1  Ah!  courage, 
Lincoln  !  the  friends  of  freedom  and  of  America  are  with  you.  Courage  !  you  hold  in  your  hands  the  destinies 
of  a  great  principle  and  of  a  great  people.  Courage !  you  have  to  resist  your  friends  and  to  face  yonr  foes  :  it 
is  the  fate  of  all  who  seek  to  do  good  on  the  earth.  Courage!  you  will  have  need  of  it  to-morrow,  in  a  year, 
to  the  end ;  you  will  have  need  of  it  in  peace  and  in  war ;  you  will  have  need  of  it  to  avert  the  compromise,  in 
peace  or  war,  of  that  noble  progress  which  it  is  your  charge  to  accomplish,  more  than  in  conquests  of  Slavery! 
Courage!  your  rble,  as  you  have  said,  may  be  inferior  to  no  other,  not  even  to  that  of  Washington  :  to  raise  up 
the  United  States  will  not  be  less  glorious  than  to  have  founded  them." 


PREPARATIONS  OF  THE  CONSPIRATORS  FOR  WAR.     453 

cations  were  rapidly  growing  upon  the  hills  around  it.     And  yet  the  con 
spirators  still  dreamed  of  possessing  it.     Two  days  after  their  Convention  at 
Montgomery  adjourned  to  meet  in  Richmond  on  the  20th  of  July, 
Alexander  II.  Stephens,  in  a  speech  at  Atlanta,"  in  Georgia,  after 
referring  to  the  occupation  of  the  National  edifices  at  Washington 
by  the  soldiery,  said: — "Their  filthy  spoliation  of  the  public  buildings  and 
the  works  of  art  at  the  Capitol,  and  their  preparations  to  destroy  them,  are 
strong  evidences  to  my  mind  that  they  do  not  intend  to  hold  or  defend  that 
place,  but  to  abandon  it,  after  having  despoiled  and  laid  it  in  ruins.     Let 
them  destroy  it,  savage-like,  if  they  will.     We  will  rebuild  it.     We  will 
make  the  structures  more  glorious.     Phenix-like,  new  and  more  substantial 
structures  will  rise  from  its  ashes.     Planted  anew,  under  the  auspices  of  our 
superior  institutions,  it  will  live  and  flourish  throughout  all  ages." 

At  the  beginning  of  May,  by  fraud,  by  violence,  and  by  treachery,  the 
conspirators  and  their  friends  had  robbed  the  Government  to  the  amount  of 
forty  millions  of  dollars  ;  put  about  forty  thousand  armed  men  in  the  field, 
twenty-five  thousand  of  whom  were  at  that  period  concentrating  in  Virginia; 
sent  emissaries  abroad,  with  the  name  of  Commissioners,  to  seek  recognition 
and  aid  from  foreign  powers;  commissioned  numerous  pirates  to  prey  upon 
the  commerce  of  the  United  States ;  extinguished  the  lights  of  light-houses 
and  beacons  along  the  coasts  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  from  Hampton  Roads 
to  the  Rio  Grande,1  and  enlisted  actively  in  their  revolutionary  schemes  the 
Governors  of  thirteen  States,  and  large  numbers  of  leading  politicians  in 
other  States.  INSURRECTION  had  become  REHKLLIOX;  and  the  loyal  people 
of  the  country,  and  the  National  Government,  beginning  to  comprehend  the 
magnitude  and  potency  of  the  movement,  accepted  it  as  such,  and  addressed 
themselves  earnestly  to  the  task  of  its  suppression. 

1  The  light-houses  anil  beacons  seized,  and  lights  extinguished,  commencing  with  that  on  Cape  Henry,  in 
Virginia,  and  ending  with  Point  Isabel,  in  Texas,  numbered  one  hundred  and  thirty-one.  Of  these,  thirteen 
•were  in  Virginia,  twenty-seven  in  North  Carolina,  fourteen  in  South  Carolina,  thirteen  in  Georgia,  eighteen  in 
.Florida,  eight  iu  Alabama,  twenty-four  in  Louisiana,  and  fourteen  in  Texas. 


454 


OHIO  PREPARING  FOR   WAR. 


CHAPTEE    XIX. 


April  15 
1861. 


EVENTS   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY.— THE  INDIANS. 

HILE  thousands  of  the  loyal  people  of  New  England  and  of 
the  other  Free-labor  States  eastward  of  the  Alleghanies  were 
hurrying  to  the  field,  and  pouring  out  their  wealth  like  water 
in  support  of  the  Government,  those  of  the  region  westward 
of  these  lofty  hills  and  northward  of  the  Ohio  River  were 
equally  patriotic  and  demonstrative.  They  had  watched 
with  the  deepest  interest  the  development  of  the  conspiracy 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  Republic,  and  when  the  President's 
call  for  the  militia  of  the  country  to  arrest  the  treasonable 
movements  reached  them,  they  responded  to  it  with  alacrity  by  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands. 

The  Legislature  of  Ohio,  as  we  have  observed,  had  spoken  out  early,1  and 
pledged  the  resources  of  the  State  to  the  maintenance  of  the  authority  of 
the  National  Government.  This  pledge  was  reiterated,  in  substance,  on  the 
14th  of  March,  when  that  body,  by  vote,  declared  its  high  approval  of  Presi 
dent  Lincoln's  Inaugural  Address.  On  the  day  when  Fort  Sumter 
was  attacked,"  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  providing  for  the  enroll 
ment  of  the  militia  of  the  State,  became  a  law  ;  likewise  another, 
for  the  regulation  of  troops  to  be  mustered  into  the  National  service.  Pro 
vision  was  also  made  for  the  defense  of  the  State,  whose  peace  was  liable 
to  disturbance  by  parties  from  the  Slave-labor  States  of  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky,  between  whom  and  Ohio  was  only  the  dividing  line  of  a  narrow  river. 
Appropriations  for  war  purposes  were  made  on  a  liberal  scale ;  and  when  the 
twenty  days,  allowed  by  the  President  in  his  proclamation  for  the  insurgents 
to  lay  down  their  arms,2  had  expired,  a  stirring  order  went  out  from  the 
Adjutant-General  of  the  State  (H.  B.  Carrington),  for  the  organization  of 
one  hundred  thousand  men  as  a  reserved  force ;  for  sagacious  observers 
of  the  signs  of  the  times,  like  Governor  Dennison,  plainly  perceived  that 
a  great  war  was  impending.  The  people  contributed  freely  of  their  means, 
for  fitting  out  troops  and  providing  for  their  families.  George  B.  McClellan, 
who  had  held  the  commission  of  captain  by  brevet  after  meritorious  services 
in  Mexico,  but  was  now  in  civil  service  as  superintendent  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Railway,  was  commissioned  a  major-general  by  the  Governor, 
and  appointed  commander  of  all  the  forces  of  the  State.  Camps  for  rendez 
vous  and  instruction  were  speedily  formed,  one  of  the  most  important  of 
which  was  Camp  Dennison.  on  the  line  of  the  Cincinnati  and  Columbus  Rail 
way,  and  occupying  a  position  on  the  pleasant  slopes  of  the  hills  that  skirt 


1  See  page  211. 


2  See  page  336. 


INDIANA   READY   FOR   THE   CONFLICT. 


455 


the  Miami  Valley,  about  eighteen  miles  from  Cincinnati.     So  Ohio  began  to 
prepare  for  the  struggle. 

The  people  of  Indiana  moved  as  promptly  and  vigorously   as  those  of 
Ohio.     In  March,  the  vigilant  Governor  Morton,  seeing  the  storm  gathering, 


went  to  Washington  and  procured  about  five  thousand  second-class  muskets. 
These  and  a  few  others  formed  all  the  means  at  his  command  for  arming  the 
State,  when  the  President's  call  reached  him  on  Monday,  the  15th  of  April. 
The  militia  of  the  State  were  unorganized,  and  there  was  no  Adjutant-Gen 
eral  to  whom  he  might  turn  for  aid,  for  the  incumbent  of  that  office  refused 
to  act.  At  that  time  there  was  an  energetic  young  lawyer  residing  at 
Crawfordsville,  who  had  served  in  Mexico  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  and 
was  well  versed  in  military  affairs.  In  the  State  Senate,  of  which  he  had 
been  a  member,  he  had  vainly  urged  the  adoption  of  measures  for  organizing 
the  militia  of  the  State.  Fond  of  military  maneuvers,  he  had  formed  a  com 
pany  and  drilled  them  in  the  tactics  of  the 
Zouaves,  several  weeks  before  the  famous 
corps  of  "  Ellsworth's  Zouaves  "  was  organ 
ized.  This  lawyer  was  Lewis  Wallace,  who 
became  a  Major-General  of  Volunteers  at 
an  early  period  of  the  war  that  ensued. 

Governor  Morton  called  Wallace  to  his 
aid.     A  dispatch  summoning  him  to  Indian 
apolis  reached    him    on   Monday 
evening,"  while  he  was  trying  a 
cause  in  Clinton  County.     lie  re 
ported   to  the   Governor  the  next  morning. 
"The  President  has  called  on  Indiana  for  six 
regiments    to    put    down    a     rising    rebel 
lion,"  said  Morton.     "  I  have  sent  for  you  to 
assist  me  in  the  business.     I  want  to  appoint 
you    Adjutant-General." — "Where     is     the 

Adjutant-General's  office?"  inquired  Wallace. — "There  is  none,"  responded 
the  Governor. — "Where  are  the  books'?" — "  There  are  none." — "  How  many 
independent  companies  are  there  in  the  State?" — "I  know  of  but  three — 


April  I  ft, 


O.    P.    MORTON. 


456  ILLINOIS   VIGILANT   AND   ACTIVE. 

two  here  in  Indianapolis,  and  your  own." — "  Where  is  the  law  defining  the 
duties  of  the  Adjutant-General  ?" — "  There  is  no  law  on  the  subject — nothing 
pertaining  to  military  organization." — "  Well,  then,"  said  Wallace,  "  your 
immediate  business  is  the  raising  of  six  regiments." — "That  is  it,"  said 
the  Governor. — u  Have  you  objections  to  giving  me  one  of  them  after  they 
are  raised  ?"  inquired  Wallace. — "  None  at  all ;  you  shall  have  one  of  them," 
was  the  answer. 

This  brief  conversation  gives  an  idea  of  the  absolute  want  of  preparation 
for  war  on  the  part  of  Indiana  when  the  rebellion  broke  out — a  State  that 
afterward  sent  about  two  hundred  thousand  troops  to  the  field.  It  occurred 
on  Tuesday  morning  succeeding  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  and 
'  on  *ke  Allowing  Friday  night a  Wallace  reported  to  the  Governor 
the  sixty  companies  for  the  six  regiments,  complete,  and  in  "  Camp 
Morton,"  adjoining  Indianapolis.  He  reported,  in  addition,  more  than  eighty 
surplus  companies,  organized  and  ready  to  move.  With  the  report  he  sent  in 
his  resignation,  and  a  request  for  permission  to  go  out  and  organize  his  own 
regiment.  It  was  given,  and  within  the  next  twenty-four  hours  he  reported 
the  "  Eleventh  Regiment  Indiana  Volunteers  "  (Zouaves),  which  did  admi 
rable  service  in  Western  Virginia  a  few  weeks  later,  as  organized,  armed, 
and  ready  for  marching  orders.1  Within  four  days  after  the  President's  call 
was  promulgated  from  Washington,  more  than  ten  thousand  Indianians  were 
in  camp.  So  Indiana,  one  of  the  younger  States  of  the  Union,  also  prepared 
for  the  struggle. 

Illinois,  under  the  vigorous  leadership  of  Governor  Yates,  was  early  upon 
the  war-path.  At  the  beginning  of  April,  Yates  saw  the  clouds  of  most 
alarming  difficulty  surely  gathering,  while  many  others  perceived  noth 
ing  but  a  serene  sky.  On  the  12th  he  issued  a  call  for  an  extraordinary 
session  of  the  Legislature  on  the  23d.  On  receiving  the  President's  call  for 
troops  on  the  15th,  he  issued  a  stirring  appeal  to  the  people,  and  in  less  than 
twenty-four  hours  afterward,  four  thousand  men  reported  themselves  ready 
and  anxious  for  service.  The  quota  of  the  State  (six  thousand)  was  more 
than  filled  by  the  20th ;  and,  pursuant  to  the  request  of  the  General  Govern 
ment,  Yates  sent  two  thousand  of  these  State  troops  to  possess  and  hold 
Cairo,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  a  point  of  great 
strategic  importance  at  that  time,  as  we  shall  observe  presently. 

The  Legislature  of  Illinois  met  at  Springfield  on  the  23d,  and  two  days 
afterward  it  was  addressed  by  the  distinguished  United  States  Senator, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  rival  of  Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
Republic.  When  Treason  lifted  its  arm  to  strike,  Mr.  Douglas  instantly 
offered  himself  as  a  shield  for  his  country.  He  abandoned  all  party  alle- 

1  "Wallace's  regiment  was  a  fair  type  of  the  Indiana  Volunteers  who  composed  her  quota.  It  was  an  assem 
blage  of  mechanics,  farmers,  lawyers,  doctors,  and  clergymen.  They  were  all  young  and  full  of  life,  and 
ambitious,  quick,  shrewd,  and  enterprising.  The  regiment  adopted  the  Zouave  costume  of  Colonel  Wallace's 
Crawfordsville  Company.  The  color  was  steel  gray,  with  a  narrow  binding  of  red  on  their  jackets  and  the  top 
of  a  small  cap.  The  shirt  was  of  dark  blue  flannel.  The  Zouaves,  from  whom  they  derived  their  name,  were 
a  body  of  Algerine  soldiers,  whom  the  French  incorporated  into  their  army  after  the  conquest  of  Algeria. 
They  were  a  wild,  reckless  set  of  men,  in  picturesque  costume,  and  marked  for  their  perfect  discipline  and 
particularly  active  tactics.  The  native  Zouaves  finally  disappeared  from  the  French  army,  but  their  costume  and 
tactics  were  preserved.  When  French  Zouave  regiments  performed  eminent  service  in  the  Crimea,  and  gained 
immense  popularity,  Wallace  and  Ellsworth  introduced  the  costume  and  system  of  maneuvers  into  this  coun 
try,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war  large  numbers  of  the  volunteers  assumed  their  garb  and  name. 


THE   LAST   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF  DOUGLAS. 


457 


glance,  put  away  all  political  and  personal  prejudices,  and,  with  the  spirit  and 
power  of  a  sincere  patriot,  became  the  champion  of  the  integrity  of  the 
Union.1  As  soon  as  he  was  relieved  from  his  senatorial  duties  at  Washing 
ton,  he  hastened  to  Illinois  and  began  battle  manfully.  His  speeches  and 
conversation  on  the  way  had  foreshadowed  his  course.  To  the  Legislature 
of  his  State  he  addressed  arguments  and  exhortations,  powerful  and  persua 
sive.  In  Chicago  he  did  likewise.  Alas  !  his  warfare  was  brief.  He  arrived 
at  his  home  in  Chicago  on  the  1st  of  May,  suffering  from  inflammatory 
rheumatism.  Disease  assumed  various 
and  malignant  forms  in  his  system,  and 
on  the  3d  of  June  he  died.9  His  loss 
seemed  to  be  peculiarly  inauspicious  at 
that  time,  when  such  men  were  so  few 
and  so  much  needed.  But  his  words 
were  living  and  of  electric  power. 
They  were  oracles  for  thousands,  whose 
faith,  and  hope,  and  patriotism  were 
strengthened  thereby.3  His  last  cohe 
rent  utterances  were  exhortations  to  his 
children  and  his  countrymen  to  stand  by 
the  Constitution  and  the  Government. 

The  Legislature  of  Illinois  appropri 
ated  three  millions  of  dollars  for  war 
purposes,  and  authorized  the  immediate 
organization  of  the  entire  militia  force  . 

of  the  State,  consisting  of  all  able-bodied  men  between  the  ages  of 
eighteen  and  forty-five  years.  Michigan  was  equally  aroused  by  the  call  of 
the  President.  He  asked  of  her  one  regiment  only.  Ten  days  afterward  she 


STEPHEN    A.    DOUGLAS. 


1  In  his  last  speech,  made  at  Chicago,  at  the  beginning  of  May,  he  said: — "This  is  no  time  to  go  into  a  dis 
cussion  of  the  causes  that  have  produced  these  results.     The  conspiracy  to  break  up  the  Union  is  a  fact  now 

known  to  all.  Armies  are  being  raised  and  war  levied  to  accomplish 
it  There  can  be  but  two  sides  to  this  controversy.  Every  man  must 
l>t  on  the  fiitlt  of  the  United  StdtfA  or  ugninttt  it.  There  can  be  no 
neutrals  in  this  war.  There  can  be  none  but  traitors  and  patriots."1 

3  The  funeral  of  Senator  Douglas  was  an  impo.sing  spectacle. 
His  body  was  embalmed,  and  it  lay  in  state  in  Bryan  Hall,  Chicago, 
where  it  was  visited  by  thousands  of  sincere  mourners.  It  was 
dressed  in  a  full  suit  of  black,  and,  the  entire  lid  of  the  burial-case 
bein<;  removed,  the  whole  jn-rson  was  exposed.  The  coffin  was  placed 
under  a  canopy  or  catafalque,  in  the  center  of  the  hall.  The  canopy 
was  supported  by  four  columns,  and  both  were  heavily  draped  in 
black.  It  was  surmounted  by  an  eatrle,  whose  talons  grasped  the  flag 
of  the  Union  in  a  manner  to  allow  it  to  lie,  outspread,  over  a  portion 
of  the  canopy.  Kach  pillar  was  also  surmounted  by  an  eagle.  At  th» 
foot  of  the  coffin  was  a  broken  or  truncated  column,  denoting  the 
termination  of  a  life  in  the  midst  of  usefulness.  At  the  head  stood  a 
vase  of  many  kinds  of  flowers. 

s  One  of  the  last  letters  written  by  Mr.  Douglas  was  addressed  to 
Mr.  Hicox,  Chairman  of  the  Illinois  State  Democratic  Committee,  in 
reply  to  one  addressed  to  him  on  the  great  topic  of  the  hour.  It  was 
full  of  suggestions  of  great  moment  and  patriotic  sentiments.  In  it  he  said:—"  I  know  of  no  mode  by  which, 
a  loyal  citizen  may  so  well  demonstrate  his  devotion  to  his  country  as  by  sustaining  the  flag,  the  Constitution, 
and  the  Union,  under  all  circumstances,  and  under  any  administration  (regardless  of  party  politics),  against  all 
assailants  at  home  and  abroad.  The  course  of  Clay  and  Webster  toward  the  administration  of  General  Jackson, 
in  the  days  of  nullification,  presents  a  noble  and  worthy  example  for  all  true  patriots."  He  said  in  conclusion, 
"  If  we  hope  to  regain  and  perpetuate  the  ascendency  of  our  party,  we  should  never  forget  that  a  man  can  not 
be  a  true  Democrat  unless  he  is  a  loyal  patriot."  This  letter  was  dated  May  10,  1S61. 


nOt'GLAS    LYING    IX    STATK. 


458  THE   POSITION   OF   THE   KENTUCKIANS. 

had  five  regiments  ready  for  the  field,  and  nine  more  were  forming.  Gover 
nor  Blair  called  the  Legislature  together  on  the  7th  of  May,  when  that  body 
made  liberal  appropriations  for  war  purposes.  The  Legislature  of  Wisconsin, 
under  the  lead  of  Governor  Randall,  was  equally  liberal.  That  of  Iowa  and 
Minnesota  followed  the  patriotic  example.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  people 
everywhere  was  wonderful.  Before  the  close  of  the  year  (1861),  Minnesota 
sent  more  men  to  the  field  than  its  entire  population  numbered  in  1850.1 

The  position  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kentucky,  as  a  professedly  loyal  State, 
was  peculiar  and  painful  at  this  time.  We  have  observed  with  what  insult 
ing  words  her  Governor  (Magoffin)  responded  to  the  President's  call  for 
troops,2  and  the  fierce  denunciations  of  that  call  by  the  Louisville  Journal? 
These  demonstrations  in  high  places  against  the  war  policy  of  the  President, 
were  followed  by  a  great  Union  meeting  in  Louisville  on  .the  evening  of  the 
18th  of  April"  over  which  James  Guthrie4  and  other  leading 

a  1861 

politicians  of  the  State  held  controlling  influence.  At  that  meet 
ing  it  was  resolved  that  Kentucky  reserved  to  herself  "the  right  to  choose 
her  own  position ;  and  that,  while  her  natural  sympathies  are  with  those  who 
have  a  common  interest  in  the  protection  of  Slavery,  she  still  acknowledges 
her  loyalty  and  fealty  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  which  she 
will  cheerfully  render  until  that  Government  becomes  aggressive,  tyrannical^ 
and  regardless  of  our  rights  in  Slave  property."  They  declared  that  the 
States  were  the  peers  of  the  National  Government ;  and  gave  the  world  to 
understand  that  the  latter  should  not  be  allowed  to  use  "  sanguinary  or 
coercive  "  measures  to  "  bring  back  the  seceded  States."  They  also  resolved 
that  they  looked  to  the  young  men  of  the  "Kentucky  State  Guard"  as  the 
"bulwark  of  the  safety  of  the  Commonwealth,"  and  begged  those  who 
composed  that  Guard  to  remember  that  they  were  "pledged  equally  to 
fidelity  to  the  United  States  and  to  Kentucky." 

This  meeting  delighted  the  conspirators,  for  conditional  Unionism  was  the 
best  auxiliary  they  could  have  in  loyal  States,  in  their  schemes  for  destroy 
ing  the  nationality  of  the  Republic.  If  it  could  prevail — if  it  could  be  made 
the  settled  policy  of  a  commonwealth — if  it  could  stifle  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
people,  and  circumscribe  their  aspirations  and  their  action  within  the  limits 
of  their  own  State,  and  the  service  of  the  single  dominating  class  and  interest 
for  whose  benefit  and  conservation  the  conspirators  were  making  war,  it 
would  go  far  toward  keeping  the  sword  of  the  Republic  in  its  scabbard,  and 
to  invite  its  enemies  to  plunder  and  destroy  without  stint. 

The  indorsement  of  the  State  Guard  as  the  "  bulwark  of  the  Common 
wealth,"  was  a  particularly  hopeful  sign  of  success  for  Governor  Magoffin  and 
4iis  friends.  That  Guard  had  been  formed  under  his  auspices,  for  the  osten 
sible  purpose  of  defending  the  State  against,  What  ?  It  was  hard  to  answer. 
Simon  B.  Buckner,  a  captain  in  the  National  Service,  and  a  traitor  Avithout 
excuse,  and  then,  evidently,  in  the  secret  service  of  the  conspirators  at 
Montgomery,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Guard,  and  used  his  position 
effectively  in  seducing  large  numbers  of  the  members  from  their  allegiance 
to  the  old  flag,  and  sending  them  as  recruits  to  the  armies  of  Jefferson  Davis. 

1  Message  of  Governor  Ramsay  to  the  Minnesota  Legislature.  3  See  page  339. 

5  See  page  337.  4  See  page  238. 


THE   TREASON   OF  BUCKNER.  459 

In  this  work  the  Governor  gave  him  all  the  aid  in  his  power.  He  tried 
to  induce  the  Legislature  to  appropriate  three  millions  of  dollars  to  be 
used  by  himself  and  Buckncr  in  "  arming  the  State " — in  other  words, 
as  the  sequel  shows,  for  corrupting  the  young  men  of  the  Commonwealth, 
and  preparing  the  State  for  an  armed  alliance  with  the  conspirators.  Sus 
tained  by  the  declarations  of  the  Conditional  Unionists,  and  by  resolutions  of 
the  lower  house  of  the  Legislature,  which  approved  of  the  Governor's  refusal 
to  furnish  troops  to  the  National  Government,  and  declared  that  the  State 
should  remain  neutral  during  the  impending  contest,1  Magoffin  issued  a 
proclamation  of  neutrality,  in  which  he  denounced  the  war  as  "a  horrid, 
unnatural,  and  lamentable  strife,"  and  notified  "  all  other  States,  separate  or 
united,  especially  the  United  States  and  Confederate  States,"  that  he  not 
only  forbade  either  of  them  invading  the  soil  of  Kentucky,  but  also  forbade 
its  own  citizens  making  "any  hostile  demonstrations  against  any  of  the 
aforesaid  sovereignties." 

Notwithstanding  the  position  taken  by  the  Legislature,  that  body, 
unwilling  to  assume  so  high  a  stand  as  the  Governor,  refused  to  indorse  his 
proclamation,  or  to  make  the  required  appropriation  of  three  millions  of 
dollars.  On  the  contrary,  they  so  amended  the  militia  law  as  to  require  the 
State  Guard  to  swear  allegiance  to  the  National  Government  as  well  as  to 
Kentucky;  and  Senator  Rousseau  (afterward  a  Major-General  in  the  National 
Army)  and  others  denounced  the  disunionists  and  their  schemes  in  un 
measured  terms.5  As  Buckner  could  not 
conscientiously  allow  his  guard  to  take 
the  new  oath,  it  was  not  long  before  he 
led  a  large  portion  of  them  into  the  camp 
of  the  rebellion,  and  became  a  major-gen 
eral  in  the  "  Confederate  "  army.  Then 
the  Louisville  Journal,  the  organ  of  the 
"  Conservatives,"  as  the  Conditional 
Unionists  were  called,  indignantly  cursed 
him,"  saying  : — "  Away  with 
your  pledges  and  assurances— 
with  your  protestations,  apolo 
gies,  and  proclamations,  at  once  and  alto 
gether  !  Away,  parricide !  Away,  and  do 
penance  forever! — be  shriven  or  be  slain  ! 

— away  !  You  have  less  palliation  than  Attila — less  boldness,  magnanimity, 
and  nobleness  than  Coriolanus.  You  are  the  Benedict  Arnold  of  the  day ! 
You  are  the  Catiline  of  Kentucky!  Go,  thou  miscreant!"  And  when,  in 


1  Tho  Senate  resolved  that  the  State  should  not  "sever  its  connection  with  the  National  Government,  nor 
take  up  arms  for  either  "belligerent  party;  but  arm  herself  for  the  preservation  of  peace  within  her  borders;"' 
and  that  her  people  should  act  as  mediators  "to  effect  a  just  and  honorable  peace."1 

2  Lovell  H.  Uousseau  was  in  the  Kentucky  Senate.     On  the  occasion  alluded  to,  he  said,  speaking  to  the 
disunionists  in  that  body  of  the  danger  of  the  destruction  of  the  Commonwealth: — "It  is  all  your  work;  and 
whatever  happens,  it  will  be  your  work.    We  have  more  riirht  to  defend  our  Government  than  you  have  to  over 
turn  it.     Many  of  us  are  sworn  to  support  it     Let  our  pood  Union  brethren  at  the  South  stand  their  ground. 
I  know  that  many  patriotic  hearts  in  the  seceded  States  still  beat  warmly  for  the  old  Unison— the  old  flag.     Tho 
time  will  come  when  we  shall  all  be  together  again.     The  politician*  are  having  their  day.     The  people  will 
have  theirs.     I  have  an  abiding  confidence  in  the  rig/it,  and  I  know  this  secession  movement  is  all  wrong." 


8IMON    I50I.IV All 


460  EFFECTS   OF   CONDITIONAL   UNIONISM. 

February,  1862,  Buckner  and  many  of  the  Kentucky  "State  Guard"  were 
captured  at  Fort  Donelson,  and  he  was  sent  a  prisoner  to  Fort  Warren,  many 
of  those  who  were  deceived  by  the  belief  that  the  Guard  was  "  the  bulwark 
of  the  Commonwealth,"  demanded  his  delivery  to  the  civil  authorities  of 
Kentucky,  to  be  tried  for  treason  against  the  State. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  the  position  taken  by  the  Conditional  Unionists 
in  Kentucky  at  that  time,  saved  the  State  from  "  drifting  into  secession." 
The  President,  estimating  the  importance  of  preserving  the  attachment  of 
the  Border  Slave-labor  States  to  the  Union,  at  that  crisis,  and  especially  the 
populous  and  powerful  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky,  accepted  the  plea  of 
expediency  as  sufficient,  and  acted  accordingly  for  a  long  time.  It  was 
alleged  and  believed  that  a  more  decided  and  radical  course  would  alienate 
the  sympathies  of  the  predominating  slaveholding  class  in  particular  from 
the  Union,  and  possibly  drive  them  into  alliance  with  their  political  and 
social  affinities,  the  insurgents  of  the  Cotton-growing  States ;  and  that  only 
by  assuming  the  attitude  of  neutrality,  in  deference  to  the  slaveholders,  could 
the  State  be  kept  out  of  the  vortex  of  revolution.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
argued  that  such  a  course  was  not  only  not  necessary,  but  unwise  and  mis 
chievous.  That  the  Unconditional  Unionists  in  Kentucky  and  throughout 
the  Slave-labor  States  were  disheartened  by  that  neutrality  of  leading  poli 
ticians,  cannot  be  denied ;  and  that  it  amazed,  disappointed,  and  perplexed 
the  loyalists  of  the  Free-labor  States,  is  well  known.  It  is  alleged  that  it 
hurtfully  restrained  the  patriotism  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  Ken 
tucky,  at  the  outset  of  the  struggle,  who  showed  their  loyalty  to  the  Union 
by  giving  a  majority  of  fifty  thousand  votes  in  its  favor  at  an  election,  in 
May,  for  delegates  to  a  Border  State  Convention.1  It  is  alleged  that  the  Un 
conditional  Unionists  had  the  pledges  of  the  Governors  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois,  to  give  them  all  needful  military  aid  to  keep  their  State  out  of  the 
hands  of  its  enemies ;  and  that  had  the  patriotic  instincts  of  the  people  been 
allowed  full  play,  regiment  after  regiment  of  loyal  troops  would  have  sprung 
into  existence  at  the  President's  call,  shortened  the  period  of  the  war,  and 
spared  the  State  the  sacrifice  of  millions  of  treasure  and  the  more  precious 
lives  of  thousands  of  her  sons — the  flower  of  her  youth.  It  is  declared  that 

1  That  election  was  held  on  the  4th  of  May.  At  a  special  election  of  Congressmen,  held  on  the  20th  of  June, 
•when  only  four-sevenths  of  the  total  vote  of  the  State  was  cast,  the  Unionists  had  a  majority  of  over  fifty  thou 
sand.  They  elected  nine  representatives,  and  the  secessionists  only  one.  That  one  was  Henry  C.  Burnet,  who 
afterward  joined  the  "  Confederates."  The  Border  State  Convention  was  proposed  by  Virginians,  and  was  held 
at  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  on  the  27th  of  May.  It  was  a  failure.  There  were  no  delegates  present  from  Virginia, 
and  only  five  beside  those  of  Kentucky.  Four  of  these  were  from  Missouri  and  one  from  Tennessee.  John  J. 
Crittenden  presided.  The  convention  was  as  "neutral"  as  possible.  It  very  properly  deprecated  civil  war  as 
terrible  and  ruinous  to  every  interest,  and  exhorted  the  people  to  hold  fast  "to  that  sheet-anchor  of  republican 
liberty,"  the  right  of  the  majority,  whose  will  has  been  constitutionally  expressed,  to  govern.  The  wrongs  of 
"the  South,"  and  the  "sectionalism  of  the  North,"  were  spoken  of  as  chief  causes  of  the  trouble  at  hand;  but 
while  it  condemned  the  rebellion,  it  failed  to  exhort  the  loyal  people  to  put  it  down.  It  recommended  a  voluntary 
convention  of  all  the  States,  and  to  ask  Congress  to  propose  "such  constitutional  amendments"  as  should 
"secure  to  the  slaveholders  their  legal  rights,  and  allay  their  apprehensions  in  regard  to  possible  encroachments 
in  the  future."  They  regarded  this  result — the  National  protection  and  fostering  of  the  Slave  system — as  "  essen 
tial  to  the  best  hopes  of  our  country ;"  and  in  the  event  of  Congress  refusing  to  propose  such  amendments,  then 
a  convention  of  all  the  States  should  be  held  to  effect  it. 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  while  the  National  Government,  on  no  occasion,  ever  exhibited  the  slightest  inten 
tion  to  interfere  with  the  rights  of  the  slaveholders,  or  of  any  other  class  of  citizens,  the  Conditional  Unionists 
assumed  that  the  Government  was,  or  was  about  to  be.  an  aggressor  on  the  rights  of  that  class  in  a  minority  of 
the  States,  who  seemed  to  think  that  their  interest  was  paramount  to  all  others;  even  to  the  life  of  the  nation. 
This  obeisance  to  the  selfish  demands  of  that  interest  was  the  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  many  a  true  patriot 
in  every  part  of  the  Republic. 


MISSOURI   STATE   CONVENTION.  461 

the  Conditional  Unionists  bound  the  stalwart  limbs  of  her  Samson — her 
National  allegiance — while  it  was  reposing  its  head  trustfully  in  the  lap  of 
Delilah — the  Slave  power ;  and  that  they  came  near  being  instrumental  (though 
not  intentionally)  in  putting  out  its  eyes,  and  making  it  grind  ignobly 
in  the  prison-house  of  the  "  Confederate  "  Philistines.  Perhaps  the  records 
of  the  war  in  Kentucky,  that  may  be  found  in  future  pages  of  this  work,  may 
aid  us  in  forming  a  correct  judgment  in  the  matter.  It  is  certain  that  the 
record  contains  some  very  instructive  lessons  concerning  the  danger  to  a  free 
people  of  class  legislation  and  class  domination.  "Whenever  a  single  interest 
overshadows  all  others,  and  is  permitted  to  shape  the  public  policy  of  a  sub 
ordinate  commonwealth,  or  a  great  nation,  the  liberties  of  the  people  are  in 
danger. 

"While  the  zealous  loyalists  of  Kentucky  were  restrained  and  made  com 
paratively  inactive  by  what  they  deemed  an  unwise  and  mischievous  policy, 
those  of  Missouri  were  struggling  manfully  to  keep  the  State  from  revolution 
and  ruin.  "We  have  observed  how  strongly  the  people  declared  for  the 
Union  in  their  election  of  delegates  to  the  State  Convention,  which  assembled 
at  Jefferson  City  on  the  28th  of  February.  In  that  Convention  there  was 


JEKFER80X   CITY   IX   1561. 

not  a  single  openly  avowed  disunionist,  but  there  were  a  few  secret  ones  and 
many  Conditional  Unionists.1  Notwithstanding  the  slaves  in  Missouri  were 
less  than  one-tenth  of  the  population,  and  the  real  and  best  interests  of  the 
State  were  in  close  affinity  with  free  labor,  the  Slave  power,  which  embraced 
a  large  number  of  active  politicians,  was  potential.  These  politicians  were 
mostly  of  the  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  school,  and  through  their  exer 
tions  the  disloyal  Claiborne  F.  Jackson  was  elected  Governor  of  the  State. - 

On  the  second  day  of  its  session  the  Missouri  Convention  adjourned  to 
St.  Louis,  where  it  reassembled  on  the  4th  of  March,"  in  the  Mer 
cantile    Library    Hall,    with    Sterling   Price    as    President,    and 
Samuel  A.  Lowe  as  Secretary.     Price,  who  had  been  Governor  of  Missouri, 
and  who  afterward  became  one  of  the  most  active  generals  in  the  "  Confed 
erate  "  service  in  the  Southwest,  had  obtained  his  election  to  the  Convention 
under  the  false  pretense  of  being  a  Unionist,  and  hoped,  no  doubt,  to  find  a 
sufficient  number  of  disloyal  men  in  that  body  to  enable  him  and  his  political 
friends  to  precipitate  Missouri  into  revolution.     He  was  mistaken,  and  was 

1  The  Convention  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  four  members,  of  whom  fifty-three  were  lawyers.  One- 
quarter  uf  them  were  natives  of  Virginia,  and  only  fourteen  of  them  were  born  in  Missouri.  Thirteen  were  from 
Kentucky,  and  three  were  natives  of  Europe. 

»  See  page  201. 


462  LOYALTY   OF  THE  MISSOURI   CONTENTION'. 

made  conscious  of  the  fact  at  the  beginning  of  the  session,  not  only  from  con 
versation  with  the  members,  but  from  the  reception  given  to  a  communica 
tion,  written  and  verbal,  from  Luther  J.  Glenn,  an  accredited  "Commissioner" 
from  Georgia,  and  who  was  allowed  to  address  the  Convention  on  the  subject 
of  his  mission  on  the  first  day  of  its  session  in  St.  Louis.0  In  his 
"  *is6ih  4'  written  communication  and  in  his  speech  he  strongly  urged  Mis 
souri  to  join  the  "  Southern  Confederacy."1  The  atmosphere  of  St. 
Louis,  in  and  out  of  the  Convention,  was  not  congenial  to  such  seditious  senti 
ments.  The  population  of  that  city  was  made  up  largely  of  New  Englanders 
and  Germans,  who  were  loyal,  while  immigrants  from  the  Slave-labor  States, 
and  especially  from  Virginia,  composed  the  great  body  of  the  secessionists. 
The  spectators  in  the  Convention  greeted  Glenn's  remarks  with  hisses  and 
hoot-ings ;  and  subsequently  the  Convention  itself,  through  a  committee  to 
which  the  "  Commissioner's  "  communication  was  referred,  assured  him  that 
his  views  were  not  acceptable  to  that  body,  whose  proceedings  throughout 
were  characterized  by  great  dignity,  and  acts  and  expressions  that  gave 
cheerfulness  to  the  loyal  men  of  the  country. 

The  Committee  of  the  Convention  on  Federal  Relations,  through  its 
chairman,  H.  R.  Gamble,  reported  at  length,  on  the  9th  of  March,  in  a  man 
ner  to  assure  the  country  of  the  loyalty  of  the  Convention.  In  that  report 
the  great  topics  of  the  hour  were  temperately  discussed.  It  was  declared 
that  "  the  people  of  the  Southern  States  "  had  a  right  to  complain  "  of  the 
incessant  abuse  poured  upon  their  institutions  by  the  press,  the  pulpit,  and 
many  of  the  people  of  the  North ;"  and  then  enumerated  some  of  the 
alleged  "  aggressions  on  the  rights  of  the  South,"  so  commonly  found  at 
that  time  in  the  newspapers  of  the  Slave-labor  States,  and  the  speeches  of 
politicians.  Yet  it  was  declared  truly,  that  "  heretofore  there  has  been  no 
complaint  against  the  action  of  the  Federal  Government  in  any  of  its  de 
partments,  as  designed  to  violate  the  rights  of  the  Southern  States."  The 
Slavery  question  was  reviewed,  and  the  possession  of  the  Government  by  "a 
sectional  party,  avowing  opposition  to  the  admission  of  Slavery  into  the  Ter 
ritories  of  the  United  States,"  was  "  deeply  regretted,"  because  it  threatened 
dangerous  sectional  strife;  but,  after  all,  the  Committee  thought  that  the 
history  of  the  country  taught  that  there  was  not  much  to  be  feared  from 
political  parties  in  power.  The  value  of  the  Union  to  Missouri  was  pointed 
out,  with  forcible  illustrations;  and  the  report  closed  with  seven  resolu 
tions,  which  declared  that  there  was  then  no  adequate  cause  to  impel 
Missouri  to  leave  the  Union,  and  that  she  would  labor  for  its  security ;  that 


1  Mr.  Glenn's  communication  to  the.  Convention  was  referred  to  a  Committee,  -whereof  John  B.  Henderson 
was  chairman.  That  Committee  reported  on  the  21st  of  March.  They  regretted  that  the  Commissioner  from 
Georgia,  who  invited  Missouri  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  had  "no  plan  of  reconciliation"  to  offer.  The 
Committee  reviewed  the  causes  of  difference  between  "  the  North  "  and  "the  South,"  and  concluded  with  a  series 
of  five  resolutions,  in  which  it  declared  its  disapproval  of  secession  as  a  right  or  a  necessity  ;  that  a  "dissolution 
of  the  Union  would  be  ruinous  to  the  best  interests  of  Missouri ;"  and  that  u  no  efforts  should  be  spared  to 
secure  its  continued  blessings  to  her  people."  The  fourth  resolution  was  a  pointed  rebuke  for  all  disturbers  of 
the  peace  of  the  Republic.  "This  Convention,"  it  said,  "exhorts  Georgia  and  the  other  seceding  States  to  desist 
from  the  revolutionary  measures  commenced  by  them,  and  unite  their  voice  with  ours  in  restoring  peace,  and 
cementing  the  Union  of  our  fathers."  Judge  Birch,  of  the  same  Committee,  offered  a  minority  report,  in  the  form 
of  resolutions,  less  offensive  to  the  slaveholders.  The  two  reports  were  laid  on  the  table,  and,  by  a  vote  of  fifty- 
six  against  forty,  the  subject  was  made  the  special  order  for  the  third  Monday  in  December  following,  to  which 
time  it  was  proposed  to  adjourn  the  Convention  when  it  should  adjourn. 


MISSOURI   CONVENTION   AND   LEGISLATURE.  463 

the  people  of  Missouri  were  devotedly  attached  to  the  institutions  of  the 
country,  and  earnestly  desired  a  fair  and  amicable  adjustment  of  all  difficul 
ties  ;  that  the  Crittenden  Compromise  was  a  proper  basis  for  such  adjust 
ment  ;  that  a  convention  of  the  States,  to  propose  amendments  to  the 
Constitution,  would  be  useful  in  restoring  peace  and  quiet  to  the  country ; 
that  an  attempt  to  "  coerce  the  submission  of  the  seceding  States,  or  the 
employment  of  military  force  by  the  seceding  States  to  assail  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,"  would  inevitably  lead  to  civil  war ;  and  earnestly 
entreated  the  Government  and  the  conspirators  to  "  withhold  and  stay  the 
arm  of  military  power,"  and  on  no  pretense  whatever  bring  upon  the  nation 
the  horrors  of  such  war. 

On  the  19th  of  March  the  report  of  the  Committee  was  considered,  and 
substantially   adopted.     An  amendment   was  agreed  to,  recommending  the 
withdrawal  of  the  National  troops  "  from  the  forts  within  the  borders  of  the 
seceded  States,  where  there  is  danger  of  collision  between  the  State  and 
Federal  troops."     So  the   Convention  declared   that  the  State  of  Missouri 
would  stand  by  the  Government  on  certain  conditions  ;  and  after 
appointing  delegates  to  the  Border  State  Convention,1  and  giving 
power "  to  a  committee  to  call  another  session  whenever  it  might 
seem  necessary,2  the    Convention    adjourned   to    the   third    Monday  in  De 
cember. 

The  Legislature  of  Missouri  was  in  session  simultaneously  with  the  Con 
vention.  Governor  Jackson  could  not  mold  the  action  of  the  latter  to  his 
views,  so  he  labored  assiduously  to  that  end  with  the  former.  He  determined 
to  give  to  the  secessionists  control  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  the  focus  of  the 
Union  power  of  the  State,  and  the  chief  place  of  the  depository  of  the 
National  arms  within  its  borders.  He  succeeded  in  procuring  an  Act  for  the 
establishment  of  a  metropolitan  police  in  that  city,  under  five  commissioners 
to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor.3  This  was  an  important  step  in  the  way 
of  his  intended  usurpation  ;  and  he  had  such  assurances  from  leading  poli 
ticians  throughout  the  State  of  their  power  to  suppress  the  patriotic  action  of 
the  people,  that  when  the  President's  call  for  troops  reached  him  he  gave  the 
insolent  answer  already  recorded.4  The  Jfixnoitri  Republican,  a  newspaper 
in  St.  Louis,  which  was  regarded  as  the  exponent  of  the  disloyal  sentiments 
of  the  State,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  on  the  following  day6 
by  saying,  editorially,  "  Nobody  expected  any  other  response 
from  him.  They  may  not  approve  of  the  early  course  of  the 
Southern  States,  but  they  denounce  and  defy  the  action  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
proposing  to  call  out  seventy-five  thousand  men  for  the  purpose  of  coercing 
the  seceded  States  of  the  Union.  Whatever  else  may  happen,  he  gets  no 
men  from  the  Border  States  to  carrv  on  such  a  war." 


1  See  pace  46<>.  The  delegates  from  Missouri  consisted  of  one  from  each  Congressional  district.  The  follow 
ing  named  gentlemen  were  chosen: — Hamilton  R.  Gamble,  John  B.  Henderson,  William  A.  Hall,  ,Tas.  II.  Moss, 
William  Douglass.  Llttlebury  Hendrick.  William  G.  Pom.-roy. 

a  This  Committee  was  composed  of  the  President  of  the  Convention,  who  should  be  ex-officio  chairman,  and 
one  from  each  Congressional  district. 

3  The  Commissioners  appointed  were  the  political  friends  of  the  Governor.     Among  them  was  Basil  Duke, 
afterward  the  noted  guerrilla  chief  under  the  notorious  John  Morgan. 

4  See  page  338. 


464  TREASON   OF   MILITARY   OFFICERS. 

Jackson  followed  up  this  revolutionary  movement  by  calling a  the  Legis 
lature  to  assemble  in  extraordinary  session  at  Jefferson   City  on 
1S65."  '    the  2d  day  of  May,  "for  the  purpose,"  he  said,  "  of  enacting  such 
laws  and  adopting  such  measures  as  may  be  deemed  necessary 
and  proper  for  the  more  perfect  organization  and  equipment  of  the  militia  of 
this  State,  and  to  raise  the  money  and  such  other  means  as  may  be  required  to 
place  the  State  in  a  proper  attitude  for  defense."     The  Governor  was  acting 
under  the  inspiration  of  a  disloyal  graduate  of  the  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point,  named  Daniel  M.  Frost,  a  native  of  New  York,  who  was  then 
bearing  the  commission  of  a  brigadier-general  of  the  Missouri  militia,  and  was 
commander  of  the  St.  Louis  District.     So  early  as  the  24th  of  January  pre 
ceding,  we  find  Frost  giving  the  Governor  assurances,  in  writing,  of  his  trea 
sonable    purposes,    and    of    the    com 
plicity  with    him    of  Major   William 
Henry  Bell,  a  native  of  North  Carolina, 
who    was    then    commander    of    the 
United    States    military   post    at    St. 
Louis,  and  having  in  charge  the  Arsenal 
there.1     On  the  day  when 
the    President    called5   for 
troops,  Frost  hastened  to  remind  the 
Governor  that  it  was  time  to  take  active 
measures  for  securing  the  co-operation 
of  Missouri  in  the  disunion  scheme.  He 
suggested  that  the  holding  of  St.  Louis 
by   the    National    Government  would 
restrain  the  secession  movement  in  the 
DANIEL  M.  FBOST.  gtate  .  ^  ke  ^commended  the  call 

ing  of  the  Legislature  together  ;   the 

sending  of  an  agent  to  Baton  Rouge  to  obtain  mortars  and  siege-guns  ;  to 
see  that  the  Arsenal  at  Liberty  should  not  be  held  by  Government  troops  ;  to 


1  General  Frost  informed  the  Governor  that  he  had  just  visited  the  Arsenal,  and  said  : — "  I  found  Major  Bell 
every  thing  that  you  or  I  could  desire.  He  assured  me  that  he  considered  that  Missouri  had,  whenever  the 
time  came,  a  right  to  claim  it  [the  Arsenal],  as  being  upon  her  soil.  .  .  .  He  informed  me,  upon  the  honor 
of  a  gentleman,  that  he  would  not  suffer  any  arms  to  be  removed  from  the  place,  without  first  giving  me  timely 
information,  and  I,  in  turn,  promised  him  that  I  would  use  all  the  force  at  my  command  to  prevent  him  being 
annoyed  by  irresponsible  persons.  I,  at  the  same  time,  gave  him  notice  that  if  affairs  assumed  so  threatening 
a  character  as  to  render  it  unsafe  to  leave  the  place  in  its  comparatively  unprotected  condition,  that  I  might 
come  down  and  quarter  a  proper  force  there  to  protect  it  from  the  assaults  of  any  persons  whatsoever,  to  which 
he  assented.  In  a  word,  the  Major  is  with  us,  where  he  ought  to  be,  for  all  his  worldly  wealth  lies  here  in  St. 
Louis  (and  it  is  very  large);  and  then,  again,  his  sympathies  are  with  us." 

Frost  then  proceeded  to  inform  the  Governor  that  he  should  keep  a  sharp  eye  upon  "the  sensationists," 
that  is,  the  Unionists:  that  he  should  be  "thoroughly  prepared,  with  proper  force,  to  act  as  emergency  may 
require,"  and  that  he  would  use  force,  if  any  attempt  at  "shipment  or  removal  of 'the  arms"  should  be  at 
tempted.  "The  Major  informs  me,"  he  said,  "that  he  has  arms  for  forty  thousand  men,  with  all  the  appliances 
to  manufacture  munitions  of  every  kind."  He  continued: — "This  Arsenal,  if  properly  looked  after,  will  be 
every  thing  to  our  State,  and  I  intend  to  look  after  it,  very  quietly,  however."  Then  again,  referring  to  Major 
Bell,  he  said: — "He  desired  that  I  would  not  divulge  his  peculiar  views,  which  I  promised  not  to  do,  except  to 
yourself.  I  beg,  therefore,  that  you  will  say  nothing  that  might  compromise  him  eventually  with  the  General 
Government,  for  thereby  I  would  be  placed  in  an  awkward  position,  whilst  he  would  probably  be  removed, 
which  would  be  unpleasant  to  our  interests." — Letter  of  D.  M.  Front  to  C.  F.  Jackson,  Governor  of  Missouri, 
January  24,  1861.  See  Appendix  to  the  "  Journal  of  the  Senate,  Extra  Session  of  the  Rebel  Legislature'"' 
called  together  by  a  proclamation  of  Governor  Jackson,  and  held  at  Neosho,  Missouri,  in  October,  1S61.  It 
was  published  by  order  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Missouri,  in  1S65.  This 
Journal,  in  MS.,  was  captured  by  the  Forty-ninth  Missouri  Volunteers,  in  the  State  of  Alabama. 


TREASONABLE  MOVEMENTS    IN  MISSOURI. 


465 


publish  a  proclamation  to  the  people,  warning  them  that  the  President's  call 
for  troops  was  illegal,  and  that  they  should  prepare  to  defend  their  rights 
as  citizens  of  Missouri,  and  to  form  a  military  camp  at  or  near  St.  Louis, 
wnereat  the  commander  might  be  authorized  to  "  muster  military  com 
panies  into  the  service  of  the  State,  erect  batteries,"  et  cetera.1 

In  accordance  with  General  Frost's  advice,  the  Governor,  on  the  day 
when  he  issued  his  call  for  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature,  caused  his  Adju 
tant-General  (Hough)  to  send  orders  to  the  militia  officers  of  the  State  to 
assemble  their  respective  commands  on  the  3d  of  May,  and  go  into  encamp 
ment  for  a  week,  the  avowed  object  being  for  the  militia  "  to  attain  a  greater 
degree  of  efficiency  and  perfection  in  organization  and  discipline."  In  all 
this  the  treasonable  designs  of  the  Governor  were  so  thinly  covered  by  false 
pretense  that  few  were  deceived  by  them.  The  intention  clearly  was  to  give 
to  the  Governor  and  his  friends  military  control  and  occupation  of  the  State, 
that  they  might,  in  spite  of  the  solemn  injunctions  of  the  people,  expressed  in 
their  Convention,  annex  Missouri  to  the  u  Southern  Confederacy."  Had  evi 
dence  of  his  treasonable  designs  been  wanting,  the  Governor's  Message  to 
the  Legislature  on  the  2d  of  May  would  have  supplied  it.  "  Our  interests 
and  our  sympathies,"  he  said,  u  are  identical  with  those  of  the  Slaveholding 
States,  and  necessarily  unite  our  destiny  with  theirs.  The  similarity  of  our 
social  and  political  institutions,  our  industrial  interests,  our  sympathies, 
habits,  and  tastes,  our  common  origin  and  territorial  contiguity,  all  concur 
in  pointing  out  our  duty  in  regard  to  the  separation  which  is  now  taking 
place  between  the  States  of  the  old  Federal  Union."  He  denounced  the 
President's  call  for 
troops  as  "  unconsti 
tutional  and  illegal, 
tending  toward  a  con 
solidated  despotism.11 
He  said  all  that  he 
dared,  short  of  calling 
the  people  to  arms 
in  set  terms,  to  over 
throw  the  Republic. 
The  Legislature  obse 
quiously  acquiesced  in 
the  demands  of  the 

Governor,  and  he  began  at  once  to  work  the  machinery  of  revolution  vigor 
ously. 

The   capture    of  the  United  States  Arsenal  at  St.  Louis,  with  its  large 
supply  of  munitions  of  war,  and  the  holding  of  that  chief  city  of  the  State 
and  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  formed  a  capital  feature  in  the  plan 
of  the  conspirators.     Already  an  unguarded  Arsenal  at  Liberty, 
in   Clay  County,   had   been    seized  "  and    garrisoned   by  the  se 
cessionists,    under    the    direction    of  the    Governor,   and    its    contents    dis- 


fNITKH    STATKS    AK8KXAL    AT   KT.    LOl'18.' 


2< 


1  Letter  of  D.  M.  Frost,  Brigadier-General  commanding  Military  District  of  Missouri,  dated  "St  Louis, 
April  1ft,  1S61." 

5  Tlio  grounds  of  the  Arsenal  slope  to  the  river,  and  on  two  sides  have  a  sort  of  terraced  wall.  It  is  south 
of  the  city:  and  nour  the  river  a  railway  passes  through  the  grounds.  Connected  with  thut  wall  at  the  railway, 
a  battery  was  established. 

VOL.  I.— 30 


466  UNION   ORGANIZATIONS   IN   ST.   LOUIS. 

tributed  among  the  disloyal  inhabitants  of  that  region  capable  of  bearing 
arms.  The  Arsenal  at  St.  Louis  could  not  be  so  easily  taken.  It  was 
guarded  by  a  garrison  of  between  four  and  five  hundred  regular  troops, 
under  Captain  Nathaniel  Lyon,  one  of  the  bravest  and  best  men  in  the 
Army,  who  had  lately  been  appointed  commandant  of  the  post,  in  place  of 
Major  Bell.  Lyon  caused  earthworks  to  be  thrown  up  for  the  protection  of 
this  important  depository  of  arms. 

For  weeks  before  the  President's  call  for  troops,  the  secessionists  of  St. 
Louis  held  secret  meetings  in  the  Bethold  Mansion,  belonging  to  one  of  the 
oldest  French  families  in  the  State,  where  they  were  drilled  in  the  use  of 
fire-arms,  and  were  so  bold  as  to  fling  out  a  secession  flag  during  a  portion 
of  the  sittings  of  the  State  Convention.  They  were  furnished  with  State 
arms;  and  many  of  them  there  received  commissions  from  the  Governor,  and 
were  secretly  sworn  into  the  military  service  of  the  State.  They  were 
closely  watched  from  the  beginning  by  a  few  vigilant  Unionists,  who  met  in 
secret  in  the  law  office  of  Franklin  A.  Dick.1  There  Captain  Lyon  frequently 
met  them  in  consultation  ;  and  when  it  was  evident  that  the  secessionists 
were  preparing  to  seize  the  Arsenal  and  the  city,  they  made  first  Washington 
Hall  and  then  Turners'  Hall  (both  belonging  to  the  Germans)  places  for  ren 
dezvous  for  the  Unionists  of  St.  Louis.  These  (who  were  mostly  Germans) 
were  formed  into  military  companies,  drilled  in  the  use  of  fire-arms,  and 
thus  were  fully  prepared  to  resist  the  traitors.  Finally,  when  the  Presi 
dent's  call  for  troops  came,  they  drilled  openly,  made  their  hall  a  citadel  with 
barricaded  entrance,  established  a  perpetual  guard,  and  kept  up  continual 
communication  with  the  Arsenal.  They  were  denounced  by  the  secessionists 
as  outlaws,  incendiaries,  and  miscreants,  preparing  to  make  war  on  Missouri ; 
and  it  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  they  were  recognized  by  the  Gov 
ernment  at  Washington.  They  were  finally  relieved  of  much  anxiety  and 
embarrassment  by  an  order  issued  by  the  President,  on  the  30th  of  April,  for 
Captain  Lyon  to  enroll  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  the  loyal 
citizens  of  St.  Louis,  in  number  not  exceeding  ten  thousand.  This  order  was 
procured  chiefly  through  the  instrumentality  of  Colonel  (afterward  Major- 
General)  Frank  P.  Blair,  who,  within  ten  days  after  the  call  of  the  President 
for  troops  was  received,  had  raised  and  organized  a  regiment  of  Missourians, 
and  assisted  in  the  primary  formation  of  four  others.  On  him  Captain  Lyon 
leaned  much  in  this  emergency. 

In  the  mean  time  General  Wool's  timely  order  to  Governor  Yates,  to  send 
a  force  from  Illinois  to  hold  the  St.  Louis  Arsenal,2  had  been  acted  upon. 
Yates  sent  Captain  Stokes,  of  Chicago,  on  that  delicate  mission.  He  found 
St.  Louis  alive  with  excitement,  and,  after  consultation  with  Captain  Lyon 
and  Colonel  Blair,  it  was  thought  best  to  remove  a  large  portion  of  the  arms 
secretly  to  Illinois.  This  was  done  between  midnight  and  daylight  on  the 
morning  of  the  26th  of  April.  They  were  taken  to  Alton  in  a  steamboat, 
and  from  thence  to  Springfield  by  railway. 

1  The  gentlemen  who  attended  these  meetings  were  James  S.  Thomas,  now  (1865)  Mayor  of  St.  Louis;  Frank 
P.  Blair,  Oliver  D.  Filley,  James  D.  Broadhead,  Samuel  J.  Glover,  Benjamin  Farrar,  B.  Gratz  Brown,  Franklin 
A.  Dick,  Peter  L.  Foy,  Henry  T.  Blow,  Giles  F.  Filley,  John  D.  Stevenson,  John  Doyle,  Henry  Boernstein, 
Samuel  T.  Gardner,  and  Samuel  Sinews. 

2  See  page  430. 


AN   INSURGENT   CAMP   AT  ST.    LOUIS.  467 

The  Governor  and  the  secessionists  of  St.  Louis  were  unsuspicious,  or  at 
least  uninformed,  of  the  removal  of  so  many  arms  from  the  Arsenal,  and, 
under  orders  for  the  establishment  of  camps  of  instruction,  they  prepared  to 
seize  it  with  its  valuable  contents.    The  Governor's  zealous  adviser, 
General  Frost,  formed  a  camp  in  LindelPs  Grove,1  in  the  suburbs      "^^ 
of  St.  Louis,  on  the  designated  day,"  and  there  was  collected  a 
considerable   force    of  State   troops.     He    called    the    place    of   rendezvous 
"  Camp  Jackson,"  in  honor  of  the  Governor ;  and  in  compliment  to  the  chief 
civil   and  military  leader  of  the  rebellion,  he  named  two  of  the  principal 
avenues   formed   by  tents,  "Davis"  and    "Beauregard."      To   deceive   the 
people,  he  kept  the  National  flag  waving  over  this  camp  of  disloyalists. 

Captain  Lyon,  in  the  mean  time,  had  been  very  watchful.  Under  the 
orders  of  the  President,  of  the  30th  of  April,  he  enrolled  a  large  number  of 
volunteers.  These  occupied  the  Arsenal  grounds,  and  some  of  them,  for 
want  of  room  thereon,  were  quartered  outside  of  them.  The  latter  movement 
brought  the  metropolitan  police  into  fiction,  and  they  demanded  the  return  of 
the  troops  to  the  Government  grounds,  because  they  were  "  Federal  soldiers 
violating  the  rights  of  the  Sovereign  State  of  Missouri,"  which  had  "exclu 
sive  jurisdiction  over  her  whole  territory."  Lyon  saw  no  force  in  their 
argument,  and  paid  little  attention  to  their  folly,  but  continued  his  prepara 
tions  to  defend  and  hold  the  Arsenal.  To  make  his  little  force  appear 
stronger  than  it  really  was,  he  sent  out  squads  of  soldiers  in  disguise  during 
the  hours  of  night,  while  the  secessionists  slept,  with  orders  to  rendezvous 
at  a  distant  point,  and  march  back  to  the  Arsenal  the  next  morning  in 
uniform,  with  drums  beating  and  flags  flying.1 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th,  word  came  to  Captain  Lyon  that  heavy 
cannon  and  mortars  in  boxes,  marked  "  Marble,"3  and  shot  and  shell  in  bar 
rels,  had  been  landed  at  St.  Louis  from  the  steamer  J.  C.  /&WH,  and  taken 
to  Camp  Jackson  on  drays.  Reports  concerning  the  matter  were  contradic 
tory,  and  the  commander  resolved  to  make  a  personal  reconnaissance  of  the 
secession  camp.  .Disguised  as  a  woman  closely  veiled,  lie  rode  in  a  carriage 
up  to  and  around  the  camp  unsuspected,4  and  was  convinced  that  the  time  for 
vigorous  action  had  arrived.  Frost  had  become  uneasy,  and  on  the  morning 
of  the  10th  he  wrote  to  Lyon,  saying  that  he  was  constantly  in  receipt  of 
information  that  an  attack  on  his  camp  was  contemplated,  because  of  the 
impression  that  had  gone  abroad  that  he  was  about  to  attack  the  Arsenal. 
Then,  with  the  most  adroit  hypocrisy,  he  solemnly  declared  that  he  had  no 
hostile  designs  against  the  property  of  the  United  States  or  its  representa 
tives,  and  that  the  idea  of  such  hostility  had  never  been  entertained  by  him 
nor  by  any  one  else  in  the  State,  lie  was  acting,  he  said,  only  in  accordance 
with  liis  constitutional  duties.  In  support  of  his  assertion  he  pointed  to  the 
fact,  that  he  had  offered  the  services  of  the  troops  under  his  command  for 

1  This  srrovc  was  in  an  inclosuro  of  about  sixty  acres,  bounded  on  tho  north  by  Olive  Street,  and  extending 
west  alone  Grand  Avenue.  ^ 

2  Life  of  Xtithanifl  Lyon  :  by  Ashbol  Woodward,  page  244. 
'  Proclamation  of  General  W.  S.  Harney,  May  14,  1S61. 

4  On  that  occasion  Captain  Lyon  Wore  the  dress,  shawl,  and  bonnet  of  Mrs.  Andrew  Alexander,  a  daughter 
of  Governor  Geonre  Madison,  of  Kentucky,  whose  bravery  was  conspicuous  at  Frenchtown,  on  the  River  Raisin, 
early  in  1S18.  The  carriage  was  driven  by  William  Roberts,  a  colored  man,;  and  Captain  J.  J.  Witzig  w.ia 
Lyon's  cuide. 


468  CAPTURE  OF  CAMP  JACKSON. 

the  protection  of  the  public  property.  He  desired  to  know  "  personally n 
from  Captain  Lyon  whether  the  rumor  of  his  intended  attack  on  Camp 
Jackson  was  true. 

Lyon  refused  to  receive  Frost's  note,  but  the  traitor  was  answered  by  the 
vigilant  commander  "  personally "  that  day,  in  a  way  to  silence  all  further 
inquiries.  Early  in  the  afternoon,  Lyon,  by  a  quick  movement,  surrounded 
Camp  Jackson  with  about  six  thousand  troops  and  heavy  cannon,  so  placed 
as  to  command  the  entire  grove.1  Guards  were  placed  so  as  to  prevent  any 
communication  between  the  town  and  the  camp.  Then  Lyon  sent  a  note  to 
General  Frost,  demanding  an  immediate  surrender  of  the  men  and  munitions 
of  war  under  his  command,  and  giving  him  only  thirty  minutes  for  delibe 
ration. 

In  the  mean  time,  information  of  this  movement  had  spread  over  the 
town.  Rumors  of  an  attack  on  Camp  Jackson  had  been  exciting  the  people 
for  two  days,  and  now  a  portion  of  the  population,  who  sympathized  with 
the  rebellion,  were  in  a  state  of  frenzy,  and,  armed  with  whatever  weapon 
they  could  find — rifles,  pistols,  knives,  clubs — they  hurried  toward  Lindell's 
Grove  to  assist  the  State  troops.  They  found  the  south  side  of  the  camp 
open,  and  many  of  them  forced  their  way  into  it  and  joined  their  friends. 
They  were  too  late.  Frost  perceived  by  the  array  of  armed  men  around  his 
camp  that  resistance  with  his  twelve  hundred  militia  would  be  useless,  and 
he  surrendered  before  the  half  hour  allowed  him  for  deliberation  had 
expired.  With  his  men  Frost  surrendered  twenty  cannon,  twelve  hundred 
new  rifles,  several  chests  of  muskets,  and  large  quantities  of  ammunition. 
The  most  of  these  materials  of  war  had  been  stolen  from  the  Arsenal  at 
Baton  Rouge. 

Lyon  offered  to  release  the  State  troops,  who  were  now  prisoners,  on  con 
dition  of  their  taking  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  National  Government, 
and  promising  not  to  take  up  arms  against  it.  Nearly  all  of  them  declined 
the  offer,  and  toward  sunset  they  were  marched  out  of  the  camp  between 
two  regiments  (Blair's  and  Boernstein's),  followed  by  the  excited  crowd,  who 
yelled  and  cursed  like  madmen,  as  they  were.  They  huzzaed  for  Jefferson 
Davis  and  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Women  waved  their  handkerchiefs 
in  token  of  friendship  for  the  prisoners;  and  upon  the  German  Unionists  in 
the  ranks  the  most  insulting  epithets  were  poured  out.  At  length,  just  as 
the  last  of  the  prisoners  and  guard  were  leaving  the  camp,  some  of  the  rabble 
in  the  grove  fired  upon  some  of  Boernstein's  command.2  The  Germans 
returned  the  attack  in  kind.  More  than  twenty  of  the  crowd  were  wounded, 
including  some  women  and  children,  some  of  them  mortally.  Lyon  in- 


1  The  regiments  of  Missouri  Volunteers,  under  Colonels  Boernstein,  Franz  Sigel  (afterward  Major-General), 
and  Blair,  were  drawn  up  on  the  north  and  west  sides  of  the  camp ;  the  regiment  of  Colonel  Nicholas  Schiittner, 
with  a  company  of  United  States  Regulars  and  a  battery  of  artillery,  under  Lieutenant  Lathrop,  were  placed  on 
the  east  side  of  the  camp;  and  a  company  of  Regulars,  under  Lieutenant  Saxton,  and  a  battery  of  heavy  guns 
were  on  the  north  side  of  the  camp.     LyonVjstaff  consisted  of  Franklin  A.  Dick,  Samuel  Simmons,  Bernard  G. 
Farrar,  and  Mr.  Conant.     Mr.  Dick  was  afterward  Provost-Marshal  General  of  the  Department  of  Missouri 
under  General  S.  R.  Curtis,  with  the  rank  of  colonel. 

2  Captain  Blandowski,  of  Boernstein's  regiment,  was  mortally  wounded,  and  died  a  few  days  afterward,  when 
he  was  buried  with  the  honors  of  war.     Captain  Lyon  was  present  at  his  death,  and  he  remarked  to  the  victim's 
widow: — "Madam,  since  my  boyhood,  it  has  always  been  my  highest  wish  to  die  as  your  husband  has  died." 
That  wish  was  soon  afterward  gratified. 


HATRED   OF 


N   TROOPS. 


469 


atantly  ordered  the  firing  to  cease,  and  at  twilight  the  prisoners  in  hand 
were  conveyed  to  the  Arsenal.     Many  had  escaped. 

The  night  of  the  10th"  was  a  fearful  one  in  St.  Louis.  The  secessionists 
were  determined  on  revenge.  They  gathered  in  excited  throngs 
in  the  streets,  and  were  alternately  inflamed  by  incendiary  *^Jl 
speeches,  and  quieted  by  judicious  harangues  by  distinguished 
citizens.  They  marched  in  procession  with  significant  banners ;  broke  open 
a  gun-store,  and  seized  some  of  the  arms  in  it ;  and  all  night  long  the  air  was 
resonant  with  the  shouts  of  an  excited  multitude.  Toward  dawn,  through 
the  exertion  of  the  Mayor  and  police,  the  populace  dispersed  to  their 
homes,  with  hearts  filled  with  deep-seated  hatred  of  the  Union  troops, 
especially  of  the  Germans,  who  formed  a  greater  portion  of  the  "  Home- 
Guard."  This  hatred  was  violently  exhibited  toward  the  evening  of  the 
llth,  when  some  of  these  troops  were  entering  the  town  from  the  Arsenal. 
A  great  crowd  had  gathered  on  Fifth  Street  and  showered  insults  upon 
them ;  and  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  and  Walnut  Streets,  a  boy  in  the  crowd 
fired  a  pistol  at  the  soldiers.  Their  rear  line  turned  and  fired,  and  imme 
diately  the  whole  column  was  broken,  and  bullets  from  their  guns  flew  thick 
among  the  people  on  the  sidewalk  and  in  the  streets.  Several  were  killed 
and  wounded,  and  a  number  of  the  soldiers  themselves  suffered  from  the 
wild  firing  of  their  exasperated  comrades.  Mayor  Taylor  and  a  heavy 
police  force  soon  appeared,  and  quiet  was  restored. 

General  William  S.  Ilarney,  of  the  National  Army,  had  arrived  at  St. 
Louis  from  the  East  during  the-  excite 
ment,  and  on  the  12th,  he  resumed  the 
command  of  the  Department  of  the 
West,  of  which  lie  was  the  head.  The 
hot  indignation  of  the  populace  was 
smothered,  and,  with  one  or  two  ex 
ceptions,1  the  city  of  St.  Louis  (which 
remained  under  Union  control)  was 
spared  from  other  scenes  of  blood 
shed  during  the  war.-  When  all  the 
facts  became  known,  the  conduct  of 
Captain  Lyon  was  approved  by  his 
Government,  and  by  the  loyal  people 
of  the  country.  By  his  promptness 
and  skill,  and  with  the  assistance  of 
hosts  of  loyal  and  zealous  men,  he 
saved  the  Arsenal  and  the  city  of  St. 
Louis  from  the  grasp  of  the  conspirators,  and  so  consolidated  and  en 
couraged  the  Union  sentiment  of  the  Commonwealth,  that  Missouri  was 
saved  from  the  disgrace  of  being  rightfully  called  a  "seceded  State." 


P.    IIARNEV. 


1  On  the  ISth  of  Juno  the  city  was  violently  agitated  by  a  fearful  occurrence  on  Seventh  Street,  between 
Olive  and  Pine  Streets.  As  some  troops  were  passing,  a  pistol-shot  was  fired  among  them  from  a  fire  engine- 
house.  They  were  alarmed  and  confused,  and  commenced  firing  upon  the  people  in  the  street,  in  all  directions. 
Several  persons  were  killed  and  others  were  wounded.  Quiet  was  soon  afterward  restored. 

9  Statements  made  to  the  author  by  Colonel  F.  A.  Dick.  John  Coleman.  Jr..  and  other  eye-witnesses: 
Oration,  bj  Charles  I).  Drake,  on  the  Anniversary  of  the  capture  of  Camp  Jackson.  May  11.  ls&3.  Proclamation 
of  Gem-mi  W.  S.  Hartley,  May  14.  1SC1.  Lift  of  General  Lyon  :  by  Ashbel  Woodward.  M.  P. 


470  AN  ARMISTICE  AGREED   UPON. 

The  capture  of  Camp  Jackson  produced  great  consternation  among  the 
secessionists  at  Jefferson  City,  the  capital  of  the  State,  where  the  Legisla 
ture  was  in  session.  A  military  bill  was  immediately  passed,  by  which  a 
fund  for  war  purposes  was  decreed.  The  Governor  was  authorized  to 
receive  a  loan  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  from  the  banks,  and  to  issue 
State  bonds  to  the  amount  of  one  million  dollars.  He  was  also  authorized 
to  purchase  arms ;  and  the  whole  military  power  of  the  State  was  placed 
under  his  absolute  control,  while  every  able-bodied  man  was  made  subject 
to  military  duty.  A  heavy  extraordinary  tax  was  ordered ;  and  nothing  was 
left  undone  in  preparations  for  actual  war. 

Soon  after  General  Harney  returned  to  his  command,  he  issued  a  procla 
mation,0  in  which  he  characterized  this  military  bill  as  an  indirect 
secessi°n  ordinance,  even  ignoring  the  forms  resorted  to  by  the 
politicians  of  other  States,  and  he  told  the  people  of  Missouri  that 
it  was  a  nullity,  and  should  be  regarded  as  such  by  them.    Yet  he  was  anxious 
to  pursue  a  conciliatory  policy,  to  prevent  war.     He  entered  into 
a  compact b  with  Sterling  Price  (President  of  the  late  Convention, 
and  then  a  General  of  the  State  militia),  which  had  for  its  object  the  neutral 
ity  of  Missouri  in  the  impending  conflict.     Price,  in  the  name  of  the  Gover 
nor,  pledged  the  power  of  the  State  to  the  maintenance  of  order ;  and  Harney, 
in  the  name  of  his  Government,  agreed  to  make  no  military  movement,  so 
long  as  that  order  was  preserved.     The  loyal  people  were  alarmed,  for  they 
well  knew  the  faithlessness  to  pledges  of  the  Governor  and  his  associates, 
and  they  justly  regarded  the  whole  matter  as  a  trick  of  Jackson  and  other 
conspirators  to  deceive  the  people,  and  to  gain  time  to  get  arms,  and  pre 
pare  for  war.     Fortunately  for  the  State 
and  the  good  cause,  the  National  Gov 
ernment  did  not  sanction  this  compact. 
Captain    Lyon   had  been  commissioned 
a    brigadier-general'    in    the 
'  is6i ll     mean  time,  by  an  order  dated 
the  16th  of  May,  several  days 
before  this  treaty  with  Price.     General 
Harney  was  relieved  of  command,  and 
on  the   29th  he  was  succeeded  by  Lyon, 
who   bore    the   title    of  Commander  of 
the  Department  of  Missouri.       Most  of 
the  prisoners    taken    at    Camp    Jackson 
had     concluded    to    accept    the    parole 
STERLING  PRICE.  first    offered   them,   and   they    were    re 

leased. 

Governor  Jackson  paid  no  attention  to  the  refusal  of  the  National  Gov 
ernment  to  sanction  the  compact  between  Harney  and  Price,  but  proceeded 
as  if  it  were  in  full  force.  The  purse  and  the  sword  of  Missouri  had  been 
placed  in  his  hands  by  the  Legislature,  and  lie  determined  to  wield  both  for 
the  benefit  of  the  u  Southern  Confederacy."  He  issued  a  proclamation,  in 
which  he  declared  that  "  the  people  of  Missouri  should  be  permitted,  in  peace 
and  security,  to  decide  upon  their  future  course,"  and  that  "  they  could  not 
be  subjugated."  Finally,  on  the  llth  of  June,  General  Lyon,  Colonel  Blair, 


NATHAMKI.    I.YOX. 


CIVIL   WAR   BEGUN   IN   MISSOURI.  471 

and  Major  H.  A.  Conant  held  a  four  hours'  interview  with  Governor  Jack 
son,  General  Price,  and  Thomas  L.  Srnead,  the  latter  being  the  Governor's 
private  secretary.  Jackson  demanded,  as 
a  vital  condition  of  pacification,  that 
throughout  the  State  the  Home-Guards, 
composed  of  loyal  citizens,  should  be  dis 
banded,  and  that  no  National  troops 
should  be  allowed  to  tread  the  soil  of 
Missouri.  Lyon  peremptorily  refused 
compliance,  and  Jackson  and  his  associ 
ates  returned  to  Jefferson  City  that  night. 
On  the  following  day  *  the  Gov 
ernor  issued  a  proclamation,  ^JTcV2' 
calling  into  active  service  fifty 
thousand  of  the  State  militia,  "  for  the 
purpose  of  repelling  invasion,  and  for  the 
protection  of  the  lives,  liberty,  and  prop 
erty  of  the  citizens."  In  this  proclamation  he  told  the  people,  that  while 
it  was  their  duty  to  "  obey  all  of  the  constitutional  requirements  of  the 
Federal  Government,"  it  was  equally  his  duty  to  advise  them,  that  their 
"  first  allegiance  was  due  to  their  own  State,  and  that  they  were  under  no 
obligations  whatever  to  obey  the  unconstitutional  edicts  of  the  military 
despotism  which  had  enthroned  itself  at  Washington,  nor  to  submit  to  the 
infamous  and  degrading  sway  of  its  minions  in  this  State."  At  the  same 
time  two  important  railway  bridges  between  St.  Louis  and  Jefferson  City 
were  burnt,  and  the  telegraph  wires  were  cut,  under  the  direction  of  a 
.son  of  the  Governor.  So  the  disloyal  Chief  Magistrate  of  Missouri  inaugu 
rated  civil  war  in  that  State;  and  those  movements  of  troops  within  its  bor 
ders  immediately  began,  which  continued  during  almost  the  entire  period 
of  the  conflict,  with  the  most  disastrous  results  to  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  the  Commonwealth. 

While  the  loyalists  and  disloyalists  of  Missouri  were  grappling  in  their 
first  struggle's  for  supremacy,  the  National  Government  was  busy  on  the 
Southeastern  borders  of  that  Commonwealth,  in  making  preparations  for 
securing  its  capital  city,  St.  Louis,  from  the  armed  occupation  of  the  insur 
gents,  and  also  from  invasion  of  southern  Illinois  and  Indiana,  by  the  banded 
enemies  of  the  Republic.  The  possession  of  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River, 
where  it  pours  its  tribute  into  the  Mississippi,  was  of  importance,  as  that 
point  was  the  key  to  a  vast  extent  of  navigable  waters,  whose  control  would 
give  great  advantage  to  the  party  who  should  be  allowed  to  exercise  it. 
Both  Governor  Yates  and  the  Government  at  Washington  had  been  early 
informed  of  a  conspiracy  to  seize  Cairo,  a  small  village  in  Illinois,  on  the 
low  marshy  point  at  the  confluence  of  those  two  great  rivers,  and  the  lower 
portion  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railway,  that  terminated  there.  By  this 
means  they  hoped  to  control  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  to  St.  Louis, 
and  of  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati  and  beyond;  and  also  to  cut  off  all  communi 
cation  with  the  interior  of  Illinois.  They  further  hoped  that  their  permanent 
possession  of  that  point,  which  gave  them  absolute  control  of  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  below,  whose  stream  traversed  a  Slave-labor  territory 


472 


CAIRO    FORTIFIED.— ITS    IMPORTANCE. 


exclusively,  would  cause  the  Northwestern  States  of  the  Union  to  join  hands 
with  the  insurgents,  rather  than  lose  the  immense  commercial  advantages 
which  the  free  navigation  of  that  great  stream  aiforded.  The  scheme  Avas 
foiled  by  the  vigilance  of  the  Government  and  the  patriotism  of  the  people 
in  the  Northwest ;  and,  as  we  have  observed,  Governor  Yates,  under  direc 
tions  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  sent  Illinois  troops,  at  an  early  day,  to 
take  possession  of  and  occupy  Cairo.1  The  secessionists,  especially  of  Ken 
tucky  and  Missouri,  were  alarmed  and  chagrined  by  this  important  move 
ment,  and  never  ceased  to  lament  it. 

By  the  middle  of  May  there  were  not  less  than  five  thousand  Union 
volunteers  at  Cairo,  under  the  command  of  the  experienced  B.  M.  Prentiss, 
who  had  just  been  commissioned  a  brigadier-general.  They  occupied  the  ex 
treme  point  of  land  within  the  levee 
or  dike  that  keeps  out  the  rivers 
at  high  water,  at  the  confluence 
of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi.  There 
they  cast  up  fortifications,  and 
significantly  called  the  post 
Camp  Defiance.  A  smaller  one, 
called  Camp  Smith,  was  estab 
lished  in  the  rear  of  it ;  and 
troops  occupied  other  points  near, 
on  the  banks  of  the  two  rivers. 
Heavy  ordnance  was  forwarded 
from  Pittsburg,  and  42-pounder 
cannon  commanded  the  two 
streams,  and  bade  every  steamer 
and  other  craft  to  round  to  and 
report  to  the  military  authorities 
there.  Before  the  close  of  May, 
the  post  at  Cairo  was  considered 
impregnable  against  any  force  the 

Confederates  were  likely  to  bring.  It  soon  became  a  post  of  immense 
importance  to  the  Union  cause,  as  a  point  where  some  of  those  land  and 
naval  expeditions  which  performed  signal  service  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  were  fitted  out,  as  we  shall  observe  hereafter. 

Adjoining  Missouri  on  the  South  was  the  Slave-labor  State  of  Arkansas, 
in  which,  as  we  have  seen,  attachment  to  the  Union  was  a  prevailing  senti 
ment  of  the  people  at  the  beginning  of  the  year.a  Unfortunately 
for  them,  the  Governor  and  most  of  the  leading  politicians  of  the 
State  were  disloyal,  and  no  effort  was  spared  by  them  to  obtain  the  passage 
of  an  ordinance  of  secession  by  a  Convention  of  delegates  who 
met  on  the  4th  of  March.6  That  Convention  was  composed  of 


MILITARY    POSITION    AT   CAIRO. 


1861. 


»  1S61. 


1  See  page  456.  Cairo  is  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  below  St.  Louis.  It  is  situated  on  a  boot- 
shaped  peninsula,  which  has  been  formed  by  the  action  of  the  two  rivers.  At  high  water  it  is  usually  overflowed 
to  a  great  extent;  and  embankments,  twenty  or  thirty  feet  in  hight,  along  the  rivers,  called  levee*,  had  been 
thrown  up  to  keep  out  the  waters.  These  leveea  are  forty  feet  above  ordinary  low  water,  and  rise  about  ten 
feet  above  the  natural  level  of  the  land.  The  ground  in  the  rear  of  the  city  is  lower  than  that  on  which  the  town 
stands,  and,  during  overflows,  the  only  dry  communication  with  the  country  is  by  the  causeway  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railway,  which  extends  up  into  the  immense  prairies  of  Illinois. 


SECESSION   CONVENTION  IX   ARKANSAS. 


473 


seventy-five  members,  forty  of  whom  were  regarded  as  Unionists.  These 
were  so  decided  and  firm,  that  no  ordinance  of  secession  could  be  passed. 
The  conspirators  were  disheartened,  and,  for  a  while,  despaired  of  success. 
At  length  they  accomplished  by  a  trick,  what  they  could  not  gain  by  fair 
means.  A  self-constituted  Committee,  composed  of  "  Secessionists "  and 
"  Co-operationists,"  reported  an  ordinance  providing  for  an  election,  to  be 
held  on  the  17th  of  August  following,  at  which  the  leiral  voters  of  the  State 

O  O  /  O 

should  decide  by  ballot  for  "  Secession"  or  "Co-operation."'  If  a  majority, 
of  the  votes  then  cast  should  be  for  "  Secession,"  that  fact  was  to  be  con 
sidered  in  the  light  of  instruction  to  the  Convention  to  pass  an  ordinance  to 
that  effect;  if  for  "Co-operation,"  then  measures  were  to  be  used,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Border  Slave-labor  States  u  yet  in  the  Union,"  for  the 
settlement  of  existing  difficulties.  To  this  fair  proposition  the  Unionists  in 
the  Convention  agreed,  and  the  vote  on  the  question  was  unanimous. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  excitement  caused  by  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter, 
the  President's  call  for  troops,  and  the  events  at  Baltimore,  Governor  Rector 


VIEW    AT   CAIRO,    ON   THE   OHIO    RIVER    FRONT,    IN    1 


(whose  election  had  been  gained  by  the  influence  of  the  "Knights  of  the 
Golden  Circle"1)  and  his  disloyal  associates  adopted  measures  immediately 
for  arraying  Arkansas  on  the  side  of  the  conspirators  without  consulting  the 
people. 

We  have  already  observed  the  insulting  response  of  the  Governor  to  the 
President's  call.-'  This  was  followed  by  a  high-handed  measure  on  the  part 
of  the  President  of  the  Convention,  who  professed  to  be  a  loyal  man.  In 
violation  of  the  pledge  of  that  body,  that  the  whole  matter  should  be  sub 
mitted  to  the  people  in  August,  he  issued  a  call  for  the  Convention  to 
reassemble  on  the  6th  of  May.  It  met  on  that  day.  The  number  of 
delegates  present  was  seventy.  An  Ordinance  of  Secession,  previously  pre- 


1  See  page  1ST. 


2  See  page  337. 


474  FRAUD   AND   VIOLENCE   IN  ARKANSAS. 

pared,  was  presented  to  it  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  hall 
in  which  the  delegates  met  was  densely  crowded  by  an  excited  populace. 
It  was  moved  that  the  "  yeas  "  and  "  nays  "  on  the  question  should  be  taken 
without  debate.  The  motion  was  rejected  by  a  considerable  majority,  but 
the  President  declared  it  to  be  carried.  Then  a  vote  on  the  Ordinance  was 
taken,  and  a  majority  appeared  against  it.  The  conspirators  were  deter* 
mined  not  to  be  foiled.  The  President,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  plastic 
instrument  in  their  hands,  immediately  arose,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  cheers 
of  the  people,  vehemently  urged  the  Unionists  to  change  their  votes  to 
"ay"  immediately.  It  was  evident  that  a  large  number  of  that  crowd 
were  prepared  to  compel  them  to  do  so,  and  the  terrified  Unionists  com 
plied,  with  only  one  exception,  and  that  was  Isaac  Murphy,  who  was 
compelled  to  fly  for  his  life.  He  was  rewarded  for  his  fidelity  by  the 
Unionists,  who  elected  him  Governor  of  the  State  in  1864. 

Thus,  by  fraud  and  violence,  Arkansas  was  placed  in  the  position  of  a 
rebellious  State.  The  Convention  then  authorized  the  Governor  to  call  out 
sixty  thousand  men,  if  necessary,  for  military  duty.  The  State  was  divided 
into  two  military  divisions,  eastern  and  western.  General  Bradley  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Eastern  Division,  and  General  Pearce,  late 
of  the  National  Army,  was  made  commander  of  the  Western  Division.  An 
ordinance  was  also  passed  confiscating  all  debts  due  from  citizens  of  Arkan 
sas  to  persons  residing  in  the  Free-labor  States,  and  all  the  personal  property 
belonging  to  such  persons  in  Arkansas  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the 
Ordinance.  A  system  of  terrorism  was  at  once  commenced.  Unionists 
were  everywhere  shamefully  persecuted.  They  were  exiled,  imprisoned, 
and  murdered.  Confederate  troops  from  Texas,  and  Louisiana  were  brought 
into  the  State  to  occupy  it  and  overawe  the  loyalists ;  and  Arkansas  troops, 
raised  chiefly  by  fraud  and  violence,  were  sent  out  of  the  State,  for  the  con 
spirators  would  not  trust  them. 

Not  content  with  this  usurpation  at  home,  Governor  Rector  and  his  asso 
ciates,  acting  under  the  directions  of  the  arch-conspirators  at  Montgomery, 
took  measures  to  attach  to  their  cause,  by  persuasion  or  coercion,  the  power 
ful  civilized  Indians  residing  in  the  Territory  adjoining  the  western  bounda 
ries  of  Arkansas  and  northern  Texas.  These  were  the  Cherokees,  Choctaws, 
and  Chickasaws,  numbering  at  that  time  about  forty  thousand  souls.1  There 
were  also  in  that  region  a  remnant  of  the  Creek  Nation  who  formerly  in 
habited  Alabama,  and  some  Senecas  and  Shawnoese  from  the  North,  who 
had  lately  gone  there  on  a  visit.  It  was  believed  that  a  band  of  efficient 
warriors  might  be  drawn  from  these  nations,  whose  very  name  would  be 
terrible ;  and  through  the  resident  agents,  who  were  secessionists,  and  by 
other  means,  the  work  of  corruption  and  coercion  was  vigorously  commenced 
among  them. 

A  brother  of  Governor  Rector  was  then  Government  agent 

among  the  Cherokees,  and  used  all  his  influence  to  seduce  them 

from  their  allegiance.     When,  in  May,"  Jeiferson  Davis  ordered  three  regi 


1  The  Cherokees  numbered  twenty-two  thousand,  the  Choctaws  about  eighteen  thousand,  and  the  Chicku- 
saws  about  five  thousand.  A  large  proportion  of  these  were  engaged  in  the  pursuits  of  civilized  life,  especially 
the  Cherokees,  who  had  many  flourishing  schools. 


REBEL  EMISSARIES   AMONG   THE   INDIANS. 


475 


ments  of  these  Indians  to  be  formed,  he  commissioned  Albert  Pike,1  a  poet  of 
gome  pretensions,  who  was  a  native  of  Xew  England,  but  had  long  resided  in 
Arkansas,  to  make  a  treaty  with  them  to  that  effect. 
Pike  went  into  the  Indian  country,  where  he  met 
them  in  council.  He  succeeded  with  the  less  civil 
ized  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  and  by  virtue  of  a 
treaty  made  with  them,  they  were  entitled  to  the 
privilege  of  having  two  of  their  number  occupy 
seats  as  delegates  in  the  "  Congress "  of  the  con 
spirators  at  Montgomery.  Two  regiments  of 
these  Indians  were  raised,  and,  under  Pike,  who 
was  commissioned  a  brigadier-general,  they  joined 

r>    ,,  .  '        i          I    •      1  ALBERT   PIKE.* 

the  army  of  the  conspirators.     A  third  regiment 

was  organized  before  the  close  of  1861.     We  shall  meet  Pike  and  his  dusky 

followers  hereafter,  among  the  Ozark  Mountains. 

The  Cherokees  and  Creeks  were  not  so  easily  moved.  The  venerable 
John  Ross,  who  for  almost  forty  years  had  been  the  principal  Chief  of  the 
Cherokees,  took  a  decided  stand  against  the  secessionists,  and  resisted  them 
so  long  as  he  had  the  power.  On  the  1 7th  of  May"  he  issued  a 
proclamation,  in  which  he  reminded  his  people  of  their  treaty 
obligations  to  the  United  States,  and  urged  them  to  be  faithful  in  the 
observance  of  them.  He  exhorted  them  to  take  no  part  in  the  exciting 


a  1S61. 


KURT   SMITH.    ARKANSAS. 


events  of  the  day,  but  to  attend  to  their  ordinary  avocations ;  and  not  to  be 
alarmed  by  false  reports  circulated  among  them  by  designing  men,  but  to 
cultivate  peace  and  friendship  with  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  States.  He 


1  Pike  was  a  remarkable  man.  He  was  a  native  of  Boston,  and  was  then  fifty -one  years  of  age.  with  long 
gray  flowing  locks.  He  dressed  himself  in  candy  costume  and  wore  an  immense  plume  to  please  the  Indians. 
He  seems  to  have  pone  into  the  rebellion  heartily,  forgetful  of  the  warnings  of  his  own  remarkable  prophecy, 
•which  he  put  in  the  following  words,  toward  the  close  of  a  poem  entitled  Di**ohition  of  the  Union,  written 
before  the  war.  After  describing  civil  war  and  its  effects,  ho  says  to  the  deceived  people: — 
"  Where  are  your  leaders?  Where  are  they  who  led 

Your  souls  into  the  perilous  abyss? 
The  bravest  and  the  best  are  lying  dead. 

Shrouded  in  treason  and  dark  perjuries: 
The  most  of  them  have  basely  from  you  fled, 

Followed  by  Scorn's  unending,  general  hiss; 
Fled  into  lands  that  Liberty  disowns, 

Encrouohed  within  the  shadow  of  tall  thrones." 


476  INDIAN  LOYALISTS   OVERPOWERED. 

earnestly  urged  them  to  observe  a  strict  neutrality,  and  to  maintain  a  trust 
that  God  would  not  only  keep  from  their  borders  the  desolation  of  war,  but 
stay  its  u  ravages  among  the  brotherhood  of  States." 

But  Ross  and  his  loyal  adherents  among  the  Cherokees  and  Creeks  were 
overborne  by  the  tide  of  rebellion,  and  were  swept  on,  powerless,  by  its 

tremendous  current.  The  forts  on  the 
frontier  of  Texas  (Gibson,  Arbuckle,  and 
Washita),  used  for  their  defense,  had,  as 
we  have  observed,  been  abandoned  by 
United  States  troops,  in  consequence  of 
the  treason  of  Twiggs,  and  the  Indians 
were  threatened  by  an  invasion  from  that 
State.  Fort  Smith,  on  the  boundary-line 
between  Arkansas  and  the  Indian  Terri 
tory,1  had  also  been  evacuated,  and  was 
now  in  possession  of  the  insurgents.  Their 
immediate  neighbors,  the  Choctaws  and 
Chickasaws,  with  wild  tribes  westward 
JOHN  ROSS.  °f  tnem>  were  rallying  to  the  standard 

of    the    conspirators ;    and    the    National 

troops  in  Missouri  were  unable  to  check  the  rising  rebellion  there.     Isolated 
and  weak,  and  perceiving  no  hope  for  relief  by  their  Government,  the  chief 
men  of  the  Cherokees  held  a  mass  meeting  at  Tahlequah  in  August," 
A  is6i * 2'     ail(^  W^h  great  unanimity  declared  their  allegiance  to  the  "  Con 
federate  States."     Ross  still  held  out,  but,  finally  yielding  to  the 
force  of  circumstances  and  the  teachings  of  expediency,  he  called  on  the 
Council  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  to  assemble  at  Tahlequah  on  the  20th  of  the 
same  month,  when  he  sent  in  a  message,  recommending  the  severance  of 
their  connection  with  the  National  Government,  and  an  alliance  with  the 
Confederates."     Four  days  afterward,6  he  sent  a  note 2  to  an 
officer  of  the  insurgent  forces,  covering  dispatches  to  Ben  McCul- 
loch,  under  whom  the  Indians  and  some  Texan  troops  were  to  act,  informing' 
him  that  the  Cherokee  Nation  had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  conspirators. 
The  wife  of  Ross,  a  young  and  well-educated  woman,  still  held  out;  and 
when  an  attempt  was  made  to  raise  a  u  Confederate  "  flag  over  the  Council 


u 
6  August  24. 


1  The  boundary-line  runs  through  the  fort.     It  is  at  the  confluence  of  the  Arkansas  and  Poteau  Rivers,  and 
near  it  is  the  city  of  Fort  Smith,  at  which  an  immense  trade  with  the  Indians  and  New  Mexicans  was  carried 
on  before  the  war.     It  was  next  to  Little  Kock,  the  capital  of  the  State,  in  population. 

2  The  following  is  a  copy  of  Boss's  note:— 

"  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,          | 

"  PARK  HILL.  C.  N.,  August  24,  1861.  ) 
"  To  Major  G.  W.  CLARK.  A.  Q,  M.,  C.  S.  A. : 

"  SIR:— I  herewith  forward  to  your  care  dispatches  for  General  McCulloch,  C.  S.  A.,  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  request  you  will  cause  to  be  forwarded  to  him  by  earliest  express.  At  a  mass  meeting  of  about  four  thousand 
Cherokees.  at  Tahlequah,  on  the  21st  inst,  the  Cherokees.  with  marked  unanimity,  declared  their  allegiance  to  the 
Confederate  States,  and  have  given  their  authorities  power  to  negotiate  an  alliance  with  them.  In  view  of  this 
action,  a  regiment  of  mounted  men  will  be  immediately  raised,  and  placed  under  command  of  Colonel  John 
Drew,  to  meet  any  emergency  that  may  come.  The  dispatches  to  General  McCulloch  relate  to  the  subject,  and 
contain  a  tender  from  Colonel  Drew  of  his  regiment,  for  service  on  our  northern  border.  Having  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  Confederate  States,  we  hope  to  render  efficient  service  in  the  protracted  war  which  now  threatens 
the  country,  and  to  win  the  liberal  confidence  of  the  Confederate  States. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant  JOHN  Ross, 

"Principal  CJiief  Cherokee  Nation." 


PRINCIPAL   CHIEF   OF  THE   CIIEROKEES.  477 

House,  she  opposed  the  act  with  so  much  spirit,  that  the  insurgents  desisted. 
Equally  spirited  was  the  head  Chief  of  the  Creeks.  After  fighting  the  insur 
gents  in  the  field,  he  was  driven  into  Kansas,  where  he  died  in  1864. 

During  the  civil  war,  the  Cherokees  suffered  terribly,  at  times,  from  the 
depredations  of  guerrilla  bands  of  rebels,  who  infested  the  western  borders 
of  Missouri  and  Arkansas  and  Upper  Texas,  roaming  through  the  Indian 
country,  and  committing  violence  and  robberies  everywhere.  Three  of  the 
most  noted  of  the  leaders  of  these  robber  bands  wrere  named,  respectively, 
Taylor,  Anderson,  ami  Tod,  who  gave  to  the  bravest  of  their  followers  a 
silver  badge,  star-shaped,  and  bearing  their  names. 

The  secessionists  would  not  trust  Chief  Ross.  Indeed,  his  loyalty  to  his 
country  was  so  obvious  that  they  were  about  to  arrest  him,  when  he  fled  to 
the  North  with  some  National  troops  who  penetrated  the  Cherokee  country 
in  1862.  About  fifty  of  his  relations  escaped  with  him.  During  the  remainder 
of  the  war  he  and  his  family  resided  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  writer  had  a 
long  and  interesting  interview  with  him  early  in  1865.  Mr.  Ross  had  in  his 
possession  one  of  the  guerrilla  badges  just  mentioned,  of  which  an  engra 
ving,  the  size  of  the  original,  is  given  below.  He  was  then  seventy-four 
years  of  age.  He  was  of  medium  hight,  compactly  built,  with  abundant 
white  hair,  and  having  only  one-eighth  of  Indian  blood  in  his  veins,  he  had 
every  appearance  of  a  purely  white  man.  His  life,  as  principal  Chief  of  the 
Cherokees  during  their  emergence  from  Paganism,  their  persecutions  and 
sufferings  while  eastward  of  the  Mississippi,  and  their  settlement  and  advance 
ment  in  their  new  homes  westward  of  the  Father  of  Waters,  had  been  an 
exceedingly  interesting  one. 


478 


UPRISING  OF  THE   SOUTHERN  PEOPLE. 


CHAPTEK    XX. 

COMMENCEMENT  OF  CIVIL  WAK. 


1861. 


T  the  close  of  April,"  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  confederates 
were  satisfied  that  the  Government  and  the 
loyal  people  of  the  country  were  resolved  to 
.  maintain  the  nationality  of  the  Republic  at  all  hazards,  and 
they  put  forth  extraordinary  efforts  to  strike  a  deadly  blow 
before  it  should  be  too  late.  The  possession  of  Washington 
City  being  the  chief  object  to  be  first  obtained,  troops 
were  hurried  toward  it,  as  we  have  seen,  from  all  points  of  the  Slave-labor 
States,  with  the  greatest  possible  baste  and  in  the  greatest  possible  numbers. 
At  the  beginning  of  May  there  were  sixteen  thousand  of  them  on  their  way 
to  Virginia  or  within  its  borders,  and,  with  the  local  troops  of  that  Common 
wealth,  were  pressing  on  toward  Washington,  or  to  important  points  of 
communication  with  it.  At  the  same  time  measures  were  on  foot  at  Mont 
gomery  for  organizing  an  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men.1 

The  enthusiasm  among  the  young  men  of  the  ruling  class  in  the  South 
was  equal  to  that  of  the  young  men  of  the  North.  NotAvithstanding  the 
proclamation  of  the  President,  calling  for  seventy-five  thousand  men,  was 
read  by  crowds,  "  on  the  bulletin-boards  of  the  telegraph-offices  in  every 
town,  with  roars  of  laughter  and  derision,  and  cheers  for  the  great  rail-splitter 
Abraham,"  as  one  of  their  chroniclers  avers,  and  few  believed  that  there  would 
be  war,  "companies  were  formed  on  the  spot,  from  among  the  wealthiest  of  the 
youths,  and  thousands  of  dollars  were  spent  on  their  organization,  drill,  and 
equipment ;  indeed,  had  Jefferson  Davis  so  desired,  he  could  have  had  two 
hundred  thousand  volunteers  within  a  month  for  any  term  of  service."2  The 
enthusiasm  of  the  young  men  was  shared  by  the  other  sex.  "  Banners  of 
costly  material,"  says  the  same  writer,  "  were  made  by  clubs  of  patriotic 
young  ladies,  and  delivered  to  the  companies  with  appropriate  speeches — the 
men,  on  such  occasions,  swearing  that  they  would  perish  rather  than  desert 
the  flag  thus  consecrated.  Subscriptions  for  arms  and  accouterments  poured 
in,  and  an  emissary  was  dispatched  northward,  post-haste,  to  get  the  requi 
sites."  Regarding  the  whole  matter  as  a  lively  pastime  in  prospect,  many 
of  the  companies  prepared  to  dress  in  costly  attire,  and  bear  the  most  expen 
sive  rifles ;  but  those  who  knew  better  than  they  what  kind  of  an  entertain 
ment  the  Southern  youth  were  invited  to,  gave  them  some  sound  lessons  at 
the  beginning.  "  The  young  gentlemen  of  your  company,"  wrote  Jefferson 


1  "Message"  of  Jefferson  Davis  to  the  "Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America,"  April«29,  1861. 

2  Battle- Fields  of  the  South:  by  an  English  Combatant.     Page  4. 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   EARLY   VOLUNTEERS. 


479 


Davis  to  a  Mississippi  captain,  "  must  be  thoroughly  infused  with  the  idea 
that  their  services  will  prove  to  be  in  hardships  and  dangers  ;  the  commonest 
material,  therefore,  will  be  the  most  desirable  ;  and  as  for  arms,  we  must  be 
content  with  what  we  have  ;  the  enemy  will  come  superabundantly  provided 
with  all  things  that  money  and  ingenuity  can 
devise.  We  must  learn  to  supply  ourselves  from 
them."  He  recommended  that  all  volunteers 
should  be  dressed  in  gray  flannels  and  light  blue 
cotton  pantaloons.1 

The  grand  rallying-place  of  the  "  Confeder 
ates,"  preparatory  to  a  march  on  the  Capital,  was 
Manassas  Junction,  a  point  on  the  Orange  and 
Alexandria  Railway,  where  another  joins  it  from 
Manassas  Gap  in  the  Blue  Ridge,  about  twenty- 
five  miles  west  from  Alexandria,  and  thirty  in 
a  direct  line  from  Washington  City.  This  was 
a  most  important  strategic  point  in  the  plans  of 
the  conspirators,  as  it  commanded  the  grand 
Southern  railway  route,  connecting  Washington 
and  Richmond,  and  another  leading  t<>  the  fer 
tile  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  beyond  the  Blue 
Ridge.  General  Butler  had  already  suggested 
to  General  Scott  the  propriety  of  sending  Xa- 

tional  troops  to  occupy  that  very  position  before  a  "Confederate"  soldier 
had  appeared,3  knowing  that  Washington  City  could  be  more  easily  defended 
at  that  distance  from  it,  than  by  troops  and  batteries  on  Arlington  Ilights, 
just  across  the  Potomac,  within  cannon-shot  of  the  Capital.  The  General- 
in-chief  disagreed  with  Butler ;  and  while  the  veteran  soldier  was  slowly 


MISSISSIPPI    RIFLEMAN.9 


»  BattU-Fifldi  of  the  Xouth,  page  5.— This  writer,  speaking  of  the  company  to  which  he  was  attached. 
Bays:— "The  ambition  of  all  was  to  »n-ar  a  musket  in  the  holy  war  for  independence,"  and  added.  "  that  his  com 
pany  was  composed  of  men  representing  property,  in  the  a^irregate.  of  not  less  than  twenty  millions  of  dollars." 
Then,  "to  show  the  spirit  of  those  about  to  tight  for  the  freedom  of  their  country,"  he  says:— "  A  commissioned 
(company)  officer,  having  donned  his  gray  uniform  and  gilded  shoulder-straps,  began  to  strut  about  camp  and 
assume  'airs.'  eager  to  show  his  'little  brief  authority '  on  all  occasions.  This  unfortunate  fellow  disgusted  those 
who  elected  him;  and  although  the  men  were  desirous  of  learning  their  duty  thoroughly  and  expeditiously,  he 
seized  upon  every  opportunity  to  '  blackguard '  his  former  associates.  He  was  frequently  told  how  obnoxious 
his  assuming  manner  was;  but,  not  heeding  the  admonition,  several  threatened  to  take  him  out  and 'whale' 
him.  Laughing  at  these  suppressed  remarks,  he  dared  to  lift  his  sword  to  slap  one  of  the  men  when  on  parade.: 
ho  was  told  what  the  immediate  consequence  would  be.  but  foolishly  raised  the  weapon  a^'ain,  and  slapped  one 
across  the  shoulders;  when,  in  an  instant,  the  rille  was  dropped,  a  bowie-knife  flashed,  and  the  officer  lay  dead 
on  the  turf,  stabbed  five  or  six  times  in  as  many  seconds.  The  company  did  not  stir,  but  looked  on  and 
applauded;  the  culprit  quietly  wiped  his  knife,  resumed  his  place  in  the  ranks,  and  drc.-s-paradc  proceeded  as  if 
nothing  had  hapjM-ncd.  Courts-martial  could  not — oral  all 
events  did  not — attempt  to  exercise  any  jurisdiction  in  this 
or  similar  cases;  they  were  reckoned  affairs  of  self-defense, 
or  'honor.' " 

a  The  Mississippi  Kiflcmen  were  renowned  as  destruc 
tive  sharp-shooters  during  the  war.  In  addition  to  their 
rifle,  they  carried  a  sheath-knife,  known  as  the  bowie-knife, 
in  their  belt.  This  is  a  formidable  weapon  in  a  hand-to-hand 
flight,  when  wielded  by  men  expert  in  its  use,  as  many  were 
in  the  Southwestern  States,  where  it  was  generally  seen  in 
murderous  frays  in  the  streets  and  bar-rooms.  Its  origin  is 

connected  with  an  incident  in  the  life  of  Colonel  Howie,  who  was  engaged  in  the  revolt  of  Texas  against  Mexico, 
la  1835  and  1^6.  His  sword-blade  was  broken  in  an  encounter,  when  he  converted  the  remainder  into  a  stout 
sharp-pointed  knife,  and  the  weapon  became  very  popular.  See  note  1,  page  '2CC. 

3  Parton's  Butler  in  Xtio  Orleans,  page  105. 


I5OWIE-KMKK    AND    SIIKATII. 


480  THE   INSURGENTS   ON  ARLINGTON   EIGHTS. 

preparing  for  a  defensive  campaign,  the  enemies  of  the  Government,  moving 
aggressively  and  quickly,  had  taken  full  possession,  unopposed,  of  one  of  the 
most  important  positions  for  the  accomplishment  of  their  object.  They 
attempted  to  do  more.  Under  Colonel  Lee,  the  late  occupant  of  Arlington 
House,  they  were  preparing  to  fortify  Arlington  Hights,  where  heavy  siege- 
guns  would  absolutely  command  the  cities  of  Washington  and  Georgetown. 
Fortunately  for  the  country,  this  movement  was  discovered  in  time  to  defeat 
its  object.  That  discovery  revealed  the  necessity  of  an  immediate  advance 
of  National  forces  beyond  the  Potomac.  The  advantages  gained  by  the 
insurgents  in  having  possession  of  the  railways  in  that  region  was  painfully 
apparent.  Already  "  Confederate"  pickets  were  occupying  Arlington  Hights 
and  the  Virginia  shore  of  the  Long  Bridge,  which  spans  the  Potomac  at 
Washington  City ;  and  engineers  had  been  seen  on  those  hights  selecting 
eligible  positions  for  batteries.1 

A  crisis  was  evidently  at  hand,  and  the  General-in-chief  was  now  per 
suaded  to  allow  an  immediate  invasion  of  Virginia.2  Orders  were  at  once 
issued a  for  the  occupation  of  the  shores  of  the  Potomac  oppo- 
s^e'  an(^  a^so  *^e  city  of  Alexandria,  nine  miles  below,  by 
National  troops.  General  Mansfield  was  in  command  of  about 
thirteen  thousand  men  at  the  Capital.  Toward  midnight,  these  forces  in  and 
around  Washington  were  put  in  motion  for  the  passage  of  the  river,  at  three 
different  points.  One  column  was  to  cross  at  the  Aqueduct  Bridge,  at 
Georgetown;  another  at  the  Long  Bridge,  at  Washington;  and  a  third  was 
to  proceed  in  vessels,  and  seize  the  city  of  Alexandria. 

The  three  invading  columns  moved  almost  simultaneously.  The  one  at 
Georgetown  was  commanded  by  General  Irvin  McDowell.  Some  local  volun 
teers  crossed  first,  and  drove  the  insurgent  pickets  from  the  Virginia  end  of 
the  Aqueduct  Bridge.  These  were  followed  by  the  Fifth  Massachusetts ;  the 
Twenty-eighth  New  York,  from  Brooklyn  ;  Company  B  of  the  United  States 
Cavalry  ;  and  the  Sixty-ninth  New  York,  which  was  an  Irish  regiment,  under 
Colonel  Michael  Corcoran.  Their  march  across  that  lofty  structure,  in  the 
bright  light  of  a  full  moon,  was  a  beautiful  spectacle.  Thousands  of  anxious 
men  and  women  saw  the  gleaming  of  their  bayonets  and  the  waving  of  their 


1  James  D.  Gay,  mentioned  in  note  1,  page  418,  visited  the  steamship  Monticello  on  the  23d  of  May,  then 
discharging  Government  stores  at  Georgetown,  and  while  viewing  Arlington  Hights,  not  far  from  the  Aqueduct 
Bridge,  through  a  telescope,  discovered   Lee  (according  to   his   description)  and   some   subordinate  officers, 
apparently  engaged,  in  the  partial  concealment  of  bushes  and  irregularities  of  the  ground,  in  laying  out  fortifica 
tions.     Alter  satisfying  himself  that  preparations  were  being  made  by  the  insurgents  to  plant  batteries  on 
Arlington  Hights,  Gay  hastened  to  the  head-quarters  of  General  Mansfield  and  told  him  what  he  had  seen,  in 
detail.     The  General,  not  doubting  that  a  battery  would  be  built  on  Arlington  Hights  that  night,  went  imme 
diately  to  the  War  Department  with  his  information.     The  order  went  out  at  once  for  the  troops  to  move  into 
Virginia  and  occupy  Arlington  Hights  before  the  insurgents  should  gain  absolute  possession  there.     The  suc 
cess  of  the   National  troops  on  that  occasion  was  a  very  severe  blow  to  the  conspirators.     The  loss  of  that 
opportunity  to  gain  a  position  that  would  doubtless  have  secured  their  possession  of  Washington  City,  was  at 
the  time,  and  frequently  afterward,  spoken  of  in  the  Richmond  press  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  misfortunes. 

2  On  the  previous  day  (May  22)  a  large  National  flair,  purchased  by  the  clerks  of  the  Post-Office  Department, 
in  testimony  of  their  loyalty,  was  raised  over  the  General  Post-Office,  in  Washington  City,  by  the  hand  of  Presi 
dent   Lincoln.     The  air  was  almost  motionless,  and   the  banner  clung  ominously  sullen  to  the  staff  and  the 
halliards.     In  a  few  moments  a  gentle  breeze  came  from  the  North,  and  displayed  the  Stripes  and  Stars  in  all 
their  beauty  and  significance  to  the  assembled  crowd.     "  I  had  not  thought  to  say  a  word,"  said  the  President 
when  he  observed  the  incident,  "but  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  a  few  weeks  ago  the  'Stars  and  Stripes'  hung 
rather  languidly  about  the  staff,  all  over  the  nation.     So  too  with  this  flag,  when  it  was  elevated  to  its  place. 
At  first  it  hung  rather  languidly,  but  the  glorious  breeze  from  the  North  came,  and  it  now  floats  as  it  should. 
And  we  hope  that  the  same  breeze  is  swelling  the  glorious  flag  throughout  the  whole  Union." 


THE   FIRST   INVASION   OF   VIRGINIA. 


481 


banners,  and  heard  the  sounds  of  their  measured  foot-falls  borne  on  the  still 
night  air,  with  the  deepest  emotions,  for  it  was  the  first  initial  act  of  an 
opening  campaign  in  civil  warfare,  whose  importance  no  man  could  estimate. 


AyUEIH'CT    BKILlUE    AT   GEOHG'ETuWN. 

Two  miles  distant  from  this  passing  column  was  another  crossing  the 
Long  Bridge.  It  consisted  of  the  National  Rifles  under  Captain  Smead, 
and  a  company  of  Zouaves  under  Captain  Powell,  who  drove  the  insurgent 
pickets  toward  Alexandria,  and  took 
position  at  Roach's  Spring,  a  half  a  mile 
from  the  Virginia  end  of  the  bridge. 
These  were  immediately  followed  by  the 
Constitutional  Guards  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  under  Captain  Digges,  who 
advanced  about  four  miles  on  the  road 
toward  Alexandria.  At  two  oVlock  in 
the  morning,  a  heavy  body,  composed 
of  the  New  York  Seventh  Regiment : 
three  New  Jersey  regiments  (Second, 
Third,  and  Fourth),  under  Brigadier-Gen 
eral  Theodore  Runyon,  and  the  New 
York  Twelfth  ami  Twenty-fifth,  passed 
over.  The  New  York  troops  were  coin-  THK..IK.KE  UI-NY...V 

manded    by    Major-General    Charles   W. 

Sandford,  who,  at  the  call  of  the  President,  had  offered  his  entire  division  to 
the  service  of  the  country. 

The  New  York  Seventh  Regiment  was  halted    at  the  end  of  the  Long 


1  This  is  a  view  of  the  Aqueduct  Bridge  at  Georgetown,  over  which  flow  the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake  and 
Ohio  (.'unal,  in  its  extension  to  Alexandria,  after  having  traversed  the  valley 
of  the  Potomac  from  the  eastern  base  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  The  pic 
ture  is  from  a  sketch  made  by  the  writer  in  the  spring  of  l>6f>,  from  the 
piazza  in  the  rear  of  the  Cumberland  House,  which  was  the  residence  of 
Francis  S.  Key.  author  of ''The  Star-Spangled  Banner."  at  the  time  when  that 
poem  was  written.  See  Lossing's  I'ict orial  Field-Book  of  the  Wtf/i<>/plSli 
Arlington  Hights  are  seen  beyond  the  Potomac,  with  Fort  Bennett  on  the  ex 
treme  riirht.  the  Hag  of  Fort  Corcoran  in  the  center,  and  three  block-houses 
on  the  left,  which  guarded  the  Virginia  end  of  the  bridge.  Several  of  these 
block-houses  were  built  on  Arlington  Hights  early  in  the  war.  all  having  the 
same  general  character  of  the  one  delineated  in  the  annexed  engraving. 
They  were  built  of  heavy  hewn  timber,  and  were  sometimes  used  as  signal- 
btations. 


BLOCK-IIOfSE. 


VOL. 


482 


MILITARY   OCCUPATION   OF  ALEXANDRIA, 


Bridge.       One  New   Jersey  regiment  took  post  at   Roach's    Spring,    near 
which    a   redoubt  was  cast  up,  and  named  Fort  Runyon,  in  honor  of  the 
.Commanding  General  under  whose  direction  it  was  constructed.     It  crossed 
the  road  leading  from   the  Long  Bridge  to 
Alexandria,  near  its  junction  with  the  Colum 
bia  Turnpike.     The  remainder  of  the  troops, 
including  the  New  York  Seventh  and  a  com 
pany  of  cavalry  under  Captain  Brackett,  now 
joined  those  who  crossed  the  Aqueduct  Bridge, 
and  these  forces  combined  took  possession  of 
and  commenced  fortifying  Arlington  Hights. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  New  York  Fire 
Zouave  Regiment,1  under  Colonel  Ephraim 
E.  Ellsworth,  who  had  been  encamped  on  the 
east  branch  of  the  Potomac,  near  the  Navy 
Yard,  were  embarked  on  two  schooners  and 
taken  to  Alexandria ;  while  the  First  Michigan 
Regiment,  Colonel  Wilcox,  accompanied  by  a 
detachment  of  United  States  cavalry  com 
manded  by  Major  Stoneman,  and  two  pieces 
of  Sherman's  battery  -  in  charge  of  Lieuten 
ant  Ransom,  marched  for  the  same  destination 

by    way    of   the 


NEW    JERSEY  STATE    MILITIA. 


Long  Bridge.  The  troops  moving  by  land  and 
water  reached  Alexandria  at  about  the  same 
time.  The  National  frigate  Pawnee  was  lying 
off  the  town,  and  her  commander  had  already 
been  in  negotiation  for  the  evacuation  of  Alex 
andria  by  the  insurgents.  A  detachment  of 
her  crew,  bearing  a  flag  of  truce,  now  hastened 
to  the  shore  in  boats,  and  leaped  eagerly 
upon  the  wharf  just  before  the  Zouaves  reached 
it.  They  wero  fired  upon  by  some  Virginia 
sentries,  who  instantly  fled  from  the  town. 
Ellsworth,  ignorant  of  any  negotiations,  ad 
vanced  to  the  center  of  the  city,  and  took  pos 
session  of  it  in  the  name  of  his  Government, 
while  the  column  under  Wilcox  marched 
through  different  streets  to  the  Station  of  the 
Orange  and  Alexandria  Railway,  and  seized  itr 
with  much  rolling  stock.  They  there  captured 
a  small  company  (thirty-five  men)  of  Virginia 

cavalry,  under  Captain  Ball.     Other  Virginians,  who  had  heard  the  firing  of 

the  insurgent  pickets,  escaped  by  way  of  the  railroad. 

Alexandria  was  now  in  quiet  possession  of  the  National  troops,  but  there 


ELL8WORTU   ZOUAVES. 


1  See  page  429. 

3  Sherman's  Battery,  which,  as  -we  have  observed,  accompanied  the  Pennsylvania  troops  under  Colonel 
Patterson  (see  page  445),  consisted  of  six  pieces.  The  whole  battery  crossed  the  Long  Bridge  on  this  occasion 
but  only  four  of  the  pieces  were  taken  to  Arlington  Ilights. 


DEATH  OF  COLONEL  ELLSWORTH. 


483 


were  many  violent  secessionists  there  who  would  not  submit.     Among  them 
was  a  man  named  Jackson,  the  proprietor  of  an  inn  called   the  Marshall 
House.     The  Confederate  flag  had  been  flying  over  his  premises  for  many  days, 
and  had  been  plainly  seen  from 
the  President's  house  in  Wash 
ington.1     It  was  still  there,  and 
Ellsworth  went  in  person  to  take 
it  down.     When  descending  an 
upper  staircase  with  it,  he  was 
shot  by  Jackson,  who  was  wait 
ing  for  him  in  a  dark  passage, 
with     a     double-barreled     gun, 
loaded    with    buckshot.       Ells 
worth   fell   dead,    and  his   mur 
derer  met  the  same  fate  an  in 
stant  afterward,  at  the  hands  of 
Francis  E.   Brownell,  of  Troy,       [if  Jiff  P 
who,  witli    six    others,   had    ac-  &*& 

companied  his  commander  to 
the  roof  of  the  house.  lie  shot 
Jackson  through  the  head  with 
a  bullet,  and  pierced  his  body 
several  times  with  his  saber- 
bayonet.  The  scene  at  the  foot 
of  that  staircase  was  now  appal 
ling.  Immediately  after  Jack 
son  was  killed,  a  woman  came  rushing  out  of  a  room,  and  with  frantic  ges 
tures,  as  she  leaned  over  the  body  of  the 
dead  inn-keeper,  she  uttered  the  wildest 
cries  of  grief  and  despair.  She  was  the 
wife  of  Jackson. 

Ellsworth's  body  was  borne  in  sadness 
to  Washington  by  his  sorrowing  compan 
ions,  and  funeral  services  were  performed 
in  the  East  Room  of  the  White  House, 
with  President  Lincoln  as  chief  mourner. 
It  was  then  taken  to  Xew  York,  where  it 
lay  in  state  in  the  City  Hall,  and  was 
afterward  carried  in  imposing  procession 
through  the  streets  before  being  sent  to 
its  final  resting-place  at  Mechanicsville,  on 
the  banks  of  the  upper  Hudson.  Ells 
worth  was  a  very  young  and  extremely  handsome  man,  and  was  greatly  be 
loved  for  his  generosity,  and  admired  for  his  bravery  and  patriotism.  His 
death  produced  great  excitement  throughout  the  country.  It  was  the  first  of 


THE    MARSHALL    HOUSE. 


KPIIRAIM    RLMORE    ELLSWORTH. 


1  On  tlu>  preceding  .lay  (May  23d)  a  Confederate  ffatr,  flyinjrin  Alexandria,  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
troops  in  Washington  City.  Just  at  evening,  William  McSpi-don.  of  New  York  City,  and  Samuel  Smith,  of 
Queen's  County,  Lonir  Island,  went  over  and  captured  it.  This  was  Ihejirst  flag  taken  from  the  inguryent*. 


484 


FIRST  DEFENSES   OF  WASHINGTON. 


note  that  had  occurred  in  consequence  of  the  National  troubles;  and  the 
very  first  since  the  campaign  had  actually  begun,  a  few  hours  before.  It 
intensified  the  hatred  of  rebellion  and  its  abettors  ;  and  a  regiment  was  raised 
in  his  native  State  (New  York)  called  the  Ellsworth  Avengers. 

Intrenching  tools  were  sent  over  the  Potomac  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
24th,  and  the  troops  immediately  commenced  casting  up  intrenchments.  and 
redoubts,  extending  from  Roach's  Spring,  on  the  Washington  and  Alexandria 
Road,  across  Arlington  Hights,  almost  to  the  Chain  Bridge.  The  brawny  arms 
of  the  Sixty-ninth  (Irish)  Regiment  soon  piled  up  the  banks  of  Fort  Corcoran, 
on  the  Arlington  estate,  while  the  less  vigorous  men  of  the  New  York  Seventh, 


MAP    SHOWING    THE   FIRST   DEFENSES    OF    WASHINGTON. 

a  greater  portion  of  whom  were  unaccustomed  to  manual  labor,  worked  with 
surprising  zeal  and  vigor  in  the  trenches  with  their  more  muscular  com 
panions  in  arms.  Fort  Corcoran  was  the  first  to  assume  a  regular  form,  and 
when  partly  finished  a  flag-staif  was  raised,  and  the  National  banner  was 
unfurled  from  it  with  imposing  ceremonies.1  That  and  Fort  Runyon  were 
the  first  regular  works  constructed  by  the  National  troops  at  the  beginning 
of  the  civil  war,  and  the  first  over  which  the  flag  of  the  Republic  was  flung 
out.  At  that  point  a  small  detachment  of  cavalry,  under  Lieutenant  Tomp- 
kins,  who  had  crossed  the  Chain  Bridge,  was  stationed.  Other  fortifications 
were  speedily  constructed ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  there  was  a  line 

1  On  that  occasion  a  group  of  officers  stood  around  the  flag-staff.  Among  them  was  Colonel  Corcoran,  the 
commander,  Colonel  (afterward  Major-General)  David  Hunter,  and  Captain  (afterward  Brigadier-General) 
Thomas  Francis  Meagher.  At  the  request  of  Corcoran,  John  Savage,  his  aid,  the  well-known  Irish  poet,  sang  a 
song,  entitled  The  Starry  Flag,  which  lie  had  composed  on  the  war-transport  Marion,  on  the  13th  of  May, 
while  on  her  perilous  voyage  with  the  regiment  up  the  Potomac,  exposed  to  the  masked  batteries  planted  by 
the  Confederates  on  the  Virginia  shore.  This  song  may  be  found  in  a  collection  of  a  few  of  Mr.  Savage's  poems, 
entitled  Faith  and  Fancy.  It  is  full  of  stirring  sentiment. 


TROOPS   IN"   VIRGINIA.— MOUNT  VERNON. 


485 


6  May  27. 


of  strong  intrenchments  extending  from  the  Potomac  toward  Arlington 
House,  across  the  Columbia  Turnpike,  and  the  railway  and  carriage-road 
leading  to  Alexandria  ;  also  detached  batteries  along  Arlington  Rights  almost 
to  the  Chain  Bridge,  which  spans  the  Potomac  five  or  six  miles  above  Wash 
ington.  These,  well  manned  and  mounted,  presented  an  impregnable  barrier 
against  any  number  of  insurgents  that  might  come  from  Manassas  Junction, 
their  place  of  general  rendezvous.  A  reference  to  the  map  on  the  prece 
ding  page  will  show  the  position  of  the  National  troops  on  this  the  first  line  of 
the  defenses  of  Washington,  at  the  beginning  of  June.1 

General  Sandford,  of  the  Xew  York  militia,  took  temporary  command  of 
the  forces  on  Arlington  I  lights  ;  and  when  he  ascertained  that  the  family  of 
Colonel  Lee  had  left  Arlington  House  a  fortnight  before,  he  made  that  fine  man 
sion  his  head-quarters,  and  sent  word  to  Lee,  then  at  Richmond,  that  he  would 
see  that  his  premises  should  receive  no  harm.    He  issued  a  procla 
mation,"  in  which  he  assured  the  frightened  inhabitants  of  Fairfax      "^J/25' 
County  that  no  one,  peaceably  inclined,  should   be  molested,  and 
he  exhorted  the  fugitives  to  return  to  their  homes  and  resume  their  accus 
tomed  avocations.     Two  days  afterward/'  he  was  succeeded  by 
General   McDowell,  of  the  regular  Army,  who  was  appointed  to 
the  command  of  all  the  National  forces  then  in  Virginia.     Colonel  Wilcox, 
who  was  in  command  at  Alexandria,  was  suc 
ceeded  by  Colonel  Charles  P.  Stone,  who,  as 
we  have  observed,  had  been  in  charge  of  the 
troops  for  the  protection  of  Washington  City 
during   the  latter  part  of  the  winter    and  the 
spring  of  1861.      Stone  was  soon  recalled  to 
the  District,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  veteran 
Colonel    S.  P.   Ileintzelman,   of  the    regulars, 
who,  by  order  of  General  Scott,  took  special 
care  for  the  protection  of  the  estate  of  Mount 
Vernon  from  injury,  and   the  tomb  of  Wash 
ington    from    desecration.      It    is    a    pleasant 
thing  to  record,  that  while  the  soldiers  of  both 
parties  in  the  contest  during  the  struggle  were 
alternately    in    military    possession    of    Mount 
Vernon,  not  an  act  is  known  to  have  occurred 
there    incompatible    with    the    most    profound 
reverence  for  the  memory  of  the  Father  of  his 
Country. 

The  conspirators,  alarmed  by  these  aggressive  movements,  and  by  others 
in  Western  Virginia,  took  active  measures  to  oppose  them.  The  whole 
military  force  of  Virginia,  of  which  Robert  E.  Lee  was  now  chief  com 
mander,  was,  as  we  have  observed,  placed,  by  the  treaty  of  April  24,  under 
the  absolute  control  of  Jeflerson  Davis  ;•  and  by  his  direction,  his  Virginia 
lieutenant,  Governor  Letcher,  issued  a  proclamation  on  the  3d  of  May,  calling 
out  the  militia  of  the  State  to  repel  apprehended  invasion  from  "  the  Govern- 


NEW    YuKK    STATE    MILITIA. 


This  map  was  copied  fn.m  one  published  early  in  June,  1SG1,  and  suppressed  by  the  Government,  be- 

it  afforded  valuable  information  to  the  insurgents. 

See  pujje  3*3.  • 


486  ATTACK   ON   SEWELL'S   POINT  BATTERY. 

ment  at  Washington."  He  designated  no  less  than  twenty  places  in  the 
State  as  points  of  rendezvous  for  the  militia.  One-fourth  of  these  places 
were  westward  of  the  mountains.  At  the  same  time  the  insurgents  strength 
ened  the  garrison  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  erected  batteries  on  the  Virginia 
bank  of  the  Potomac,  below  Washington,  for  the  purpose  of  obstructing  the 
navigation  of  that  stream,  and  preventing  supplies  for  the  army  near  the 
Capital  being  borne  upon  its  waters.  This  speedily  led  to  hostilities  at  the 
mouth  of  Acquia  Creek,  fifty-five  miles  below  Washington  City,  and  the  ter 
minus  of  the  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  and  Potomac  Railway,  where  the 
insurgents  had  erected  batteries  to  command  the  river :  one  at  the  landing, 
and  two  others,  with  a  line  of  intrenchments,  on  the  hights  in  the  rear.  The 
guns  of  these  batteries  had  been  opened  upon  several  vessels  during  the  few 
days  that  the  National  troops  had  occupied  the  Virginia  shore,  when  they 
were  responded  to  by  Captain  J.  H.  Ward,  a  veteran  officer  of  the  Navy, 
who  had  been  in  the  service  almost  forty  years. 

At  the  middle  of  May,0  Ward  had  been  placed  in  command  of 
the  Potomac  flotilla,  wrhicli  he  had  organized,  composed  of  four 
armed  propellers,  of  which  the  Thomas  Freedom  was  his  flag-ship,  and 
carried  32-pounders.  He  was  sent  to  Hampton  Roads  to  report  to  Commo 
dore  Stringham.  Before  reaching  that  commander  he  had  an  opportunity 
for  trying  his  guns.  The  insurgents  who  held  possession  of  Norfolk  and  the 
Navy  Yard  had  been  constructing  batteries  on  Craney  Island  and  the  main, 
for  the  protection  of  those  posts,  by  completely  commanding  the  Elizabeth 
River.  They  had  also  erected  strong  works  on  Sewell's  Point,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Elizabeth  j1  and  at  the  middle  of  May  they  had  three  heavy  rifled 
cannon  in  position  there,  for  the  purpose  of  sweeping  Hampton  Roads.  This 
battery  was  masked  by  a  sand-hill,  but  did  not  escape  the  eye  of  Captain 
Henry  Eagle,  of  the  National  armed  steamer  Star,  who  sent  several  shot 
among  the  workmen  on  the  Point,  on  the  19th.  The  engineers  in  charge, 
supported  by  a  company  of  Georgians  and  some  Norfolk  volunteers,  sent 
several  shot  in  response,  five  of  which  struck  the  Star,  and  she  was  com 
pelled  to  withdraw.2  That  night  almost  two  thousand  of  the  insurgent 
troops  were  sent  from  Norfolk  to  Sewell's  Point,  and  these  were  there  on  the 
morning  of  the  20th,  when  Commander  Ward  opened  the  guns  of  the  Free- 
lorn  upon  the  redoubt.  The  battery  was  soon  silenced,  and  the  insurgents 
were  driven  away. 

Ward  reported  to  Stringham,  and  proceeded  immediately  toward  Wash 
ington  with  his  flotilla.  On  his  way  up  the  Potomac,  and  when 
'  within  twenty-five  miles  of  the  Capital,  he  captured b  two  schooners 
filled  with  fifty  insurgent  soldiers.  He  then  proceeded  to  patrol 
the  river,  reconnoitering  its  banks  in  search  of  batteries;  and  on  the  31st  of 
the  month  he  attacked  those  at  Acquia  Creek,  in  which  service  the  Freeborn 
was  assisted  by  the  gunboats  Anacosta  and  Resolute  of  his  flotilla.  For  two 
hours  an  incessant  discharge  upon  the  batteries  was  kept  up,  when  all  the 
ammunition  of  the  flotilla  suitable  for  long  range  was  exhausted.  The  three 

1  See  map  on  page  399. 

2  The  insurgents  magnified  this  withdrawal,  caused  by  a  lack  of  ammunition,  into  a  repulse,  and  claimed  a 
victory  for  themselves.    "This  is  the  first  encounter  in  our  waters,  and  the  victory  remains  with  us,"1 -said  a 
writer  at  Norfolk.    No  one  seems  to  have  been  hurt,  on  either  side,  in  this  engagement 


ATTACK   ON   ACQUIA   CREEK   BATTERIES. 


487 


batteries  bad  been  silenced.     On  tbe  slackening  of  Ward's  fire,  the  two  on 
tbe  bights  began  again,  and  for  nearly  an  hour  they  poured  volleys  of  heavy 
shot  on  the  flotilla  like  hail,  but  only  wounding  one  man.     Unable  to  reply  at 
that  distance  with  effect,  Ward  withdrew  his  vessels,  but  resumed 
the  conflict  on  the  following  day,*1  in  company  with  the  sloop-of-     * J™  *' 
war  Pawnee,  of  eight  guns,  Captain  S.  C.  Rowan.    For  more  than 
five  hours,  a  continuous  storm  of  shot  and  shell  assaulted  the  works  on  shore. 
This  cannonade  and  bombardment  were  briskly  responded  to  by  the  insur 
gents,  who  seemed  to  have  an  ample  supply  of  munitions  of  war.    Twice  their 
batteries  were  silenced,  but  their  fire  was  resumed  whenever  that  of  the  flotilla 


VIEW    AT    AryflA    CREEK    LANDING    AT   THE   TIME    OK    THE    ATTACK.1 

ceased.  The  Pawnee  became  the  chief  object  of  their  attention.  She  was 
hulled  four  times,  and  nine  shots  in  all  struck  her  ;  and  yet,  neither  on  board 
of  this  vessel  nor  of  those  of  Ward's  flotilla  was  a  single  person  killed  or 
seriously  injured.9  During  the  engagement,  the  large  passenger  and  freight 
house  near  the  landing  was  destroyed  by  fire. 

At  about  this  time,  another  aggressive  movement  was  made  by  the  United 
States  forces.     It  was  important  to  gain  information  concerning  the  advance 
of  the   insurgents,  said  to  be  at  Fairfax  Court  House  at  the  close  of  May. 
Lieutenant   Charles  11.  Tompkins,  with  seventy-five  of  Company  B.  of  the 
Second   Regiment  of  United  States  Cavalry,  stationed,  as  we  have  seen,  on 
Arlington  Ilights,  was  sent  on  a  scout  in  that  direction.     He  left 
Fort  Corcoran   at  half-past  ten  in  the  evening  of  the  3 1st,*  and         ^' 
reached   Fairfax  Court  House  'at   about  three  o'clock  the   next 
morning,  where  Colonel  (afterward  General)  Ewell,  late  of  the  United  States 


'  This  picture  is  from  n  sketch  made  by  Mr.  E.  Forbes,  an  excellent  artist,  then  accompanying  the  National 
forces.  Acquiti  Creek  Land  in  jr.  with  the  shore  battery,  is  seen  in  the  foreground,  with  the  bluffs  rising  back  of 
it.  The  spectator  is  lookine  toward  the  northwest,  up  Acquia  Creek,  at  the  mouth  of  which  is  seen  a  sloop. 
The  line  of  intrenehments  is  seen  on  the  bluffs  back  of  the  landins. 

3  Report  of  Commander  Ward  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  May  31  and  June  1,1861.  Report  of  Com 
mander  Rowan  to  Secretary  Welles,  Juno  2,  1SG1. 


488  THE   UNIONISTS   IN   WESTERN   VIRGINIA. 

Dragoons,  was  stationed  with  several  hundred  insurgents.  Tompkins  cap. 
tured  the  pickets  and  then  dashed  into  the  town,  driving  a  detachment  of  the 
insurgents  before  him.  These  were  re-enforced,  and  a  severe  skirmish  oc 
curred  in  the  street.  Shots  were  fired  upon  the  Union  troops  from  windows. 
Finding  himself  greatly  outnumbered  by  his  enemy,  Tompkins  retreated  in 
good  order,  taking  with  him  five  fully  armed  prisoners1  and  two  horses.  He 
lost  one  man  killed,  one  missing,  and  four  who  were  wounded.  He  also  lost 
twelve  horses  and  their  equipments.  It  is  estimated  that  about  twenty  of 
the  insurgents  were  killed  or  wounded.  Among  the  killed  was  Captain  John 
Q.  Marr,  a  highly  esteemed  citizen  of  Virginia,  who  had  been  a  member  of 
the  late  Secession  Convention.  "He  has  been  the  first  soldier  of  the  South," 
said  the  Nashville  Union,  "  to  baptize  the  soil  of  the  Old  Dominion  with 
patriotic  blood." 

This  gallant  dash  of  Tompkins  gave  delight  to  the  loyal  people,  and  made 
the  insurgent  leaders  at  Manassas  and  its  vicinity  very  vigilant  and  active. 
They  were  expecting  an  attack  from  the  direction  of  Washington  City,  and 
were  alarmed  by  military  movements  already  commenced  in  Western  Vir 
ginia.  Troops  from  the  more  Southern  States  were  still  crowding  in,  and  it 
was  estimated  that  these,  with  the  Virginians  under  arms,  comprised  about 
forty  thousand  men,  in  the  camp  and  in  the  field,  within  the  borders  of  the 
Old  Commonwealth  on  the  1st  of  June,  prepared  to  fight  the  troops  of  the 
Government. 

There  was  a  civil  and  political  movement  in  Northwestern  Virginia  at 
this  time,  in  opposition  to  the  conspirators,  really  more  important  and  more 
alarming  to  them  than  the  aspect  of  military  aifairs  there.  It  commanded 
the  profound  attention  of  the  Government,  and  of  the  loyal  and  disloyal 
people  of  the  whole  country. 

The  members  of  the  Virginia  Secession  Convention  from  the  western  por 
tion  of  the  State,  as  we  have  observed,  could  not  be  molded  to  suit  the  will 
of  the  conspirators,  and  they  and  their  colleagues  defied  the  power  of  the 
traitors  who  controlled  the  Convention.  Before  the  adjournment  of  that 
Convention,  the  inhabitants  of  Northwestern  Virginia  were  satisfied  that  the 
time  had  come  when  they  must  make  a  bold  stand  for  the  Union  and  their 
own  independence,  or  be  made  slaves  to  a  confederacy  of  traitors  whom  they 
abhorred  ;  and  Union  meetings  were  called  in  various  parts  of  the  mountain 
region,  which  were  largely  attended.  The  first  of  these  .assembled  at  Clarks 
burg,  in  Harrison  County,  on  the  line  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway, 
on  the  22d  of  April,  when  resolutions,  offered  by  John  S.  Carlile,  a  member 
of  the  Convention  yet  sitting  in  Richmond,  calling  an  assembly  of  delegates 
of  the  people  at  Wheeling,  on  the  13th  of  May,  were  adopted.  The  course 
of  Governor  Letcher  was  severely  condemned,  and  eleven  citizens  were 
chosen  to  represent  Harrison  County  in  the  Convention  at  Wheeling.  Meet 
ings  were  held  elsewhere.  One  of  these,  at  Kingwood,  in  Pres- 
ton  County,"  evinced  the  most  determined  hostility  to  the  con 
spirators,  and  declared  that  the  separation  of  Western  from 
Eastern  Virginia  was  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  their  liberties.  They 

1  Among  the  prisoners  was  W.  F.  Washington,  son  of  the  late  Colonel  John  Marshall  Washington,  of  the 
United  States  Army.  He  was  sent  to  General  Mansfield,  at  Washington  City,  with  the  other  prisoners,  where 
he  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  was  released. 


UNION   CONVENTION   AT   WHEELING.  489 

also  resolved  to  elect  a  representative  in  the  National  Congress.  Similar 
sentiments  were  expressed  at  other  meetings,  especially  in  a  mass  convention 
held  at  Wheeling  on  the  5th  of  May,  where  it  was  resolved  to  repudiate  all 
connection  with  the  conspirators  at  Richmond.  A  similar  meeting  was  held 
at  Wheeling  on  the  llth,  when  the  multitude  were  addressed  by  Mr.  Carlile 
and  Francis  H.  Pierpont. 

The  Convention  of  delegates  met  at  Wheeling  on  the  13th.  A  large 
number  of  counties  were  represented  by  almost  four  hundred  Unionists. 
The  inhabitants  of  Wheeling  were  mostly  loyal ;  and  when  the  National  flag 
was  unfurled  over  the  Custom  House  there,  in  token  of  that  loyalty,  with 
public  ceremonies,  it  was  greeted  with  loud  acclamations  of  the  people,  and 
the  flinging  out,  in  response,  of  the  flag  of  the  Union  over  all  of  the  principal 
buildings  in  the  city. 

The  chief  topic  discussed  in  the  Convention  was  the  division  of  the  State 
and  the  formation  of  a  new  one,  composed  of  the  forty  or  fifty  Counties  of 
the  Mountain  region,  whose  inhabitants  owned  very  few  slaves  and  were 
enterprising  and  thrifty.  A  division  of  the  State  had  been-desired  by  them 
for  many  years.  The  Slave  Oligarchy  eastward  of  the  mountains  and  in  all 
the  tide-water  counties  wielded  the  political  power  of  the  State,  and  used  it 
for  the  promotion  of  their  great  interest,  in  the  levying  of  taxes  and  the 
lightening  of  their  own  burdens,  at  the  expense  of  the  labor  and  thrift  of  the 
citizens  of  West  Virginia.  These  considerations,  and  their  innate  love  for 
the  Union,  produced  a  unanimity  of  sentiment  at  this  crisis  that  made  the 
efforts  of  secret  emissaries  of  the  conspirators,  and  open  recruiting  officers  of 
the  military  power  arrayed  against  the  Government,  almost  fruitless.  This 
unanimity  was  remarkable  in  the  Wheeling  Convention,  which,  too  informal 
to  take  definite  action  on  the  momentous  question  of  the  dismemberment  of 
the  State,  contented  itself  with  passing  resolutions  condemnatory  of  the 
Secession  Ordinance,  and  calling  a  Provisional  Convention  to  assemble  at  the 
same  place  on  the  llth  day  of  June  following,  if  the  obnoxious  ordinance 
should  be  ratified  by  the  voice  of  the  people,  to  be  given  on  the  2.'id  of  May. 
A  Central  Committee  was  appointed,1  who,  on  the  22d  of  May,  issued  an 
argumentative  address  to  the  people  of  Northwestern  Virginia. 

These  proceedings  thoroughly  alarmed  the  conspirators,  who  expected  a 
revolt  and  an  appeal  to  arms  in  Western  Virginia,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
National  Government;  and  on  the  25th  of  May,  Governor  Letcher  wrote  a 
letter  to  Colonel  Porterfield,  who  was  in  command  of  some  State  troops  at 
Grafton,  at  the  junction  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  and  the  Northwestern 
Railway,  ordering  him  to  "take  the  train  some  night,  run  up  to  Wheeling, 
and  seize  and  carry  away  the  arms  recently  sent  to  that  place  by  Cameron, 
the  United  States  Secretary  of  War,  and  use  them  in  arming  such  men  "  as 
might  "  rally  to  his  camp."  He  told  him  that  it  was  "advisable  to  cut  off 
telegraphic  communication  between  Wheeling  and  Washington,  so  that  the 
disaffected  at  the  former  place  could  not  communicate  with  their  allies  at 
head-quarters."  "  Establish  a  perfect  control  over  the  telegraph,  if  kept  up," 
he  said,  "so  that  no  dispatch  can  pass  without  your  knowledge  and  inspec- 

1  That  Committee  consisted  of  John  S.  Carlile,  James  S.  Wheat,  C.  D.  Hubbanl,  F.  II.  Pierpont,  G.  R. 
Latham,  Andrew  Wilson,  S.  II.  Woodward,  James  W.  Paxton,  and  Campbell  Farr. 


490 


PROCEEDINGS   OF   THE   UNION   CONVENTION. 


tion  before  it  is  sent.  If  troops  from  Ohio  or  Pennsylvania  shall  be  attempted 
to  be  passed  on  the  railroad,  do  not  hesitate  to  obstruct  their  passage  by  all 
means  in  your  power,  even  to  the  destruction  of  the  road  and  bridges." 

The  people  in  all  Eastern  Virginia,  under  the  pressure  of  the  bayonet,  as 
we  have  observed,1  ratified  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  and  gave  a  majority 
of  the  votes  of  the  State  in  its  favor,  while  the  vote  in  Western  Virginia 
was  overwhelmingly  against  it.  A  Convention  was  accordingly  held  at 

Wheeling  on  the 
llth  of  June, 
in  which  about 
forty  counties  of 
the  mountain  re 
gion  were  repre 
sented.  It  met 
in  the  Custom 
House;  and  each 
delegate,  as  his 
credentials  were 
accredited,  took 
a  solemn  oatli  of 
allegiance  to  the 
National  Con 
stitution  and  its 
Government.2 

The  Conven 
tion  was  organ 
ized  by  the  ap 
pointment  of 

Arthur  J.  Boreman,  of  Wood  County,  as  permanent  President,  and  G.  L. 
Cranmer,  Secretary.  The  President  made  a  patriotic  speech  on  taking  the 
chair,  and  found  the  delegates  in  full  union  with  him  in  sentiment.  The 
Convention  then  went  to  work  in  earnest.  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
draw  up  a  Bill  of  Rights,  and  on  the  following  day  it  reported  through  its 
chairman,  John  S.  Carlile.  All  allegiance  to  the  "  Southern  Confederacy  " 
was  totally  denied  in  that  report,  and  it  recommended  a  declaration  that  the 
functions  of  all  officers  in  the  State  of  Virginia  who  adhered  to  it  were  sus 
pended,  and  the  offices  vacated.  Resolutions  were  adopted,  declaring  the 
intention  of  the  people  of  Virginia  never  to  submit  to  the  Ordinance  of 
Secession,  but  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  Commonwealth  in  the  Union ; 
also,  calling  upon  all  citizens  who  had  taken  up  arms  against  the  National 
Government  to  lay  them  down  and  return  to  their  allegiance. 

"  ISM  13'  ^n  ^ie  t^1"'^  ^ay  °f  ^ie  sessi°n>a  an  ordinance  was  reported 

for  vacating  all  the  offices  in  the  State  held  by  State  officers  acting 

in  hostility  to  the  General  Government,  and  also  providing  for  a  Provisional 


ROOM    IN    WHICH   THE   CONVENTION    MET    AT   WHEELING. 


1  See  page  884. 

5  The  delegates  all  took  the  following  oath  : — "  We  solemnly  declare  that  we  will  support  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  as  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  any  thing  in  tha 
Ordinance  of  the  Convention  that  assembled  at  Richmond  on  the  13th  day  of  February  last  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.  So  help  me  God." 


GOVERNMENT   OF   VIRGINIA   REORGANIZED.  491 

Government  and  the  election  of  officers  for  a  period  of  six  months;  also, 
requiring  all  officers  of  the  State,  counties,  and  towns  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance.  This  movement  was  purely  revolutionary.  There  was  no 
pretense  of  secession  from  Virginia,  but  a  declaration  of  the  people  that 
Governor  Letcher  and  other  State  officers  then  in  an  attitude  of  rebellion 
against  the  National  authority  had  "  abdicated  government,"  and  were  for 
mally  deposed,  and  that  a  new  government  for  Virginia  was  formed.  Gov 
ernor  Letcher  had,  by  his  acts,  made  war  upon  the  people,  and  placed  him 
self  in  the  attitude  of  George  the  Third  when  he  made  war  upon  the 
Colonies,  and  thus,  as  they  expressed  it,  he  tc  abdicated  government  here,  by 
declaring  us  out  of  his  protection  and 
waging  war  against  us."1  The  Convention 
adopted  a  Declaration  of  Independence  of 
the  old  government  on  the  17th,  which  was 
signed  by  all  the  members  present,  fifty-six 
in  number,  and  on  the  19th  the  ordinance 
for  the  establishment  of  a  Provisional  Gov 
ernment  was  adopted.  The  Convention  had 
already  considered  the  propriety  of  forming 
a  new  State,  separate  from  the  old  one ;  and 
on  the  20th  there  was  a  unanimous  vote  in 
favor  of  the  ultimate  separation  of  Western 
from  Eastern  Virginia.  On  that  day,  the 
new  or  "restored  Government"  was  orjjan- 

,       ,,    *\  FRANCIS    IT.    PIERPONT. 

ized.       Francis    II.    Pierpont,    ot    Marion 

County,  was,  on  the  nomination  of  the  venerable  Daniel  Lamb,  chosen  Pro 
visional  Governor,  with  Daniel  Polsley,  of  Mason  County,  as  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  and  an  Executive  Council  of  five  members.  The  unanimous  voice 
of  the  Convention  was  given  for  these  officers. 

Governor  Pierpont  was  a  bold,  patriotic,  and  energetic  man.  His  first 
official  act  was  to  notify  the  President  of  the  United  States  that  the  existing 
insurrection  in  Virginia  was  too  formidable  to  be  suppressed  by  any  means 
at  the  Governor's  command,  and  to  ask  the  aid  of  the  General  Government. 
lie  organized  the  militia,  and  very  soon  no  less  than  twelve  regiments  of  the 
loyal  mountaineers  of  Northwestern  Virginia  had  rallied  beneath  the  stand 
ard  of  the  Union.  Money  was  needed.  There  was  no  treasury,  and  the 
Governor  borrowed,  on  the  pledge  of  his  own  private  fortune,  twelve  thou 
sand  dollars  for  the  public  service.  In  every  way  he  worked  unceasingly  for 
the  permanent  establishment  of  the  ''restored  government,"  ami  succeeded, 
in  defiance  of  the  extraordinary  efforts  of  the  conspirators  at  Richmond  to 
crush  the  new  organization,  and  bring  the  loyal  people  into  subjection.  A 
Legislature  was  elected,  and  they  were  summoned  to  a  session  at 
Wheeling  on  the  1st  of  July."  Soon  after  its  assembling,  it  chose 
John  S.  Carlile  and  Wait  man  G.  Willie  to  represent  the  restored  Common 
wealth  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

In   the    course    of    time    the    long    desired    dismemberment 
of  Virginia  occurred.     The  Convention  reassembled  on  the  20th  of  August,* 

1  The  Declaration  of  Independence,  July  4,  17TG. 


492  STATE   OF   WEST   VIRGINIA  ESTABLISHED. 

and  passed  an  ordinance  for  the  erection  of  a  new  State,  in  which  Slavery 
was  prohibited,  to  be  called  KANAWHA,  the  name  of  its  principal  stream. 
This  ordinance  was  submitted  to  the  people  of  the  counties  represented 
in  the  Convention  on  the  24th  of  October  ensuing,  when  the  vote  was 
almost  unanimous  in  its  favor.  At  a  subsequent  session  of  the  Convention, 
on  the  27th  of  November,  the  name  was  changed  to  WEST  VIRGINIA,  and  a 
State  Constitution  was  formed.  On  the  3d  of  May  following  the  people 
ratified  it,  and  on  the  same  day  the  Legislature,  at  a  called  session,  approved 
of  the  division  of  the  State,  and  the  establishment  of  a  new  Commonwealth. 
All  of  the  requirements  of  the  National  Constitution  now  having  been  com 
plied  Avith,  West  Virginia  was  admitted  as  a  State  of  the  Union  on  the  3d 
of  June,  1863,  by  an  Act  of  Congress,  approved  by  the  President  on  the  31st 
of  December,  1862.1  A  State  seal,  with  appropriate 
inscriptions  and  device,  was  adopted,2  and  the  new 
Commonwealth  took  its  place  as  the  Thirty-fifth 
State  of  the  Union,  covering  an  area  of  twenty-three 
thousand  square  miles,  and  having  a  population,  in 
1860,  of  three  hundred  and  ninety-three  thousand 
two  hundred  and  thirty  four. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  efforts  of  the  loyal  men 
of  Northwestern  Virginia  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a 

SEAL  OF  WEST  VIRGINIA.  new  an(i  Free-labor  State,  they  found  it  necessary  to 
prepare  for  war,  for,  as  we  have  observed,  the  con 
spirators  were  forming  camps  of  rendezvous  in  their  midst,  and  preparing  to 
hold  them  in  subjection  to  the  usurpers  at  Richmond.  Thousands  of  loyal 
men  secretly  volunteered  to  fight  for  the  Union ;  and  the  National  Govern 
ment  made  preparations  in  Pennsylvania  and  beyond  the  Ohio  River  to 
co-operate  with  them  at  a  proper  moment.  Both  the  Government  and  the 
loyal  citizens  of  Virginia  abstained  from  all  military  movements  on  the  soil 


1  The  conspirators  denounced  the  action  of  Congress  and  the  President  as  usurpation,  and  a  violation  of  the 
third  section  of  the  fourth  Article  of  the  Constitution,  which  says: — 

"  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this  Union ;  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or 
erected  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  State,  nor  any  State  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  States 
or  parts  of  States,  without  the  consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  concerned,  as  well  as  of  the  Congress." 

Let  us  see  how  this  matter  will  endure  the  constitutional  test.  The  loyal  people  of  Virginia,  and  who 
alone  constituted  the  State  as  a  part  of  the  Republic,  deposed  Governor  Letcher  and  his  fellow-traitors  in 
regular  form,  and  reorganized  the  Government  of  the  Commonwealth,  making  Francis  II.  Pierpont  chief  magis 
trate.  The  Legislature  forming  a  part  of  this  newly  organized  government  agreed  that  a  new  State  should  be 
made  out  of  a  portion  of  the  old  one.  One  part  of  the  Constitutional  requirement  was  thus  complied  with.  The 
other  part  was  complied  with  when  Congress,  on  the  31st  of  December,  gave  its  consent  to  the  transaction,  f 

At  midsummer,  1863,  Virginia  presented  a  curious  political  aspect.  Its  deposed  Governor,  Letcher,  at 
Richmond,  claimed  jurisdiction  over  all  the  State.  Governor  Pierpont,  at  Alexandria,  rightfully  claimed 
authority  over  the  whole  State,  excepting  the  fifty-one  counties  that  composed  the  new  State  ;  and  Governor 
Borernan.  at  Wheeling,  legitimately  exercised  authority  in  that  new  State. 

2  The  above  picture  represents  the  lesser  seal  of  West  Virginia,  which  bears  the  same  words  and  devices  as 
the  great  seal.     The  latter  is  two  inches  and  one-half  in  diameter.     On  one  side  are  the  words,  "  STATE  OF  WEST 
VIRGINIA,"  and  "MONTANA  SEMPER  LIBERI" — that  is  to  say,  "Mountaineers  are  always  free.''      In  the  center 
of  the  seal  is  seen  a  rock,  on  which  ivy  is  growing,  symbolizing  stability  and  continuance,  and  bearing  the 
inscription.  "  JUNE  20, 1S63,"  the  date  of  the  organization  and  foundation  of  the  State.   On  the  right  of  the  rock  is 
seen  a  farmer  dressed  in  the  hunting-shirt  worn  in  that  region,  his  right  hand  resting  on  a  plow-handle,  and  on 
his  left  is  reposing  a  woodman's  ax,  indicating  the  great  business  of  the  people  to  be  the  clearing  of  the  forest 
and  cultivating  the  soil.     There  is  also  a  sheaf  of  wheat  and  a  corn-stalk  near.     On  the  loft  of  the  rock  is  seen  a 
miner  with  his  pickax,  with  barrels  and  lumps  of  minerals  at  his  feet.     An  anvil  and  sledge-hammer  are  also 
seen,  typical  of  the  mechanic  arts.     Two  rifles  lie  in  front,  their  junction  covered  by  the  Phrygian  hood,  or  Cap 
of  Liberty,  indicating  that  the  independence  of  the  State  was  won  and  will  be  maintained  by  arms. 


TROOPS   ORDERED   TO   WESTERN   VIRGINIA.  493 

of  that  State  before  the  votes  of  the  people  had  been  given  on  the  Ordinance 
of  Secession,  on  the  23d  of  May,  for  it  was  determined  that  no  occasion  should 
be  afforded  for  a  charge,  which  the.  conspirators  would  be  quick  to  make, 
that  the  votes  had  been  influenced  by  the  presence  of  military  power.  The 
reverse  of  this  policy,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  pursued  by  the  conspirators, 
and  while  the  entire  vote  of  the  State  showed  a  large  majority  in  favor  of 
the  Ordinance,  that  of  Western  Virginia  was  almost  unanimously  against  it. 
This  verdict  of  the  people  on  the  great  question  relieved  the  Government  and 
the  loyal  Virginians  from  all  restraints ;  and  while  Ohio  and  Indiana  troops 
were  moving  toward  the  border,  the  patriots  of  Western  Virginia,  and  especially 
of  the  river  counties,  rushed  to  arms.  Camp  Carlile,  already  formed  in  Ohio, 
opposite  Wheeling,  was  soon  full  of  recruits,  and  the  First  Virginia  Regiment 
was  formed.  B.  F.  Kellcy,  a  native  of  Xew  Hampshire,  but  then  a  resident  of 
Philadelphia,  was  invited  to  become  its  leader.  He  had  lived  in  Wheeling,  and 
had  been  commander  of  a  volunteer  regiment  there.  His  skill  and  bravery 
were  appreciated,  and  in  this  hour  of  need  they  were  required.  He  hastened 
to  Wheeling,  and,  on  the  25th  of  May,  took  command  of  the  regiment. 

George  B.  McClellan  had  been  called  to  the  command  of  the  Ohio  troops, 
as  we  have  observed.     lie  was  soon  afterward  commissioned  a 
Major-General  of  Volunteers,"  and  assigned  to  the  command  of 
the  Department  of  the  Ohio,  which  included  Western  Virginia. 
He  was  now  ordered  to  cross  the  Ohio 
River  with  the  troops  under  his  charge, 
and,  in   conjunction  with  those  under 
Colonel  Kelley  and  others  in  Virginia, 
drive  out  the  "Confederate"  forces  therej 
and  advance  on  Harper's  Ferry.     He 
visited  Indianapolis  on  the  24th  of  May, 
and  reviewed  the  brigade  of  Indian iaus 
who  were  at  Camp  Morton,  under  Briga 
dier-General  T.  A.  Morris.     In  a  brief 
speech  at  the  Bates  House,  he  assured 
the  assembled  thousands  that  Indiana 
troops  would  be  called  upon  to  follow 
him    and    win    distinction.1 
Two  days  afterward,*  he  is-       M!£6f 
sued  an  address  to  the  Union 

citizens  of  Western  Virginia,  in  which  he  praised  their  courage  and  patriot 
ism,  and  warned  them  that  the  "  few  factious  reblls  "  in  their  midst,  who  had 
lately  attempted  to  deprive  them  of  their  rights  at  the  polls,  were  seeking  to 
"inaugurate  a  reign  of  terror,"  and  thus  force  them  to  "yield  to  the  schemes 
and  submit  to  the  yoke  of  the  treacherous  conspiracy  dignified  by  the  name 
of  the  '  Southern  Confederacy.'  "  He  assured  them  that  all  their  rights 
should  be  respected  by  the  Ohio  and  Indiana  troops  about  to  march  upon 
their  soil,  and  that  these  should  not  only  abstain  from  all  interference  with 
the  slaves,  but  would,  "  on  the  contrary,  with  an  iron  hand,  crush  any  attempt 
at  insurrection  on  their  part."  At  the  same  time  he  issued  a  stirring  address 

1  Indiana's  lioll  qf  Honor :  by  Paviil  Stevenson,  Librarian  of  Indiana,  page  39. 


494 


INSURGENTS   DRIVEN   SOUTHWARD. 


to  his  soldiers,  telling  them  that  they  had  been  ordered  to  "  cross  the  fron 
tier  ;"  that  their  mission  was  "  to  protect  the  majesty  of  the  law,  and  secure 
our  brethren  from  the  grasp  of  armed  traitors."  He  knew  they  would 
respect  the  feelings  of  the  Virginians  and  their  rights,  and  preserve  perfect 
discipline.  He  believed  in  their  courage.  He  begged  them  to  remember 
that  their  only  foes  were  "armed  traitors;"  and  he  exhorted  his  soldiers  to 
show  them  mercy  when  they  should  fall  into  their  hands,  because  many  of 
them  were  misguided.  He  told  them  that  when  they  had  assisted  the  loyal 
men  of  Western  Virginia  until  they  could  protect  themselves,  then  they 
might  return  to  their  homes  "  with  the  proud  satisfaction  of  having  preserved 
a  gallant  people  from  destruction." 

McClellan's  addresses  were  read  in  Camp  Carlile  on  the  evening  of  the 
26th,  and  Colonel  Kelley  and  his  regiment,  full  eleven  hundred  strong,  imme 
diately  thereafter  crossed  over  to  Wheeling  and  moved  in  the  direction  of 
Grafton,  where  Colonel  Porterfield  was  in  command,  with  instructions  from. 

General  Lee  to  gather  volunteers  there  to  the 
number  of  five  thousand.  His  recruits  came 
in  slowly,  and  he  had  written  to  Lee,  that  if 
re-enforcements  were  not  speedily  sent  into 
Northwestern  Virginia,  that  section  would  be 
lost  to  the  "  Confederates." 

On  the  evening  of  the  27th,  Kelley  reached 
Buffalo  Creek,  in  Marion  County,  when  Porter- 
field,  thoroughly  alarmed,  fled  from  Grafton 
with  about  fifteen  hundred  followers,  and  took 
post  at  Philippi,  a  village  on  the  Tygart's  Val 
ley  River,  a  branch  of  the  Monongahela,  about 
sixteen  miles  southward  from  Grafton.  He 
had  destroyed  two  bridges  in  Kelley 's  path 
toward  Grafton,  but  these  were  soon  rebuilt 
by  the  loyal  Virginians,  who,  under  their  com 
mander,  entered  the  deserted  camp  of  Porter- 
field  on  the  30th.  On  that  day,  the  latter 
issued  a  frantic  appeal  from  Philippi  to  the 
people  of  Northwestern  Virginia,  begging  them  to  stand  by  the  "legally 
constituted  authorities  of  the  State,"  of  which  he  was  the  representative, 
and  assuring  all  Unionists  that  they  would  be  treated  as  enemies  of  the  Com 
monwealth.  He  told  the  people  that  he  came  to  protect  them  from  "  inva 
sion  by  foreign  forces,"  and'- secure  to  them  the  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights. 
"It  seems  to  me,"  he tsaid,'most  inappropriately,  "that  the  true  friend  of 
National  liberty  cannot  hesitate "  to  defend  Virginia.  "  Strike  for  your 
State!"  he  exclaimed.  "Strike  for  your  liberties!  Rally!  rally  at  once  in 
defense  of  your  mother."  His  appeal  had  very  little  eifect  upon  the  sturdy 
people  of  the  mountain  region,  and  his  efforts  were  almost  fruitless. 

While  Colonel  Kelley  was  pressing  toward  Grafton,  the  Ohio  and  Indiana 
troops  were  moving  in  the  same  direction.  A  part  of  them  crossed  the  Ohio 
River  at  Wheeling,  and  another  portion  at  Parkersburg ;  and  they  were  all 
excepting  two  regiments  (the  Eighth  and  Tenth  Indiana),  at  or  near  Grafton 
on  the  2d  of  June,  on  which  day  General  Morris  arrived.  Kelley  was  on  the 


VIRGINIA    VOLUNTEER   INFANTRY. 


NIGHT   MARCH   TOWARD   PIIILIPPI 


495 


point  of  pursuing  Porterfield.  His  troops  were  in  line.  Morris  sent  for  him, 
and  a  new  plan  of  operations  was  agreed  to,  l>y  which  Porterfield  and  his 
command  at  Philippi  might  be  captured  rather  than  dispersed.  Kelley's 
troops  returned  to  camp,  and  the  impression  went  abroad  that  the  National 
forces  would  not  leave  the  line  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway.  Word 
to  this  effect  was  sent  to  Porterfield  by  the  secessionists  in  Grafton,  and  thus 
aid  was  unintentionally  given  to  the  "invaders''  of  Virginia. 

The  new  plan  was  immediately  executed.  The  forces  at  Grafton  were 
arranged  in  two  columns,  commanded  respectively  by  Colonels  Kelley,  of 
Virginia,  and  E.  Dumont,  of  Indiana.  Kelley's  column  was  composed  of  his 
own  regiment  (the  First  Virginia),  the  Ninth  Indiana,  Colonel  Milroy,  and  a 
portion  of  the  Sixteenth  Ohio,  under  Colonel  Irwin.  Dumont's  column  con 
sisted  of  eight  companies  of  his  own  regiment  (the  Seventh  Indiana)  ;  four 
companies  of  the  Fourteenth  Ohio,  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Steed- 
man;  four  companies  of  the  Sixth  Indiana,  under  Colonel  Crittenden,  and  a 
detachment  of  Burnet's  Ohio  Artillery,  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Sturgis. 
Dumont's  column  was  accompanied  by  the  gallant  Colonel  F.  W.  Lander, 
who  was  then  a  volunteer  aid  on  General  McClellan's  staff,  and  represented 
him. 

The  two  columns  were  to  march  upon  Philippi  by  converging  routes. 
Both  left  Grafton  on  the  afternoon  of 
•  the  2d;  Kelley's  for  Thornton,  a  fi-\v 
ni lies  eastward,  and  Dumfnt's  for  Web 
ster,  a  few  miles  westward.  Kelley 
was  to  strike  the  Beverly  Koad  above 
Philippi,  in  the  rear  of  Portertield,  and 
Dumont  was  to  appear  at  the  same 
time  on  the  hights  overlooking  that 
village,  and  plant  cannon  there.  The 
hour  appointed  for  the  attack,  simul 
taneously  by  both  columns,  was  four 
o'clock  on  the  dawn  of  the 

o  i  a.       T-    11  11  i      *  Juno,  1861. 

3d."  Kelley  had  to  march 
twenty-two  miles,  and  Dumont  twelve 
miles.  The  day  was  very  hot,  and  the 
night  was  excessively  dark,  because  of 
a  heavy  rain-storm,  that  commenced  at 
sunset  and  continued  until  morning. 
In  that  darkness  and  in  the  drenching 
rain  the  two  columns  moved  toward 
Philippi,  over  rugged  hills,  along  slip 
pery  slopes,  through  humid  valleys,  and 
across  swollen  streams. 

At    the    appointed    time    Dumont's 

column  approached  its  destination.  It  was  discovered  by  a  woman,  who  fired 
a  pistol  twice  at  Colonel  Lander,  who  was  riding  ahead  of  the  column,  and 
then  sent  her  boy  to  alarm  Porterfield.  The  boy  was  caught  and  detained ; 
and  while  Porterfield's  camp  was  in  commotion,  on  account  of  the  report 
of  the  woman's  pistol,  Dumont's  column  took  position  on  the  hights, 


..   ..   :...-_  : 


496  BATTLE   AT   PHILIPPI. 

with  his  cannon  commanding  the  bridge  over  the  river,  the  village,  and  the 
insurgent  camp,  a  fourth  of  a  mile  distant,  when  they  were  fired  upon  by 
Porterfield's  pickets.  Kelley  had  not  arrived.  His  long  march  was  a  most 
wearisome  one,  yet  he  was  not  far  off.  Lander  had  taken  command  of 
the  artillery,  and  fearing  Porterfield  might  escape  unhurt,  should  there  be 
any  delay,  he  ordered  the  opening  of  the  heavy  guns  upon  the  insurgents. 
At  the  same  time  Dumont's  infantry  swept  down  the  winding  road  to  the 
bridge,  where  the  insurgents  had  gathered  in  force  to  dispute  their  passage. 
They  advanced  at  a  double-quick,  drove  in  the  pickets,  dashed  across  the 
bridge,  and  carried  a  fatal  panic  into  the  ranks  of  their  opponents. 

Kelley  was  hurrying  on.  The  booming  of  Lander's  cannon  had  invigor 
ated  his  men.  His  guide  was  treacherous,  and  instead  of  leading  him  out 
from  the  hills  in  the  rear  of  Porterfield's  camp,  he  had  brought  him  from  the 
mountain  road  upon  the  flank  of  the  now  flying  insurgents.  He  pushed 
rapidly  over  a  ridge,  and  fell  furiously  upon  the  fugitives,  who  were  driven 
in  wild  confusion  through  the  town  and  up  the  Beverly  Road.  They  were 
pursued  by  the  columns,  which  had  joined  in  the  main  street  of  Philippi,  for 
about  two  miles,  when  the  insurgents,  abandoning  their  baggage-train,  escaped, 
and  halted  only  at  Beverly,  the  capital  of  Randolph  County,  twenty-five  or 
thirty  miles  farther  up  Tygart's  Valley.1  Porterfield's  troops,  about  fifteen 
hundred  strong,  were  one-third  cavalry,  and  all  were  fresh.2  Among  the 
spoils  of  victory  were  the  commander's  official  papers,  a  large  quantity  of  * 
baggage,  three  hundred  and  eighty  stand  of  arms,«and  a  regimental  flag.3 

The  only  serious  casualty  sustained  by 
the  Union  forces  in  this  engagement  was 
the  wounding  of  Colonel  Kelley,  who  was 
shot  through  the  right  breast  by  a  pistol- 
ball,  while  he  was  gallantly  leading  his 
troops  through  the  town  in  the  pursuit. 
He  continued  to  press  forward  and  urge 
on  his  men,  when  he  fainted  from  loss 
of  blood,  and  fell  into  the  arms  of  some 
of  his  soldiers.  It  was  believed  that  he 
was  mortally  hurt,  and  for  a  long  time  his 
recovery  seemed  almost  impossible.  "  Say 
to  Colonel  Kelley,"  telegraphed  General 
McClellan  from  Cincinnati  to  General 
BENJAMIN  F  KELLEY.  Morris,  on  the  day  of  the  battle,  "that  I 

cannot  believe  that  one  who  has  opened 

his  career  so  brilliantly  can  be  mortally  wounded.  In  the  name  of  his 
country  I  thank  him  for  his  conduct,  which  has  been  the  most  brilliant  episode 

1  Report  of  Colonel  Dumont  to  General  Morris,  June  4,  1861;  Grafton  Correspondent  of  the  Wheeling  In 
telligencer,  June  3,  1S61 ;  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Brigadier-General  B.  F.  Kelley ;  by  Major  John  B.  Froth- 
ingharn,  Topographical  Engineers,  serving  on  his  staff. 

2  For  the  purpose  of  intimidating  the-  inhabitants  and  suppressing  all  Union  manifestations,  Porterfleld  had 
reported  his  force  to  be  twenty-five  hundred  in  number.     It  did  not  exceed  fifteen  hundred,  according  to  the 
most  authentic  estimates. 

a  Among  the  prisoners  captured  by  Kelley's  command  was  Captain  J.  W.  Willey,  on  whom  papers  of  con 
siderable  importance  were  found.  The  flag  captured  at  Philippi  was  taken  by  men  of  Captain  Ferry's  company 
of  the  Seventh  Indiana,  and  the  National  fiag  of  that  regiment,  presented  by  the  women  of  Aurora,  was  hoisted 
in  its  place. 


cami 
than 

;'i  on 


FORTRESS   MONROE   IN   1861. 


499 


at  bay.  He  had  quietly  but  significantly  turned  the  muzzles  of  some  of  his 
great  guns  landward  ;  and,  unheeding  the  mad  cry  of  the  politicians,  that  it 
was  an  act  of  war,  and  the  threats  of  rebellious  men  in  arms,  of  punishment 
for  his  insolence,  he  defied  the  enemies  of  his  country.  Those  guns  taught 
Letcher  prudence,  and  Wise  caution,  and  Lee  circumspection,  and  Jefferson 
Davis  respectful  consideration.  The  immense  importance  of  the  post  was 


FOllTKKSD    MOXUOK    IN 


apprehended  by  them  all,  and  its  possession  was  coveted  by  them  all;  but 
there  was  Dimick,  late  in  May,  with  the  great  fortress  and  its  almost  four 
hundred  cannon — the  massive  key  to  the  waters  of  Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
Upper  North  Carolina — firmly  in  his  possession — "  a  fine  old  Leonidas  at  the 


1  This  was  the  most  extensive  military  work  in  the  country.  It  waft  commenced  in  1S19,  ami  was 
completed  at  a  cost  of  two  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  was  named  in  honor  of  President 
Monroe.  Its  walls,  faced  with  heavy  Mocks  of  granite,  are  thirty-five  feet  in  thickness,  and  casemated 
below.  It  is  entirely  surrounded  by  a  deep  moat  filled  with  water;  and  the  peninsula,  known  as  Old  Point  Com 
fort,  on  which  it  is  constructed,  is  connected  with  the  main  by  a  narrow  isthmus  of  sand,  and  by  a  bridge  in  the 
direction  of  the  villaire  of  Hamilton.  The  picture  is  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  fort  and  its  surroundings  in  li-Cl. 
Beginning  at  the  top  of  the  picture,  we  set,  on  the  extreme  left,  the  Chesapeake  Female  Seminary,  and  toward 
the  right.  Camp  Hamilton.  Over  and  beyond  us  is  the  village  of  Hampton.  Beginning  at  the  isthmus,  on  the 
right,  we  sec  the  irnind  water-bnttery.  Next  to  it  is  the  liirht-house,  and  the  old  wharf.  Next  are  seen  build- 
in  trs.  with  trees  in  front,  fur  the  accommodation  of  the  Government  officers.  There  is  seen  the  Quartermaster's, 
or  Baltimore  Wharf,  near  which  are  several  buildings  for  Government  use.  Near  there  a  railway  commences 
which  extends  across  the  bridge  to  the  main,  to  near  Hampton  Uridge.  Farther  to  the  left  is  seen  the  United 
States  Hospital  building,  with  wharves  in  front ;  and  near  by,  the  main  entrance  to  the  fort,  across  a  drawbridge. 
Farther  to  the  left  are  a  church  and  the  Ordnance  Department.  Within  the  fort,  at  the  riirht  of  the  flair,  is  seen 
the  Commanding  General's  quarters,  and  not  far  from  it.  crossed  by  the  perpendicular  flag-staff,  is  the  chapel 
Across  the  parade  from  the  church,  are  the  barracks — a  lung  building.  The  aspect  of  the  place,  outside  of  the 
fort,  was  much  changed  during  the  war. 


500          MOVEMENTS   OF  TROOPS   NEAR  FORTRESS   MONROE. 

head  of  the  three  hundred,"  when  General  Butler  arrived  and  took  the  chief 
command,  with  troops  sufficient  to  insure  its  safety  against  the  attacks  of  any 
force  at  the  disposal  of  the  conspirators. 

General  Butler's  first  care  was,  after  making  Fortress  Monroe  secure  from 
capture,  to  ascertain  the  condition  of  affairs  in  his  department.  He  knew 
that  it  was  the  desire  of  the  Government  and  the  people  to  seize  and  hold 
Richmond,  which  the  conspirators  had  chosen  for  their  future  and  permanent 
head-quarters.  The  troops  then  in  and  around  Washington  City  were  barely 
sufficient  to  keep  the  hourly  increasing  host  of  the  insurgents  at  Manassas  in 
check ;  and  the  easiest  and  most  expeditious  route  to  Richmond  seemed  to 
be  by  way  of  the  York  and  James  Peninsula,  and  the  James  River,  from 
Fortress  Monroe.  With  the  capture  of  Richmond  in  view,  Butler  shaped  all 
of  his  movements. 

On  the  day  after  his  arrival,  the  Commanding  General  sent  out  Colonel 
Phelps,  at  the  head  of  some  Vermont  troops,  to  reconnoiter  the  vicinity  of 
Hampton.  They  were  confronted  at  the  bridge  over  Hampton  Creek  by  the 
blazing  timbers  of  that  structure,  which  the  insurgents  had  fired.  The  Ver- 
monters  soon  extinguished  the  flames,  crossed  the  stream,  entered  Hampton, 
and  drove  what  few  armed  opponents  they  found  there  out  upon  the  roads 
leading  toward  Yorktown  and  Newport-Newce.1  They  found  the  white  in 
habitants  in  sullen  mood,  but  the  negroes  were  jubilant,  for  they  regarded 
the  troops  as  their  expected  deliverers.  Colonel  Phelps  did  not  linger  long 
in  Hampton,  but  recrossed  the  bridge,  and  on  the  Segar  farm  he  selected  a 
place  for  an  encampment,  which  was  at  once  occupied  by  the  Vermont  regi 
ment  and  another  from  Troy  (the  Second  New  York),  under  Colonel  Carr, 
and  named  Camp  Hamilton.  On  the  same  day  a  small  redoubt  for  two  guns 
was  cast  up  at  the  Fortress  Monroe  end  of  Hampton  Bridge,  so  as  to  com 
mand  that  passage.  This  was  the  first  military  work  made  by  Union  troops 
on  the  soil  of  Virginia. 

On  the  evening  of  the  2.4th,a  a  circumstance  occurred  at  Fortress  Monroe 
which  had  a  very  important  bearing  upon  the  contest  then  open- 

"isei7'       m£'       ^n  ^ie    con^usi°n   caused  by  Colonel   Phelps's    dash   into 

Hampton,  three   negroes,    claimed    as    the   property    of  Colonel 

Mallory  of  that  village,  escaped  to  the  Union  lines,  and  declared  that  many 

of  their  race  and  class  were  employed  by  the  insurgents  in  building  forti- 


1  There  has  been  some  discussion  and  considerable  research  concerning  the  true  orthography  of  this  locality 
and  the,  origin  of  its  name.  The  commonly  received  explanation  is  that,  at  one  time,  when  the  English  colony 
at  Jamestown  was  in  &  starving  condition,  the  supply  ships  of  Captain  Newport  were  first  seen  off  this  point, 
and  gave  the  beholders  the  good  news  of  food  at  hand;  hence  the  place  was  called  Newport's  News.  History 
does  not  seem  to  warrant  the  acceptance  of  this  theory,  but  furnishes  a  better.  In  1619  Governor  Yoardley 
established  a  representative  government  in  Virginia,  with  simple  machinery,  and  laid  the  political  foundations 
of  that  State.  This  government  was  strengthened  by  his  successor,  Governor  Wyatt,  under  whom  were  proper 
civil  oflicers.  In  instructions  to  Wyatt  occurs  the  following  sentence  : — "  George  Sandis  is  appointed  Treasurer, 
and  he  is  to  put  into  execution  all  orders  of  Court  about  staple  commodities;  to  the  Marshal,  Sir  William  Newce, 
the  same."  This  settles  the  point  that  there  was  a  leading  man  in  Virginia  at  that  time  named  Newce — "Cap 
tain  .Vttw,"  as  Captain  Smith  wrote  the  name.  A  writer  in  the  Hint  orient  Magazine  (iii.  347)  says,  that  on 
earlier  maps  of  Virginia,  which  he  has  seen,  he  finds  the  point  called  Newport  Neune,  which,  he  argues,  is  only 
another  way  of  spelling  Newce,  and  that  the  name  given  is  a  compound  of  the  name  of  the  celebrated  navigator 
and  the  Virginia  marshal,  namely,  Newport-Newce.  This  compounding  of  words  in  naming  places  was  then 
common  in  England,  and  became  so  in  this  country  as  Randolph -Macon,  Hampton-Sidney,  and  Wilkes-Barre. 
In  Captain  Smith's  map  of  Virginia,  the  place  is  called  Point  Hope.  That  map  was  made  after  the  alleged  dis 
covery  of  Newport  with  his  supplies.  Believing  that  the  name  was  originally  a  compound  of  those  of  Captain 
Newport  and  Marshal  Newce,  the  author  of  this  work  adopts  the  orthography  given  in  the  text — Newport-Newce. 


SLAVES  PRONOUNCED  CONTRABAND  OF  WAR.       501 

fications,  and  that  they  themselves  were  about  to  be  sent  to  Xorth  Carolina 
for  the  same  purpose.  They  were  taken  before  General  Butler.  He  needed 
laborers  on  field-works,  which  he  expected  to  erect  immediately.  Regarding 
these  slaves,  according  to  the  laws  of  Virginia,  as  much  the  property  of 
Colonel  Mallory  as  his  horses  or  his  pistols,  and  as  properly  seiznble  as  they, 
as  aids  in  warfare,  and  which  might  be  used  against  the  National  troops, 
Hutler  said : — "These  men  are  contraband  of  war;  set  them  at  work." 
This  order  was  scarcely  pronounced  before  Major  Carey,  of  the  "  Virginia 
Volunteers,"  sought  an  interview  with  the  General  respecting  the  fugitives, 
representing  himself  as  the  agent  of  Colonel  Mallory  in  "  charge  of  his 
property."  The  interview  was  granted,  when  the  Major  wished  to  know 
what  the  General  intended  to  do  with  the  runaways.  u  I  shall  detain  them 
as  contraband  of  war,*'  was  the  reply;  and  they  were  held  as  such. 

Other  slaves  speedily  followed  those  of  Colonel  Mallory,  and  General 
Butler  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  War  concerning  them,  relating  what  he  had 
done,  on  the  assumption  that  they  were  the  property  of  an  enemy  used  in 
warfare,  and  asking  for  instructions.  The  General's  action  was  approved  by 
his  Government  ;  and  thenceforward  all  fugitive  slaves  were  considered  as 
"contraband  of  war,"  and  treated  as  such.  On  the  spot  where  the  first 
African  who  was  sold  as  a  slave  in  America  first  inhaled  the  fresh  air  of  the 
New  World,  the  destruction  of  the  system  of  slavery,  which  had  prevailed 
in  Virginia  two  hundred  and  forty  years,  was  thus  commenced.1  That  master 
stroke  of  policy  was  one  of  the  most  effective  blows  aimed  at  the  heart  of  the 
rebellion  ;  and  throughout  the  war  the 
fugitive  slave  was  known  as  a  contraband. 
"An  epigram,"  prophetically  wrote  the. 
brilliant  Major  Winthrop,  of  Butler's  staff, 
who  fell  in  battle  a  few  days  later — u  an 
epigram  abolished  slavery  in  the  United 
States." 

Thoroughly  convinced  that  Fortress 
Monroe  was  the  proper  base  for  operations 
against  Richmond  ;  for  the  severance  of 
Virginia  from  the  other  Southern  States ; 
and  for  the  seizure  of  the  great  railway 
centers  of  that  Commonwealth,  Butler 
made  his  plans  and  dispositions  accord- 


T1IEODOBE    -WINTIIUOI'. 


ingly.      On    the    27th    of    May    he    sent 

Colonel  Phelps  in  the  steamer  Ctttiline,  with  a  detachment,  to  occupy  and 
fortify  the  promontory  of  Xewport-Xewce,  where  the  United  States  steamer 
Harriet  Laite  lay  to  protect  them.  He  was  accompanied  by  Lieutenant  John 
T.  Greble,  of  the  Second  Regiment  of  Artillery,  an  accomplished  young 
officer,  educated  at  West  Point,  whom  he  appointed  Master  of  Ordnance,  to 
superintend  the  construction  of  the  works.  Greble  had  under  his  command 
two  subalterns  and  twenty  men  of  the  regular  Army.  Camp  Butler  was  at 

1  The  peninsula  on  which  Fortress  Monroe  stands  was  the  first  resting-place  of  the  early  emigrants  to 
Virginia,  after  their  Ions;  and  perilous  voyage,  and  was  named  by  them  Point  Comfort.  There  the  crew  of  a 
Dutch  vessel,  with  negroes  from  Africa,  landed  in  August,  1020,  and  a  few  days  afterward  sold  twenty  of  their 
human  cargo  to  the  settlers  at  Jamestown.  So  negro  Slavery  was  begun  on  the  domain  of  the  United  States. 


502 


ATTACK   ON  PIG  POINT   BATTEPvY. 


NEWPOKT-NEWCE    LANDING. 


once  established  ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  a  battery  was  planted  at 
Newport-Newce  that  commanded  the  ship-channel  of  the  James  River  and 
the  mouth  of  the  Nansemond,  on  one  side  of  which,  on  Pig  Point,  the  insur 
gents  had  constructed  a  strong  redoubt,  and  armed  it  well  with  cannon  from 
the  Gosport  Navy  Yard.  It  was  a  part  of  Butler's  plan  of  campaign  to 

capture  or  turn  that 
redoubt,  pass  up  the 
Nansemond,  and  seize 
Suffolk ;  and,  taking 
possession  of  the  rail 
way  connections  be 
tween  that  town  and 
Petersburg  and  Nor 
folk,  menace  the  Wei- 
don  Road — the  great 
highway  between  Vir 
ginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas.  To  do  this  re 
quired  more  troops 
and  munitions  of  war, 

and  especially  of  means  for  transportation,  than  General  Butler  had  then  at 
his  command ;  and  he  was  enabled  only  to  take  possession  of  and  hold  the 
important  strategic  point  of  Newport-Newce  at  that  time.  In  order  to 
ascertain  the  strength  of  the  Pig  Point  Battery,  he  sent  Captain  John  Faunce, 
with  the  United  States  armed  steamer  Harriet  Lane,  to  attack  it.a 
The  water  was  so  shallow  that  Faunce  was  compelled  to  open 
fire  at  the  distance  of  eighteen  hundred  yards.  In  the  course  of 
forty-five  minutes  he  threw  thirty  shot  and  shell  at  the  redoubt,  most  of 
which  fell  short.  With  guns  of  longer  range,  and  more  effective,  the  com 
mander  of  the  battery  returned  the  fire.  The  Harriet  Lane  was  struck 
twice,  and  five  of  her  men  were  wounded.  Satisfied  that  the  battery  was  a 
dangerous  one,  her  commander  withdrew.1 

On  the  day  after  Colonel  Phelps's  departure,  Colonel  Abraham  Duryee, 
commander  of  a  well-disciplined  regiment  of  Zouaves,  composing  the  Fifth 
New  York  Volunteers,  arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  was  at  once  assigned 
to  the  command  of  Camp  Hamilton,  as  acting  brigadier-general.  His  regi 
ment  had  preceded  him  a  few  days.  He  at  once  issued  a  proclamation  to 
the  inhabitants  of  that  portion  of  Virginia,  friendly  in  tone,  and  assuring 
therii  that  the  rights  and  property  of  all  peaceable  citizens  should  be  re 
spected.  The  troops  in  his  charge  consisted  of  the  First,  Second,  Third, 
Fifth,  .Tenth,  and  Twentieth  New  York  Volunteers,  and  the  Pennsylvania 
Seventy-first,  known  as  the  California  Regiment,  under  Colonel  Baker,  a 
member  of  the  United  States  Senate.2  Duryee  was  succeeded  a  few  days 
afterward  by  Brigadier-General  E.  W.  Peirce,  of  Massachusetts,  Butler's 
senior  in  rank  in  the  militia  of  that  State,  who  had  generously  yielded  his 
claims  to  higher  position  for  the  sake  of  his  country.  He  was  a  brave  and 


June  5,' 
1861. 


1  Report  of  Captain  Faunce  to  flag-officer  J.  G.  Pendorgrast,  in  command  of  the  Cumberland,  June  5,  1861. 
1  See  pages  227  and  855. 


THE  INSURGENTS   ON   THE   PENINSULA.  503 

patriotic  man,  and  was  willing  to  serve  the  cause  in  any  capacity.  He  came 
from  the  command  of  the  principal  rendezvous  for  Massachusetts  troops,  at 
Fort  Warren,  and  entered  upon  his  duties,  as  the  leader  of  the  forces  at 
Camp  Hamilton,  on  the  4th  of  June. 

The  forced  inaction  of  the  troops  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  the  threatening 
aspect  of  affairs  at  Ne.wport-Newce,  which  Greble  was  rendering  impreg 
nable,  made  the  armed  insurgents  on  the  Peninsula,  who  were  commanded 
by  Colonel  J.  Bankhead  Magruder1  (who  had  abandoned  his  flag),  bold, 
active,  and  vigilant.  Their  principal  rendezvous  was  Yorktown,  which  they 
were  fortifying,  and  from  which  they  came  down  the  Peninsula,  to  impress 
the  slaves  of  men  who  had  fled  from  their 
farms  into  service  on  the  military  works, 
to  force  Union  residents  into  their  ranks, 
and  on  some  occasions  to  attack  the  Union 
pickets. 

Major  Winthrop,  Butler's  aid  and 
military  secretary,  whose  whole  soul  was 
alive  with  zeal  in  the  cause  he  had 
espoused,  was  continually  on  the  alert, 
and  he  soon  learned  from  a  "  contraband," 
named  George  Scott,  that  the  insurgents 
had  fortified  outposts  at  Great  and  Little 
Bethel  (the  names  of  two  churches),  on 
the  road  between  Yorktown  and  Hamp 
ton,  and  only  a  few  miles  from  the  latter  ,  BAXKH.AD  KAGRUDKB. 
place.  With  Scott  as  guide,  Winthrop 

reconnoitered  these  positions,  and  was  satisfied  that  Magruder  was  preparing 
to  attempt  the  seizure  of  Xewport-Xewce  and  Hampton,  and  confine  Butler 
to  Fortress  Monroe.  The  latter  resolved  upon  a  countervailing  movement, 
by  an  attack  upon  these  outposts  by  troops  moving  at  midnight  in  two 
columns,  one  from  Fortress  Monroe  and  the  other  from  Xewport-Xewce. 
Among  Major  Winthrop's  papers  was  found  a  rough  draft  of  the  details  of 
the  plan,  in  his  own  handwriting,  which  the  biographer  of  Butler  says  was 
"•  the  joint  production  of  the  General  and  his  Secretary,"  and  which  "  was 
substantially  adopted,  and  orders  in  accordance  therewith  were  issued."2 

At  noon  on  Sunday,  the  9th  of  June,  General  Peirce  received  a  note 
from  General  Butler,  written  with  a  pencil  on  the  back  of  an  address  card, 
summoning  him  to  Fortress  Monroe.  Peirce  was  too  ill  to  ride  on  horseback, 
and  was  taken  by  water  in  a  small  boat.  There  he  found  a  plan  minutely 
arranged  for  an  attack  upon  the  insurgents  at  the  two  Bethels,  on  the  York- 

1  Magruder,  who  became  a  "Confederate  general,"  was  an  infamous  character.  He  was  a  lieutenant-colonel 
of  the  artillery  in  the  National  Army,  and,  according  to  a  late  writer,  professed  loyalty  until  he  was  ready  to 
abandon  his  flag.  "Mr.  Lincoln,"  he  said  to  the  President,  at  the  White  House,  at  the  middle  of  April,  "every 
one  else  may  desert  you,  but  7  never  will."  The  President  thanked  him,  and  two  days  afterward,  having  dono 
all  in  his  power  to  corrupt  the  troops  in  Washington  City,  he  fled  and  joined  the  insurgents.  See  Greeley's 
American  Conflict,  i.  506. 

a  Parton's  -Butler  in  Xew  Origan*,  page  142.  In  that  plan  Winthrop  put  down,  among  other  items,  the 
following: — "George  Scott  to  have  a  shooting-iron." — "So,"  says  Parton,  "the  first  suggestion  of  arming  a 
black  man  in  this  war  came  from  Theodore  Winthrop.  George  Scott  had  a  shooting-iron."  In  one  of  his  last 
letters  to  a  friend,  Winthrop  wrote: — "If  I  come  back  safe,  I  will  send  you  my  notes  of  the  plan  of  attack, 
jmrt  made  up  from  the  General's  hints,  part  my  own  fancies." 


504  EXPEDITION   TO    BIG   AND   LITTLE   BETHEL. 

town  Road,  and  received  orders  to  command  the  expedition.  He  was  directed 
to  lead  Duryee's  Fifth  and  Townsend's  Third  New  York  Volunteers  from 
Camp  Hamilton  to  a  point  near  Little  Bethel,  where  he  was  to  be  joined  by 
a  detachment  from  Colonel  Phelps's  command  at  Newport-Newce.  These 
latter  consisted  of  a  battalion  of  Vermont  and  Massachusetts  troops  (the 
latter  of  Wardrop's  Third  Regiment),  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Washburne; 

Colonel  Bendix's  Germans  (the  Seventh  New 
York),  known  as  the  Steuben  Rifle  Regi 
ment,  and  a  battery  of  two  light  field-pieces 
(6-pounders),  in  charge  of  Lieutenant  Greble, 
who  was  accompanied  by  eleven  artillery 
men  of  his  little  band  of  regulars.  As  the 
expedition  was  to  be  undertaken  in  the 
night,  and  there  was  to  be  a  junction  of 
troops  converging  from  two  points,  General 
Butler  ordered  the  watchword,  "  Boston," 
to  be  given  to  each  party,  and  that  they 
should  wear  on  their  left  arms  a  white  rag 

EBENEZER  w.  FEiRCE.  or  handkerchief,  so  as  to  be  known  to  each 

other.     The  column  at   Camp  Hamilton  was 

to  start  at  midnight,  and  that  at  Newport-Newce  a  little  later,  as  its  line  of 
march  would  be  shorter.  The  troops  at  Camp  Hamilton  were  ordered  to 
shout  "  Boston,"  when  they  should  charge  the  insurgents ;  and  other  pre 
cautions  were  taken  to  prevent  blunders,  into  which  inexperienced  soldiers 
were  liable  to  fall. 

Duryee  and  his  Zouaves  left  Camp  Hamilton  at  near  midnight,"  preceded 

by  two  companies  of  skirmishers,  under  Captains  Bartlett  and 

"  ^SGi 9'      Kilpatrick.     Hampton  Bridge  had  been  so  much  injured  by  the 

fire  that  it  might  not  be  safely  crossed  in  darkness,  so  the  troops 

were  ferried  over  the  creek  in  surf-boats,  after  considerable  delay.     Colonel 

Townsend's  Albany  Regiment,  with  two  mountain  howitzers,  marched  an 

hour  later  to  support  Duryee.     The  latter  was  directed  to  take  a  by-road, 

after  crossing  New  Market  Bridge,  over  the  southwest  branch  of  Back  River, 

and,  getting  between  the  insurgent  forces  at  Big  and  Little  Bethel,  fall  upon 

those  at  the  latter  place,  and,  if  successful  there,  push  on  and  attack  those  at 

the  former. 

Bartlett  and  Kilpatrick  reached  New  Market  Bridge  at  one  o'clock  in 
the  morning,6  where  they  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  Zouaves  at 
three  o'clock.  They  then  pushed  on  toward  the  ne\v  County 
Bridge  at  Big  Bethel,  and  at  a  little  before  daylight  captured  an  insurgent 
picket-guard  near  there.  In  the  mean  time  Lieutenant-Colonel  Washburne 
had  advanced  from  Newport-Newce,  followed  by  Bendix  with  his  Germans, 
and  Greble  with  his  battery  and  artillerymen,  as  supports.  Butler  had  di 
rected  the  inarch  of  both  columns  to  be  so  timed  as  to  make  a  simultaneous 
attack  at  Little  Bethel  just  at  dawn ;  and  to  prevent  mistakes  he  ordered 
the  troops  that  might  first  attack  to  shout  "  Boston."  Every  thing  was 
working  admirably,  according  to  instructions,  when  an  unfortunate  circum 
stance  ruined  the  expedition. 

Duryee,  as  we  have  observed,  was  pressing  on  to  get  in  the  rear  of  Little 


AN   UNFORTUNATE   MISTAKE. 


505 


Bethel,  followed  by  Townsend.  Washburne,  at  the  same  time,  was  pushing 
on  toward  the  same  point,  followed  by  Bendix  and  the  artillery.  Townsend 
and  Bendix  approached  the  point  of  junction,  in  front  of  Little  Bethel,  in  a 
thick  wood,  at  the  same  moment.  Townsend's  men,  dressed  similar  to  the  in- 
su*rgents,  wore  their  white  badges,  and  were  ready  to  shout  the  watchword. 
Bendix's  men  had  no  badges,  and  were  ignorant  of  the  watchword.  Butler's 
aid,  who  was  sent  to  Newporl-Xewce  with  orders  for  the  advance,  had  neg 
lected  to  give  the  watchword  or  order  the  wearing  of  the  badges.  Bendix 
knew  that  the  insurgents,  with  proper  precaution,  had  worn  white  bands  on 
their  hats.  Seeing,  in  the  dim  starlight  and  a  slight  mist,  just  before  the 


DUBYEE8    ZOCATE8.1 


dawn,  similar  badges  on  the  arms  of  an  approaching  column  of  men,  clad 
something  like  the  enemy,  he  mistook  them  for  his  foe,2  and  ordered  an 
attack.  The  Germans  at  once  opened  upon  Townsend's  column  with  mus 
ketry  and  one  cannon.  The  other  cannon  was  with  Lieutenant  Greble,  who 
had  pushed  eagerly  forward  a  mile  or  more  in  advance.3  Townsend's  men 
shouted  "  Boston  "  lustily,  while  Bendix's  men  shouted  "  Saratoga."  The 
shots  of  the  Germans  were  returned  irregularly,  when  the  assailed  party, 


1  The  costume  of  Duryee's  corps  was  that  of  the  Second  Regiment  of  the  French  Zouaves,  composed  of 
a  blue  jacket  trimmed  with  red,  and  blue  shirt  trimmed  with  the  same;  full  scarlet  trowscra  with  leather  leg 
gins,  and  scarlet  cap  with  blue  tassel,  partly  arranged  in  turban  form. 

2  It  is  said  that  Bendix  was  also  deceived  by  the  fact  that  General  Peirce  and  Colonel  Townsend,  with  their 
respective  staff  officers,  who  were  riding  in  front  of  the  column,  were  mistaken  for  cavalry,  and  as  there  was 
none  with  the  expedition,  it  was  supposed  to  be  that  of  the  insurgents. 

3  For  want  of  horses,  one  hundred  men  had  drawn  one  of  Greble's  cannon  from  Newport-Newce,  and  two 
mules  the  other.     With  the.  latter,  he  was  pressing  on  toward  Dury6e's  column. 


506 


THE   INSURGENTS  AT   BIG   BETHEL. 


supposing  they  had  fallen  into  an  ambush  of  insurgents,  retreated  to  the  fork 
of  the  road,  when  the  dreadful  mistake  was  discovered.  Townsend  lost 
two  men  killed  and  several  wounded  in  the  affair.  Captain  Haggerty,  the 
officer  who  forgot  to  give  the  order  for  the  badges  and  the  watchword,  was 
greatly  distressed  by  the  consequences  of  his  remissness,  and  exclaimed, 
"  How  can  I  go  back  and  look  General  Butler  in  the  face  !"1 

Hearing  the  firing  in  their  rear,  both  Duryee  (who  had  just  surprised  and 
captured  an  outlying  guard  of  thirty  men)  and  Washburne,  and  also  Lieuten 
ant  Greble,  thinking  the  insurgents  l^ad  fallen  upon  the  supporting  columns, 
immediately  reversed  their  march  and  joined  the  sadly  confused  regiments 
of  Townsend  and  Bendix.  In  the  mean  time,  General  Peirce,  who  knew  that 
the  insurgents  at  Great  Bethel  had  been  warned  of  the  presence  of  National 
troops  by  this  firing,  had  sent  back  for  re-enforcements.  The  First  New 
York,  Colonel  William  H.  Allen,  arid  the  Second  New  York,  Colonel  Carr, 
were  immediately  sent  forward  from  Camp  Hamilton,  the  former  with  direc 
tions  to  proceed  to  the  front,  and  the  latter  to  halt  for  further  orders  at  New 
Market  Bridge.  The  insurgents  at  Little  Bethel,  not  more  than  fifty  in  num 
ber,  had  fled  to  the  stronger  post  at  Big  Bethel,  four  or  five  miles  distant, 

and  the  National  troops  speedily  followed, 
after  destroying  the  abandoned  camp  of 
the  fugitives.2 

The  insurgents  at  Big  Bethel,  about 
twelve  miles  from  Hampton  Bridge,  were 
on  the  alert.  Their  position  was  a  strong  one, 
on  the  bank  of  the  northwest  branch  of  Back 
River,  with  that  stream  directly  in  front, 
which  was  there  narrow  and  shallow,  and 
spanned  by  a  bridge,  but  widening  on  each 
flank  into  a  morass,  much  of  the  time  im 
passable,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
George  Scott,  the  negro  guide.  They  had 
erected  a  strong  earthwork  on  each  side  of 
the  road,  which  commanded  the  bridge,  and 
a  line  of  intrenchments  along  the  bank  of 
the  wooded  swamp  on  their  right.  Immedi 
ately  in  the  rear  of  their  works  was  a  wooden 
structure  known  as  Big  Bethel  Church. 
Behind  these  works,  which  were  masked 
by  green  boughs,  and  partly  concealed  by 

a  wood,  were  about  eighteen  hundred  insurgents3  (many  of  them  cavalry), 
under  Colonel  Magruder,  composed  of  Virginians  and  a  North  Carolina  regi 
ment  under  Colonel  D.  H.  Hill.  They  were  reported  to  be  four  thousand 
strong,  with  twenty  pieces  of  heavy  cannon  ;  and  such  was  Kilpatrick's  esti 
mate,  after  a  reconnoissance.4 


FROM    PIG   POINT  TO    BIG    BETHEL. 


1  Statement  of  General  Peirce  to  the  author. 

a  Near  Little  Bethel,  a  wealthy  insurgent,  named  Whiting,  came  out  of  his  mansion  and  deliberately  fired 
on  the  Union  troops.  Retaliation  immediately  followed.  His  large  house,  filled  with  elogant  furniture  and  a 
fine  library,  was  laid  in  ashes. 

8  Pollard's  First  Year  of  the  War,  page  77.  *  Kilpatrick's  Report. 


BATTLE   AT   BIG   BETHEL.  507 

Notwithstanding  this  reputed  strength  of  the  insurgents,  and  the  weari 
ness  of  his  troops,  who  had  been  up  all  night,  and  had  marched  many  miles  in 
the  hot  sunbeams,  General  Peirce,  after  consultation  with  his  officers,  resolved 
to  attack  them.  The  whole  force  under  his  command  pressed  forward,  and 
by  half-past  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  reached  a  point  within  a  mile 
of  the  foe,  where  disposition  was  made  for  battle. 

To  Duryc-e's  Zouaves  was  assigned  the  duty  of  leading  in  the  attack. 
Skirmishers,  under  Captains  Kilpatrick,  Bartlett,  and  Winslo\v,  and  all  under 
the  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  G.  K.  Warren,  of  the  Zouaves  (who  was 
acquainted  with  the  ground),  were  thrown  out  on  each  side  of  the  road 
leading  to  the  bridge,  closely  followed  by  Duryee,  and  three  pieces  of  artillery 
under  Lieutenant  Greble.1  On  the  right  of  the  advancing  force  was  a  wood 
that  extended  almost  to  the  stream,  and  on  the  front  and  left  were  an  orchard 
and  corn-field.  Into  the  orchard  and  corn-field  Duryee  advanced  obliquely, 
with  Tuwnsend  as  a  support  on  his  right  and  rear.  Greble,  with  his  battery, 
continued  to  advance  along  the  road,  with  Bendix  as  a  support,  whose  regi 
ment  deployed  on  the  right  of  the  highway,  in  the  wood,  toward  the  left 
flank  of  the  insurgents,  with  three  companies  of  Massachusetts  and  Vermont 
troops  of  Washburne's  command. 

The  battle  was  opened  by  a  Parrott  rifled  cannon  fired  from  the  insurgent 
battery  to  the  right  of  the  bridge,  by  Major  Randolph,  commander  of  the 
Richmond  Howitzer  Battalion.  This  was  answered  by  cheers  from  the  L'nion 
troops,  who  steadily  advanced  in  the  face  of  a  heavy  fire,  intending  to  dash 
across  the  stream  and  storm  the  works.  Most  of  the  shot  passed  over  their 
heads  at  first.  Very  soon  the  firing  became  more  accurate ;  men  began  to 
fall  here  and  there;  and  at  length  the  storm  of  shot  and  shell  was  intolerable. 
The  skirmishers  and  Zouaves  withdrew  from  the  open  fields  to  the  shelter  of 
the  wood  on  the  right  of  the  road,  whilst  Greble,  still  advancing,  poured  a 
rapid  and  effective  shower  of  grape  and  canister  shot  from  his  battery  upon 
the  works  of  the  insurgents,  at  a  distance,  finally,  of  not  more  than  two  hun 
dred  yards.  That  position  he  held  for  almost  two  hours,  while  the  remainder 
of  the  army  was  resting  and  preparing  for  a  general  assault.  He  had  only 
an  ordinary  force  of  gunners  at  first,  but  Warren  managed  to  send  him  relief, 
and  by  a  skillful  use  of  his  guns,  and  limited  supply  of  ammunition,  he  kept 
the  insurgents  within  their  works. 

All  things  being  in  readiness,  at  about  noon  a  charge  was  sounded,  and 
the  troops  moved  rapidly  forward,  with  instructions  to  dash  across  the 
morass,  flank  the  works  of  the  insurgents,  and  drive  out  the  occupants  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  Duryi'e's  Zouaves  moved  to  attack  them  on  their  left, 
and  Townsend's  Xew  York  Third  started  for  like  duty  on  their  right,  while 
Bendix,  with  the  Xew  York  Seventh  and  the  rest  of  the  Newport-Xewce 
detachment,  should  assail  them  on  their  left  flank  and  rear.  Greble,  in  the 
mean  time,  kept  his  position  in  the  road  on  their  front. 

Kilpatrick,  Bartlett,  and  Winslow  charged  boldly  on  the  front  of  the  foe, 
while  Captain  Denike  and  Lieutenant  Duryee  (son  of  the  Colonel)  and  some 
of  Townsend's  regiment  as  boldly  fell  upon  their  right.  The  insurgents  were 
driven  out  of  their  battery  nearest  the  bridge,  and  a  speedy  victory  for  the 

1  On«  of  Townsend's  mountain  howitzers  had  been  added  to  Greble's  battery  of  two  guns. 


508 


BATTLE   AT   BIG  BETHEL. 


Union  soldiers  seemed  inevitable.     The  Zouaves  were  then  advancing  through 
the  wood  to  the  morass,  but,  believing  it  to  be  impassable,  their  commander 

ordered  them  to  retire.  Town- 
send  was  pressing  vigorously 
on  toward  the  right  of  the  foe, 
but  was  suddenly  checked  by 
a  fatal  blunder.  In  the  haste 
of  starting,  two  companies  of 
his  regiment  had  marched  un 
observed  on  the  side  of  a 
thickly  hedged  ditch  opposite 
the  main  body,  and,  pushing 
rapidly  forward,  came  up  a 
gentle  slope  at  some  distance 
in  the  front,  where  the  smoke 
was  thick,  to  join  their  com 
panions.  Their  dress,  as  we 
have  observed,  was  similar  to 
that  worn  by. the  insurgents, 
and  they  were  mistaken  for  a 
party  of  Magruder's  men  out 
flanking  the  New  Yorkers. 
Townsend  immediately  halted, 
and  then  fell  back  to  the  point 
of  departure.  At  that  mo 
ment,  General  Peirce  had 
placed  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  Zouaves,  to  lead  them 
to  an  attack,  and  Bendix  and 

the  rest  of  the  Newport-Newce  detachment  were  pressing  forward,  in  obe 
dience  to  orders.  Some  of  them  crossed  the  morass,  and  felt  sure  of  victory, 
when  they  were  driven  back  by  a  murderous  fire.  The  insurgents,  having 
been  relieved  on  their  right  by  the  withdrawal  of  Townsend,  had  concen 
trated  their  forces  at  the  battery  in  front  of  this  assaulting  party.  Major 
Winthrop  was  with  the  Newport-Newce  troops  at  this  time,  and  had  pressed 
eagerly  forward,  with  private  Jones  of  the  Vermont  regiment,  to  a  point 
within  thirty  or  forty  yards  of  the  battery.  He  sprang  upon  a  log  to  get 
a  view  of  the  position,  when  the  bullet  of  a  North  Carolina  drummer-boy 
penetrated  his  brain,  and  he  fell  dead. 

Townsend's  retirement,  the  repulse  on  the  right,  and  the  assurance  of 
Colonel  Duryee,  that  his  ammunition  was  exhausted,  caused  General  Peirce, 
with  the  concurrence  of  his  colonels,  to  order  a  retreat.  Greble  was  still  at 
work,  but  with  only  one  gun,  for  he  had  only  five  men  left.  On  receiving 
the  order,  he  directed  Corporal  Peoples  to  limber  up  the  piece  and  take  it 
away.  At  that  moment  a  shot  from  the  insurgents  struck  a  glancing  blow 
upon  his  right  temple,  and  he  fell  dead,  with  the  exclamation,  "  Oh  I  my 
God  !"  Thus  perished,  at  the  very  opening  of  the  civil  war,  one  of  the  most 
promising  of  the  young  officers  who  had  hastened  to  the  field  in  obedience 
to  the  call  of  the  President.  He  was  the  first  officer  of  the  regular  Army 


BATTLE    AT    BIG    BETHEL. 


DEATH   OF  LIEUTENANT   GREBLE. 


509 


who  gave  his  life  to  his  country  in  the  great  struggle ;  and   was  one  of 

a  class  of  graduates  of  the  West  Point  Military  Academy,  which  furnished 

several    distinguished   general    officers   for 

the   war   that  ensued.'      Generous,  brave, 

and  good,  he  was  greatly  beloved  by  all 

who  knew  him,  and  was  sincerely  mourned 

by  the  nation.     His  name  will  forever  be 

associated,  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  his 

countrymen,  with  all  the  brave  men  who 

fought    in    that   struggle    for    Nationality 

and  Right,  as  the  beloved  young  martyr.2 

So,  too,  will  the  memory  of  Winthrop,  the 

gentle,    the    brilliant,    and   the   brave,   be 

cherished  by  a  grateful  people. 

General  Butler,  as  we  have  observed,  had 
sent  Colonel  Allen  with  the  First,  and  Col 
onel  Carr  with  the  Second  Xew  York  Kegi- 


JOIIN   TROUT   GKEBLE. 


1  There  were  forty-six  graduates  of  his  class  of  one  hundred,  of  whom  twenty-three  remained  true  to  the 
Union,  and  fourteen  joined  the  insurgents  when  the  war  broke  out.  At  that  time,  seven  of  them  were  known 
to  be  dead.  Ten  of  the  fourteen  disloyal  ones  became  generals  in  the  "Confederate"  army,  namely.  G.  W.  C. 
Lee,  Jas.  Deshler,  John  P.  Peirram,  J.  K.  B.  Stuart.  Archibald  Oracle.  S.  ]).  Lee.  W.  I).  Fender,  J.  B.  Villepigne, 
J.  T.  Mercer,  and  A.  B.  Chapman.  Only  four  of  the  loyal  graduates  were  raised  to  the  rank  of  general,  namely, 
Henry  L.  Abbot,  Thomas  E.  Uuger,  O.  O.  Howard,  and  S.  II.  Weed.  Of  the  forty-six  graduates,  it  is  known 
that  twelve  were  killed  in  battle,  and.  up  to  this  time  (December.  1SC5),  eight  have  died. 

a  Lieutenant  Greble's  body  was  lx»rne  to  Fortress  Monroe  by  the  sorrowing  Zouaves,  in  the  chapel  of  which 
it  was  laid,  and  received  the  administration  of  funeral  rites  before  it  was  conveyed  to  his  native  city  of  Phila 
delphia.  His  father,  accompanied  by  an  intimate  friend,  had  just  arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe,  on  a  visit  to  his 
son,  taking  with  him  delicacies  from  home  and  tokens  of  affection  from  his  younsr  wife,  when  news  of  the  battle, 
and  the  death  of  the  hero,  was  communicated  to  him.  Padly  they  returned,  bearing  with  the  body  the  following 
touching  letter  to  his  wife,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  .1.  W.  French,  his  senior  Professor  at  West  Point:— "May  God 
bless  you,  my  darling,  and  grant  you  a  happy  and  peaceful  life.  May  the  good  Father  protect  you  and  me,  and 
grant  that  we  may  live  happily  together  long  lives.  God  give  me  strength,  wisdom,  and  courage.  If  I  die,  let 
me  die  as  a  brave  and  honorable  man  ;  let  no  stain  of  dishonor  hang  over  me  or  you.  Devotedly,  and  with  my 
whole  heart,  your  husband."  This  was  written  with  a  pencil,  and  evidently  after  arriving  on  the  field.  He 
seemed  to  have  had  a  presentiment  that  he  should  not  survive  the  expected  battle.  To  a  brother  orticer  he  said, 
on  startinir,  "This  is  an  ill-advised  and  badly  arranged  movement  I  am  afraid  no  good  will  come  of  it;  and  as 
for  myself,  I  do  not  think  I  shall  come  off  the  field  alive." 

Lieutenant  Greble's  body  received  military  honors  in  Philadelphia.     It  lay  in  state  in  Independence  Hall,  at 

the  request  of  the  City  Councils,  on  the  14th  of  June,  where  it  was 
visited  by  thousands  of  citizens.  It  was  then  borne  in  solemn  pro 
cession  to  his  father's  residence,  escorted  by  Captain  Starr's  com 
pany  of  militia,  and  followed  by  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  the 
city  authorities,  and  a  large  body  of  military  and  citizens.  From 
there  it  was  conveyed  to  Woodland  Cemetery,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Philadelphia,  when  "his  father-in-law  read  the  final  funeral  service, 
and  he  was  buried  with  military  honors.  Over  his  remains  his 
family  erected  a  beautiful  and  unique  monument  of  white  marble, 
bearing  the  following  inscriptions: — On  the  concave  side,  "John 
T.  Greble.  First  Lieutenant.  U.S.A.  Born  January  12.  1S34; 
killed  at  Great  Bethel,  June  K>.  1SC1."  On  the  convex  side,  seen 
in  the  enirraving,  "John  T.  Greble,  First  Lieutenant,  U.  S.  A. 
Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God.'1 

The  City  Councils  of  Philadelphia  adopted  a  series  of  resolu 
tions  relative  to  his  death:  and  a  portrait  of  the  martyr,  painted 
by  Marchant.  was  presented  to  the  corporation.  The  officers  at 
Fortress  Monroe  had  already,  by  resolution,  on  the  llth  of  June, 
borne  testimony  of  their  appreciation  of  their  companion-in-arms ; 
ami  Lieutenant-Colonel  (afterward  Major-General)  Warren  said: 
"  His  efficiency  alone  prevented  our  loss  from  being  thrice  what 
it  was.  by  preventing  the  opposing  batteries  from  sweeping  the 
road  alon-  which  w»»  marched  :  and  the  impression  which  he  made  on  the  enemy  deterred  them  from  pursuing 
our  retreating  forces,  hours  after  he  had  ceased  to  live." 


GUKIU.F.  S    MONUMENT. 


510  EFFECT   OF   THE   BATTLE   AT  BIG  BETHEL. 

ment,  as  re-enforcements.  These  arrived  while  the  battle  was  going  on. 
Peirce  ordered  them  to  the  front,  as  if  to  renew  the  conflict,  and  they  served 
as  a  cover  to  the  wearied  troops  in  their  retreat.  That  retreat  was  in  good 
order.  The  dead  and  wounded,  and  arms  and  munitions  were  all  borne  away. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Warren  carried  off  the  body  of  Lieutenant  Greble,  but 
that  of  Winthrop  remained  for  a  time  with  the  insurgents.1  Kilpatrick,  who 
was  badly  wounded  by  a  shot  through  his  thigh,  was  rescued  and  borne  away 
by  Captain  Winslow.2  The  insurgent  cavalry  pursued  about  six  miles,  when 
they  returned;  and  on  the  same  day  Magruder  and  his  whole  party  withdrew 
to  Yorktown.  The  loss  of  the  National  troops  was  reported  at  sixteen 
killed,  thirty-four  wounded,  and  five  missing.  That  of  the  insurgents  was 
trifling.  The  number  of  the  National  force  at  Great  Bethel  was  about 
twenty-five  hundred,  and  that  of  the  insurgents  eighteen  hundred. 

As  soon  as  General  Butler  was  informed  of  the  action  he  proceeded  to 
Hampton,  for  the  purpose  of  sending  forward  wagons  and  ambulances  for  the 
sick  and  wounded,  and  to  join  the  expedition  in  person.  His  horse  swam 
Hampton  Creek,  while  he  crossed  in  a  boat.  Tidings  soon  came  that  the 
battle  was  over,  and  he  remained  at  Hampton  to  receive  the  disabled,  who 
were  sent  by  water  to  the  hospital  at  Fortress  Monroe.3 

The  battle  at  Bethel,  with  its  disastrous  results,  surprised  and  mortified 
the  nation,  and  the  assurance  of  the  Department  Commander,  that  "  we  have 
gained  more  than  we  have  lost,"  was  not  accepted  at  the  time  as  a  fair  con 
clusion.  u  Our  troops,"  he  said,  in  support  of  his  inference,  "have  learned 
to  have  confidence  in  themselves  under  fire  ;  the  enemy  have  shown  that  they 
will  not  meet  us  in  the  open  field,  and  our  officers  have  learned  wherein  their 
organization  and  drill  are  inefficient."  But  the  people  were  not  satisfied. 
Their  chagrin  must  be  appeased.  It  was  felt  that  somebody  was  to  blame, 
and  the  offender  on  whom  to  lay  the  responsibility  was  earnestly  sought. 
The  Department  Commander,  the  chief  leader  on  the  field,  and  the  heads  of 
regiments,  were  all  in  turn  censured,  while  the  bravery  of  the  troops  was 
properly  extolled.  So  thoroughly  were  Butler's  services  at  Annapolis  and 
Baltimore  overshadowed  and  obscured  by  this  cloud  of  disaster,  that  the  con 
firmation  of  his  appointment  to  a  major-generalship  was  secured  in  the  Senate 
by  only  two  votes,  and  these  through  the  exertions  of  Senator  Baker,  who 
was  soon  to  fall  a  sacrifice  to  incompetency  or  something  worse.  The 
heaviest  weight  of  responsibility  finally  rested,  in  the  public  comprehension 
of  the  affair,  on  General  Peirce ;  but,  we  are  satisfied,  after  careful  investiga- 

1  The  bravery  of  Winthrop  was  extolled  by  the  foe.     They  gave  his  body  a  respectful  burial  at  Bethel,  and 
it  was  disinterred  a  few  days  afterward  and  taken  to  New  York.     "  On  the  19th  of  April,"  says  his  friend  George 
W.  Curtis,  in  a  beautiful  sketch  of  his  life,  '•  he  left  the  armory-door  of  the  Seventh,  with  his  hand  upon  a 
howitzer — on  the  21st  of  June,  his  body  lay  upon  the  same  howitzer,  at  the  same  door,  wrapped  in  the  flag 
for  which  he  gladly  died,  as  the  symbol  of  human  freedom." — The  Fallen  Brave :  edited  by  J.  G.  Shea,  LL.  D., 
page  41. 

2  In  his  report,  Kilpatrick  said,  after  speaking  of  the  engagement,  and  of  a  number  of  men  .being  killed : — 
"Having  received  a  grape-shot  through  my  thigh,  which  tore  off  a  portion  of  the  rectangle  on  Colonel  DuryeVs 
left  shoulder,  and  killed  a  soldier  in  the  rear,  I  withdrew  my  men  to  the  skirts  of  the  wood.  ...  I  shall  ever  be 
grateful  to  Captain  Winslow,  who  rescued  me  after  our  forces  had  left." 

3  This  account  of  the  battle  at  Bethel  is  prepared  from  a  written  statement  of  General  Peirce  to  the  author, 
in   February,   1865;  Report  of    General  Butler  to  the  General-in-chief,  June  10,  1861;    Reports  of  Colonels 
Duryee  and  Allen,  and  Captain  Kilpatrick,  June  11,  1861;  Ord.rs  of  General  Peirce,  June  9,  1861,  and  letter  of 
the  same  to  the  editor  of  the  Boston,  Journal,  August  3,  1861 ;  Report  of  Colonel  D.  II.  Hill  to  Governor  Ellis, 
of  North  Carolina,  June  11, 1861,-  and  Report  of  Colonel  Magruder,  June  12,  and  correspondence  of  the  Richmond 
Despatch,  June  11,  1861. 


A   CENSURED   OFFICER   JUSTIFIED.  511 

tion,  without  justice.  During  the  remainder  of  his  three  months'  service, 
when  lie  held  command  at  Hampton,  he  bore  the  load  of  odium  with  suffer 
ing  that  almost  dethroned  his  reason,  but  with  the  dignity  of  conscious 
innocence.  Then  he  entered  the  service  for  three  years  as  a  private  soldier. 
lie  arose  quickly  to  the  position  of  a  commander  of  a  regiment,  and  performed 
signal  service  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi. 
In  one  of  the  severe  battles  fought  on  the  Virginia  Peninsula,  which  we 
shall  consider  hereafter,  he  was  chosen  by  General  Richardson  to  perform 
most  perilous  duty  in  front  of  a  heavy  battery  of  the  foe,  then  hurling  a 
hundred  shot  a  minute.  Whilst  waving  his  sword,  and  shouting  to  his 
regiment,  "  At  the  double-quick  !  Follow  me  !"  his  right  arm  was  torn  from 
his  shoulder  by  a  32-pound  ball,  that  cut  a  man  in  two  just  behind  him. 
Peirce  was  a  gallant  and  faithful  soldier  during  the  whole  war,  and  deserves 
the  grateful  thanks  of  his  countrymen. 

In  contemplating  the  battle  at  Bethel  in*  the  light  of  contemporary  and 
subsequent  events,  the  historian  is  constrained  to  believe  that  the  disaster  on 
that  day  was  chargeable  more  to  a  general  eagerness  to  do,  without  expe 
rience  in  doing,  than  to  any  special  shortcomings  of  individuals. 


VIEW    IN   THE   MAIN   8TKEET   OF   HAMPTON    IN    l^ 


The  writer  visited  the  battle-ground  at  Great  Bethel  early  in  December, 
18C4,  in  company  with  the  father  of  Lieutenant  Greble  and  his  friend  (F.  J. 
Dreer),  who  was  with  him  when  he  bore  home  the  lifeless  body  of  his  son. 
We  arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe  on  Sunday  morning,"  and  after 
breakfasting  at  the  Ilygeian  Restaurant,  near  fhe  Baltimore  *  Defs^ber  "' 
wharf,  we  called  on  General  Butler,  who  was  then  the  commander 
of  the  Department  of  Virginia  and  Xorth  Carolina.  lie  was  at  his  quarters 
in  the  fortress,  and  was  preparing  to  sail  on  the  memorable  expedition 
against  the  forts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  and  the  town  of  Wil 
mington,  so  famous  as  the  chief  port  for  blockade-runners.  We  were  invited 
by  General  Butler  to  accompany  him,  and  gladly  embraced  the  opportunity 
to  become  spectators  of  some  of  the  most  stirring  scenes  of  the  war.  Whilst 
waiting  two  or  three  days  for  the  expedition  to  sail,  we  visited  the  battle 
ground  at  Big  Bethel,  the  site  of  Hampton,  und  the  hospitals  and  schools  in 
the  vicinity  of  Fortress  Monroe." 

1  This  is  .1  view  from  the  main  street  lookin?  northwest  toward  the  old  church,  whose  ruins  are  seen  toward 
the  left  of  the  picture,  in  the  back-ground.  The  three  huts  in  front  occupy  the  sites  of  the  stores  of  Adlei; 
Pcako,  and  Armistcad,  merchants  of  Hampton.  The  one  with  the  wood-sawyer  in  front  was  a  barber's  shop 


512 


THE   DESOLATION   OF   HAMPTON. 


EONS  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH. L 


Sixteen  years  before,"  the  writer,  while  gathering  up  materials  for  hia 
Pictorial  Field-Book  of  the  Revolution,  visited  Hampton  and  the  fortress, 
a  1848.  and  ^raveled  over  the  road  from  Yorktown  to  the  coast,  on  which 
the  battle  at  Great  Bethel  occurred.  The  aspect  of  every  thing 
was  now  changed.  The  country,  then  thickly  settled  and  well  cultivated,  was 
no\v  desolated  and  depopulated.  The  beautiful  village  of  Hampton,  which 
contained  a  resident  population  of  about  fourteen  hundred  souls  when  the 
war  broke  out,  had  been  devoured  by  fire  ;  and  the  venerable  St.  John's 
Church,  built  in  far-back  colonial  times,  and  presenting  a  picturesque  and 
well-preserved  relic  of  the  past,  was  now  a  blackened  and  mutilated  ruin, 
with  the  ancient  brick  wall  around  the  yard  serving  as  a  part  of  the  line  of 
fortifications  cast  up  there  by  the  National  troops.  The  site  of  the  town 

was  covered  Avith  rude  cabins,  all  occu 
pied  by  negroes  freed  from  bondage  ; 
and  the  chimney  of  many  a  stately  man 
sion  that  was  occupied  in  summer  by 
some  of  the  wealthiest  families  of  Vir 
ginia,  who  sought  comfort  near  the  sea 
side,  now  served  the  same  purpose  for  a 
cabin  only  a  few  feet  square.  Only  the 
Court  House  and  seven  or  eight  other 
buildings  of  the  five  hundred  that  com 
prised  the  village  escaped  the  conflagra 
tion  lighted  by  General  Magruder  just 

after  midnight  on  the  7th  of  August,  1861,  when  the  National  troops  had 
withdrawn  to  the  opposite  side  of  Hampton  Creek.  In  that  Court  House, 
Avhich  had  been  partly  destroyed,  we  found  two  young  women  from  Ver 
mont  earnestly  engaged  in  teaching  the  children  of  the  freedmen.  In  the 
main  street  of  the  village,  where  we  remembered  having  seen  fine  stores  and 
dwellings  of  brick,  nothing  was  now  to  be  seen  but 
miserable  huts,  their  chimneys  composed  of  the  bricks  of 
the  ruined  buildings.  It  was  a  very  sad  sight.  The 
sketches  on  this  and  the  preceding  page,  made  by  the 
writer  at  the  time,  give  an  idea  of  the  desolate  appear 
ance  of  the  once  flourishing  town,  over  which  the  chariot 
of  war  rolled  fearfully  at  the  beginning  of  the  struggle. 

On  Monday,  the  12th  of  December,  a  cold,  blustering 
day,  we  visited  the  Bethel  battle-field,  in  company  with 
Doctor  Ely  McClellan,  of  Philadelphia,  then  the  surgeon 
in  charge  of  the  hospitals  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  Assist 
ant  Medical  Director  of  the  post.  In  a  light  wagon, 
drawn  by  two  lively  horses  belonging  to  the  doctor,  we 
made  a  journey  of  about  twenty-five  miles  during  the  short 
afternoon,  attended  by  two  armed  outriders  to  keep  off 
the  "  bushwhackers  "  or  prowling  secessionists  with  which 
the  desolated  country  was  infested.  The  road  was  fine,  and  passed  over  an 

1  This  is  a  view  from  the  Yorktown  Road,  and  shows  the  front  entrance  to  the  church.  Close  by  that 
entrance  we  observed  a  monument  erected  to  the  memory  of  a  daughter  of  the  Eev.  John  McCabe,  the  rector 
of  the  parish  when  the  writer  visited  Hampton  in  1853. 


CABIN    AND    CHIMNEY. 


BIG  BETIIEL   BATTLE-GPwOUND. 


513 


almost  level  country,  gradually  rising  from  the  coast.  Doctor  McClellan 
was  well  acquainted  with  that  region,  and  pointed  out  every  locality  of 
interest  on  the  way.  A  few  miles  out  from  Hampton  we  passed  a  small 
freedmen's  village.  Then  we  came  to  the  place,  in  a  wood,  where  the  col 
lision  between  Bendix  and  Towusend  occurred  ;  and  a  mile  or  so  onward 
we  came  to  the  site  of  Little  Bethel  and  the  ruins  of  Whiting's  mansion.1 
A  few  miles  farther  brought  us  to  the  spot  where  the  Union  troops  formed 
the  line  of  battle  for  the  final  attack  on  the  insurgents  at  Great  Bethel. 
Xear  there  was  a  brick  house,  used  by  General  McClellan  for  head-quarters 
for  a  day  or  two  in  1862  ;  and  by  the  road-side  was  a  more  humble  dwelling, 
occupied  by  some  colored  women,  one  of  whom  wa&  over  eighty  years  of 
a^e.  They  lived  near  there  at  the  time  of  the  battle.  "  Law  sakes  alive  !" 

J 

said  the  old  woman,  "  we  was  mighty  skeered,  but  we  reckoned  all  de  time 
dat  it  was  de  Lord  come  to  help  us." 


-. 


BIG    hETIlEL    IJATTLE-KIELD.3 

Half  a  mile  farther  on  we  came  to  the  County  Bridge  at  Great  Bethel, 
where  the  stream,  widening  into  a  morass  on  each  side,  is  only  a  few  fecit  in 
width.  We  visited  the  remains  of  Magriider's  redoubts  and  intrenchments, 
and  of  Big  Bethel  Church  ;  and  from  the  embankments  of  the  principal  re 
doubt,  westward  of  the  bridge,  made  the  accompanying  sketch  of  the  battle 
field.  Returning  we  took  the  Back  River  road,  which  passed  through  a 


'  See  note  2,  paire  .r>06. 

2  In  this  view  is  seen  the  place  of  the  County  Bridge,  occupied  by  a  rude  temporary  structure.  In  tho  fore 
ground  are  seen  the  remains  of  the  redoubt,  and  on  the  right  a  wooded  morass.  In  the  road,  to  the  right  of  the 
tall  tree,  near  the  center  <>f  the  picture,  was  the  place  of  Greble's  battery,  and  to  the  left  is  seen  the  wood  in 
which  the  I'nion  troops  took  shelter.  In  the  middle  of  the  sketch  the  open  battle-field  is  seen,  on  which  Town- 
pend  was  checked  by  a  misapprehension:  and  in  the  distance,  the  chimney  of  a  house  destroyed  by  a  shell  sen* 
from  the  battery  from  which  this  view  was  taken. 
VOL.  I.—  33 


514 


HAMPTON   AND  VICINITY. 


pleasant  country,  with  fine-looking  houses  and  cultivated  fields,  that  seemed 
to  have  suffered  but  little  from  the  effects  of  war.  The  twilight  had  passed 
when  we  reached  the  Southwest  Branch,  and  the  remainder  of  the  journey 
we  traveled  in  the  light  of  an  unclouded  moon. 

We  spent  Tuesday  among  the  ruins  at  Hampton  and  vicinity,  and  in 
visiting  the  schools  and  hospitals,  and  making  sketches.     Among  these  was 


REMAINS    OF    THE    REDOUBT   AT    HAMPTON   BRIDGE.-1 


a  drawing  of  the  two-gun  redoubt  (erected,  as  we  have  observed,  by  order 
of  General  Butler,  at  the  eastern  end  of  Hampton  Bridge),  including  a  view 
of  the  desolated  town.  Near  the  bridge,  on  that  side  of  the  creek,  were  the 
summer  residences  of  several  wealthy  men,  then  occupied  for  public  uses. 
That  itk  which  Doctor  McClellan  resided  belonged  to  Mallory,  the  so-called 
"  Confederate  Secretary  of  the  Navy."  A  little  below  it  was  the  house  of 
Ex-President  Tyler ;  and  near  it  the  spacious  and  more  ancient  looking  man 
sion  of  Doctor  Woods,  who  was  then  with  the  enemies  of  the  Government, 
in  which  several  Quaker  women,  from  Philadelphia,  had  established  an 

Orphan's  Home  for  colored  children. 
Tyler's  residence  was  the  home  of 
several  of  the  teachers  of  the  children 
of  freedmen,  and  others  engaged  in 
benevolent  work. 

On  our  return  to  Fortress  Mon 
roe  in  the  evening,  we  received  orders 
to  go  on  board  the  Beti  Deford,  a 
stanch  ocean  steamer,  which  was  to 
be  General  Butler's  head-quarters  in 
the  expedition  about  to  depart.  At 
near  noon  the  following  day  we  left 
the  wharf,  passed  out  to  sea  with  a 
large  fleet  of  transports,  and  at  sun 
set  were  far  down  the  coast  of  North 
Carolina,  and  in  full  view  of  its  shores.  Our  military  company  consisted  of 
Generals  Butler,  Weitzel,  and  Graham,  and  their  respective  staff  officers,  and 
Colonel  (afterward  General)  Comstock,  General  Grant's  representative.  We 
were  the  only  civilians,  excepting  Mr.  Clarke,  editor  of  a  newspaper  at 
Norfolk.  A  record  of  the  events  of  that  expedition  will  be  found  in  another 
volume  of  this  work. 


JOHN  TYLER'S  SUMMER  RESIDENCE. 


i  In  this  view  the  new  Hampton  Bridge  and  the  remains  of  the  old  one  are  seen,  with  the  ruined  village 
beyond.     It  was  sketched  from  the  gallery  of  a  summer  boarding-house  near  the  bridge. 


INCIDENTS   AT   HAMPTON.  515 

After  the  battle  at  Big  Bethel,  nothing  of  great  importance  occurred  at 
Fortress  Monroe  and  its  vicinity  during  the  remainder  of  General  Butler's 
administration  of  the  affairs  of  that  department,  which  ended  on 

•  1861 

the  18th  of  August,"  excepting  the  burning  of  Hampton  on  the 
7th  of  that  month.  It  was  now  plainly  perceived  that  the  insurgents  were 
terribly  in  earnest,  and  that  a  fierce  struggle  was  at  hand.  It  was  evident 
that  their  strength  and  resources  had  been  underrated.  Before  any  advance 
toward  Richmond,  or,  indeed,  in  any  other  direction  from  Fortress  Monroe 
might  be  undertaken,  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of  the  troops  and  in  the 
quantity  of  munitions  of  war  would  be  necessary ;  and  all  that  General 
Butler  was  enabled  to  do,  in  the  absence  of  these,  was  to  hold  his  position  at 
Newport -Xewce  and  the  village  of  Hampton.  On  the  1st  of  July  that 
village  was  formally  taken  possession  of,  and  General  Peirce  was  placed  in 
command  of  the  camp  established  there.  Under  his  direction  a  line  of 
Entrenchments  was  thrown  up,  extending  from  Hampton  Creek  across  to  the 
marshes  of  Back  River,  a  part  of  which,  as  we  have  observed,  included  the 
old  church-yard  walls.  On  these  intrenchments  the  large  number  of  fugitive 
slaves  who  had  fled  to  the  Union  lines  were  employed.  Troops  from  the 
North  continued  to  arrive  in  small  numbers,  and  the  spacious  building  of  the 
"Chesapeake  Female  Seminary,"  stand 
ing  on  the  edge  of  the  water,  and  over 
looking  Hampton  Roads,  was  taken 
possession  of  and  used  as  a  hospital. 

Butler  began  to  have  hopes  of  suffi 
cient  strength  to  make  some  aggressive 
movements,  when  the  disastrous  battle 
at  Bull's  Run''  occurred,  and 
blasted  them.     The  General-     ij^'121' 
in-chief  drew  upon  him  for  so 
many  troops  for  the  defense  of  Wash 
ington,  that  he  was  compelled  to  reduce 
the  garrison  at  Xewport-Xewce,  and  to 
abandon  Hampton.     The  latter  move 
ment    greatly     alarmed     the    uCOlltra-  "CHESAPEAKE  FEMALE  SEMINARY." 
bands  "  there,  under  the  protection  of 

the  Union  flag ;  and  when  the  regiments  moved  over  Hampton  Bridge,  during 
a    bright    moonlit    evening,'    these     fugitives     followed  —  men, 
women,  and  children — carrying  with   them   all   of  their  earthly 
effects.     "It  was  a  most  interesting  sight,"  General  Butler  wrote  to   the 
Secretarv  of  War,  "to  see  these  poor  creatures,  who  trusted  to  the  protec 
tion  of  the   arms  of  the   United   States,  and   who   aided  the  troops  of  the 
United  States  in  their  enterprise,  thus  obliged  to  flee  from  their  homes,  and 
the  homes  ef  their  masters  who  had  deserted  them,  and  become  fugitives 
from  fear  of  the  return  of  the  rebel  soldiery,  who  had  threatened  to  shoot 
the  men  who  had  wrought  for  us,  and  to  carry  off  the  women      ,        8Q 
who  had  served  us  to  a  worse  than  Egyptian  bondage."     It  was 
in  this  letter d  that  General  Butler  asked  the  important  questions,  "  First, 
What  shall  be  done  with  these  fugitives  ?  and,  second,  What  is  their  state 


516 


THE   ELEVENTH   INDIANA   REGIMENT. 


and  condition  ?"      Then  followed  the  consent  of  the  Government  to  have 
them  considered  "contraband  of  war,"  already  noticed.1 

We  have  observed  that  the  loyal  people  of  the  country  were  greatly  dis 
appointed  and  mortified  by  the  affair  at  Great  Bethel.  That  disappointment 
and  chagrin  were  somewhat  relieved  by  a  victory  obtained  over  insurgent 
troops  at  Romney,  in  Hampshire  County,  Northwestern  Virginia,  achieved 
on  the  following  day  by  a  detachment  of  the  Eleventh  Indiana  (Zouaves), 

commanded  by  Colonel  Wallace,  whose  speedy 
organization  of  the  first  volunteer  regiments  of 
that  State  we  have  already  observed.2  That 
regiment,  in  material,  deportment,  drill,  and 
discipline,  was  considered  one  of  the  best  in 
the  State.  Its  colors  had  been  presented  by 
the  women  of  Indiana  with  imposing  ceremo 
nies,3  and  anticipations  concerning  its  serviced 
had  been  raised  which  were  never  disappointed.4 
It  expected  to  accompany  the  Indiana  and  Ohio 
troops  whom  General  McClellan  sent  to  West 
ern  Virginia,  but  was  ordered  instead  to  Evans- 
ville,  on  the  Ohio,  in  Southern  Indiana,  to  act 
as  a  police  force  in  preventing  supplies  and 
munitions  of  war  being  sent  to  the  South,  and 
to  protect  that  region  from  threatened  invasion. 
The  regiment  chafed  in  its  comparatively  inac 
tive  service,  with  an  earnest  desire  for  duty  in 
the  field,  and  it  was  delighted  by  an  order 
issued  on  the  6th  of  June,  by  the  General-in-chief,  to  "proceed  by  rail  to 
Cumberland,  Maryland,  and  report  to  Major-General  Patterson,"  then  moving 
from  Pennsylvania  toward  Harper's  Ferry,  where  the  insurgents  were  in 
strong  force  under  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston.  This  order  was  the  result 
of  the  urgent  importunities  of  Colonel  Wallace  and  his  friends,  to  allow  his 
fine  regiment  an  opportunity  for  active  duties.  During  the  few  weeks  it  had 
encamped  at  Evansville,  it  had  been  thoroughly  drilled  by  the  most  severe 
discipline. 

On  the  day  after  the  receipt  of  the  order,  Wallace  and  his  regiment  were 
passing  rapidly  through  Indiana  and  Ohio  by  railway,  and  were  everywhere 
greeted  by  the  most  hearty  demonstrations  of  good-will.  At  Grafton,  it 
received  ammunition ;  and  on  the  night  of  the  9th,  it  reached  the  vicinity  of 


ELEVENTH    INDIANA    REGIMENT. 


1  See  page  501.  2  See  page  456. 

3  The  presentation  of  colors  took  place  in  front  of  the  State  House  at  Indianapolis.     The  ladies  of  Terre 
Haute  presented  the  National  flag,  and  those  of  Indianapolis  the  regimental  flag.     Each  presentation  was  accom 
panied  by  an  address,  to  which  Colonel  Wallace  responded.     He  then  turned  to  his  men,  reminded  them  of  the 
unmerited  stain  which  Jefferson  Davis  had  cast  upon  the  military  fame  of  Indianians  in  connection  with  the 
battle  of  Buena  Vista,  and  exhorted   them  to  remember  that  vile  slander,  and  dedicate  themselves  specially  to 
its  revenge.    He  then  bade  them  kneel,  and,  with  uncovered  heads  and  uplifted  hands,  swear  "To  stand  by  their 
flag,  and  remember  Buena  Vista!"    They  did  so,  as  one  man.     It  was  a  most  impressive  scene.     The  whole 
affair  was  spontaneous  and  without  preconcert.     The  huzzas  of  the  vast  multitude  of  spectators  filled  the  air 
when  they  arose  from  their  knees;  and  "  Remember  Buena  Vista!"  became  the  motto  of  the  regiment. 

4  A  large  majority  of  the  members  of  this  regiment  became  officers  in  the  war  that  ensued ;  and  every  mem 
ber  of  the  Montgomery  Guard* — Wallace's  original  Zouave  Company,  who  accompanied  him  on  this  tour  of 
duty — received  a  commission.     These  commissions  rangL-d  from  that  of  second  lieutenant  to  major-general. 


EXPEDITION   TO   ROMNEY   PLANNED. 


517 


June, 
I860. 


Cumberland,"  where  it  remained,  near  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  until  the 
next  day.     Its  advent  astonished  all,  and  gave  pleasure  to  the 
Unionists,  for  there  was  an  insurgent  force  at  Romney,  onfy  a  day's 
march  south  from  Cumberland,  said  to  be  twelve  hundred  strong; 
while  at  Winchester  there  was  a  much  heavier  one.    General  Morris,  at  Grafton, 
had  warned  Wallace  of  the  proximity  of  these 
insurgents,  and   directed   him    to   be    watchful. 
Wallace  believed  that  the  best  security  for  his 
troops    and    the    safety  of   the  railway   was   to 
place  his  foes  on  the  defensive,  and  he  resolved 
to  attack  those  at  Romney  at  once.     lie  pro 
cured  two  trusty  guides  at  Piedmont,  from  whom 
he  learned  that  there  was  a  rude  and  perilous 
mountain  road,  but  little  traveled,  and  probably 
unguarded,    leading    from  New  Creek  Station, 
westward    of  Cumberland,  to    Romney,  a  dis 
tance  of  twenty-three  miles.     That  road  he  re 
solved  to  traverse  at  night,  and  surprise  the  in 
surgents,  before   he   should    pitch    a   tent    any 
where. 

For  the  purpose  of  dcceix  ing  the  secessionists  of  Cumberland,  Wallace 
went  about  on  the  10th  with  his  staff,  pretending  to^eek  for  a  good  place  to 
encamp,  but  found  none,  and  he  told  the  citizens  that  he  would  be  compelled 
to  go  back  a  few  miles  on  the  railway  to  a  suitable  spot.  All  that  day  his 
men  rested,  and  at  evening  the  train  took  them  to  New  Creek,  where  Wal- 


LEWIS    WALLACE. 


• 


ROMNEY    BATTLE-GKOUND.1 


lace  and  eight  hundred  of  his  command  left  the  cars,  and  pushed  on  toward 
Romney  in  the  darkness,  following  their  guides,  one  of  whom  wras  afterward 
caught  and  hanged  for  his  "  treason  to  the  Confederacy."  It  was  a  perilous 
and  most  fatiguing  march,  and  they  did  not  get  near  Romney  until  about 


J  In  this  view  are  seen  Romney  Bridire  and  the  brick  house  of  Mr.  Gibson,  between  which  and  the  bridge  the 
*.kirnmh  occurred.  Nearly  over  tlie  center  of  the  bridsre.  at  a  point  indicated  by  a  small  figure,  was  thft 
battery  of  the  insurgents,  and  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  beyond  is  seen  the  village  of  Romney. 


518  SKIRMISH   AT  ROMKEY   BRIDGE. 

eight  o'clock  in  the  morning."  In  a  narrow  pass,  half  a  mile  from  the  bridge 
which  there  spans  the  south  branch  of  the  Potomac,  the'advance- 
« June  11,  guar(j  was  fired  upon  by  mounted  pickets,  who  then  dashed  ahead 
and  alarmed  the  camp  of  the  insurgents,  on  a  bluff  near  the  village, 
where  they  had  planted  a  battery  of  field-pieces.  The  guard  followed, 
crossed  the  bridge  on  a  run,  and  drew  several  shots  from  a  large  brick 
dwelling-house  near  the  bank  of  the  stream,  which  was  used  as  a  sort  of 
citadel.  Wallace  immediately  led  a  second  company  across,  drove  the  foe 
from  the  house  to  the  shelter  of  the  mountains,  and  then  pushed  four  com 
panies,  in  skirmish  order,  directly  up  the  hill,  to  capture  the  battery.  This 
was  unexpected  to  the  insurgents,  who  supposed  the  assailants  would  follow 
the  winding  road,  and  they  fled  in  terror  to  the  forest,  accompanied  by  all 
the  women  and  children  of  the  village,  excepting  negroes,  who  seemed  to 
have  no  fear  of  the  invaders.  Having  no  cavalry  with  which  to  pursue  the 
fugitives,*  and  knowing  that  at  a  hundred  points  on  the  road  between  Rom- 
ney  and  New  Creek  a  small  force  might  ruin  or  rout  his  regiment,  Wallace 
at  once  retraced  his  steps,  and  returned  to  Cumberland.  In  the  space  of 
twenty-four  hours  he  and  his  men  had  traveled  eighty-seven  miles  without 
rest  (forty-six  of  them  on  foot),  engaged  in  a  brisk  skirmish,  and,  "  what  is 
more,"  said  the  gallant  Colonel  in  his  report,  "  my  men  are  ready  to  repeat 
it  to-morrow."1 

This  dash  on  the  insurgents  at  Romney  had  a  salutary  effect.  It  in 
spirited  the  loyal  people  in  that  region,  thrilled  the  whole  country  with  joy, 
and,  according  to  the  Richmond  newspapers,  so  alarmed  Johnston  by  its 
boldness,  and  its  menaces  of  his  line  of  communication  with  Richmond,  and 
Manassas  (for  he  believed  these  troops  to  be  the  advance  of  a  much  larger 
force),  that  he  forthwith  evacuated  Harper's  Ferry,  and  moved  up  the  Valley 
to  a  point  nearer  Winchester. 

1  Colonel  Wallace's  lleport  to  General  Patterson,  June  11,  1861. 


INSURGENTS  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY. 


519 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

THE   WAR   ON  TUE   POTOMAC   AND   IN   WESTERN   VIRGINIA. 


HE  fulfillment  of  the  prediction,  that  "  Poor  old  Virginia 
will  have  to  bear  the  brunt  of  battle,"1  had  now  com 
menced.  The  clash  of  arms  had  been  heard  and  felt 
within  her  borders.  The  expectations  of  her  con 
spirators  concerning  the  seizure  of  the  National  Capital 
had  been  disappointed ;  and  thousands  of  armed  men 
were  marching  from  all  parts  of  the  Free-labor  States, 
to  contend  for  nationality  upon  her  soil  with  herself 
and  her  allies  whom  she  had  invited  to  her  aid. 

Since  the  19th  of  April,  the  important  post  of  Harper's  Ferry,  on  the 
Upper  Potomac,  had  been  occupied  by  a  body  of  insurgents,5  composed 
chiefly  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  riflemen.  A  regiment  of  the  latter,  under 
Colonel  Blanton  Duncan,  took  position  on  .Maryland  Hights,  opposite  the 


STOCKADE    ON    MARYLAND 


1SG1. 


Ferry,  where  they  constructed  a  stockade  and 

established  a  fortified  cam]).     Early 

in  June,"  the   number  of  troops  at 

and  near  the  confluence  of  the  Potomac  and 

Shenandoah  Rivers  was  full  twelve  thousand, 

composed  of  infantry,  artillery,  and  cavalry. 

On  the  "23d  of  May,  Joseph  E.  Johnston 
took  the  command  of  the  insurgent  forces  at 
Harper's  Ferry  and  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  lie  was  a  veteran  soldier 
and  meritorious  officer,  having  the  rank  of  captain  of  Topographical 
Engineers  under  the  flag  of  his  country,  which  he  had  lately  abandoned. 
He  now  bore  the  commission  of  brigadier  in  the  service  of  the  conspirators, 
and  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  holding  Harpers  Ferry  (which  was  the 


KKNTITKY    KIPI.KMAN. 


1  See  page  344. 


a  See  pftgt-392. 


520 


UNION   TROOPS   ADVANCING. 


key  to  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  in  its  relation  to  the  Free-labor  States),  and 
opposing  the  advance  of  National  troops,  both  from  Northwestern  Virginia 
and  from  Pennsylvania,  by  whom  it  was  threatened.  Major-Gen eral 
McClellan  was  throwing  Indiana  and  Ohio  troops  into  that  portion  of  Vir 
ginia;  and  Major-General  Robert  Patterson,  a  veteran  of  two  wars,  then  at 
the  head  of  the  Department  of  Pennsylvania,1  was  rapidly  gathering  a  large 
force  of  volunteers  at  Chambersburg,  in  that  State,  under  General  W.  H. 
Keim.2 

General  Patterson  took  command  at  Chambersburg,  in  person,  on  the  3d 
of  June.  His  troops  consisted  mostly  of  Pennsylvania  militia,  who  had 
cheerfully  responded  to  the  call  of  the  President,  and  were  eager  for  duty  in 
the  field.  The  General  had  proposed  an  attack  on  the  insurgents  on  Mary 
land  Hights,'and  his  plan  was  approved  by  General  Scott.  He  was  about  to 

move  forward  for  the  purpose,  when  the  cautious 
General-in-chief  ordered  him"  to 
"isw4'  wa*t  f°r  re-enforcements.  These 
'June  8  were  soon  m  readiness  to  join  him, 
when  Scott  sent  Patterson  a  letter 
of  instruction,*  in  which  he  informed  him  what 
re-enforcements  had  been  sent,  and  that  he  was 
organizing,  for  a  diversion  in  his  favor,  "  a  small 
side  expedition,  under  Colonel  Stone,"  of 
about  two  thousand  five  hundred  men,  in 
cluding  cavalry  and  artillery,  who  would  take 
post  on  the  Potomac,  opposite  Leesburg,  and 
threaten  Johnston's  rear.  He  directed  Patter 
son  to  take  his  measures  with  circumspection. 
"We  must  sustain  no  reverses,"  he  said. 
"  But  this  is  not  enough,"  he  continued  ;  "  a 
check  or  a  drawn  battle  would  be  a  victory  to 
the  enemy,  filling  his  heart  with  joy,  his  ranks 
with  men,  and  his  magazines  with  voluntary 
contributions.  .  .  .  Attempt  nothing  without 

a  clear  prospect  of  success,  as  you  will  find  the  enemy  strongly  posted,  and 
not  inferior  to  you  in  numbers."3 

Patterson  advanced  from   Chambersburg  with  about  fifteen 
thousand  men.     Already  the  insurgents,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been 
smitten   at  Philippi,'    and,  just  as  this    movement    had  fairly   commenced, 

1  When  the  war  broke  out  there  were  only  two  military  departments,  named  respectively  the  Eastern  and 
the  Western.    By  a  general  order  issued  on  the  27th  of  April,  1861,  three  new  departments  were  created,  namely, 
the  Department  of  Washington,  Colonel  J.  K.  F.  Mansfield,  Commander;  the  Department  of  Annapolis,  Briga 
dier-General  B.  F.  Butler.  Commander;  and  the  Department  of  Pennsylvania,  Major-General  Robert  Patter- 
eon,  Commander. 

2  General  Patterson  comprehended  the  wants  of  the  Government,  and  while  the  National  Capital  was  cut 
off  from  communication  with  the  loyal  States,  he  took  the  responsibility  of  officially  requesting  [April  25,  1861] 
the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  to  direct  the  organization,  in  that  State,  of  twenty-five  regiments  of  volunteers, 
in  addition  to  the  sixteen  regiments  called  for  by  the  Secretary  of  War.     The  Governor  promptly  responded  to 
the  call,  but  the  Secretary  of  War,  even  when  the  term  of  the  three  months'  men  was  half  exhausted,  declined 
to  receive  any  more  regiments.     Fortunately  for  the  country,  Governor  Curtin  induced  the  Legislature  to  take 
the  twenty-five  regiments  into  the  service  of  that  State.    This  was  the  origin  of  that  fine  body  of  soldiers 
known  as  the  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  who  were  gladly  accepted  by  the  Secretary  of  War  after  the  disastrous 
battle  of  Bull's  Run,  and  who,  by  hastening  to  Washinston,  assisted  greatly  in  securing  the  National  Capital  from 
seizure  immediately  thereafter.       3  General  Scott's  Letter  of  Instruction  to  General  Patterson,  June  8,  1861. 


FIRST    PENNSYLVANIA   REGIMENT. 


June  .3. 


EVACUATION  OF  HARPER'S  FERRY. 


521 


BOLMAX  8    ROCK. 


the  blow  struck  by  Wallace  at  Romney"  had  filled  them  with  alarm.     John 

ston   clearly  perceived  that  he  could  not  safely  remain   at  Har-     .juneii, 

per's  Ferry,  and  he  took  the  responsibility  of  abandoning  that        186L 

post.     He   withdrew  his    troops   from    Maryland    Hights,6    and     *  June  13. 

blocked  up  the  railway  and  canal  near  the  Ferry,  by  casting  down  by  gun 

powder  blasts  immense  masses    of  stone   that 

overhung  them,  including  the  famous  Bolman's 

Rock,  which  always  attracted  the  attention  of 

tourists  and  of  travelers  on  that  road.     At  five 

o'clock  the  next  morning,   with  fire  and  gun 

powder,  he  destroyed  the  great  bridge  of  the 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway  Company  at  the 

Ferry,  a  thousand  feet  in  length,  and  much  other 

property  belonging  to  that  corporation  and  the 

National    Government.      Then    he    spiked    the 

heavy   guns    that    could    not    be    taken    away, 

burned  another  Potomac   bridge   a   few    miles 

above,  and,  on  the  loth,  marched  up  the  Valley 

toward  Winchester,  and  encamped  near  Charles. 

town.       On  that  day  Patterson,  who   had  re 

ceived    intimations    from    the    General-in-chief 

that    he   was    expected   to    cross    the   Potomac 

after  driving  Johnston  from  the  Ferry,  was  at  Hagerstown,  in  Maryland,  a 

few  miles  from  that  stream.     He  pushed  his  columns  forward,  and  on  the 

following  day  (Sunday)  and  the  next/  about  nine  thousand  of  his 

troops  crossed  the  river,  by  fording,  at  Williamsport,  twenty-six 

miles  above  Johnston's  late  encampment.     These  troops  consisted 

of  two  brigades  (the  First  and  Fourth),  led  by  Brigadier-General  George  Cad- 

walader,  at  the  head  of  five  companies  of  cavalry.      The  Potomac  had  been 

slightly  swollen  b'y  recent  rains,  and  the  foot-soldiers  were  often  breast-deep 

in   the   flood.     Eye-witnesses   described  the  scene  as  most  exciting.      The 

soldiers  took  to  the  water  in  high  glee,  singing  popular  songs,  in  the  chorus 

of  which  the  voices  of  whole  regiments  were  heard.1 

While  this  movement  was  going  on,  General  Patterson  received  from 
General  Scott''  three  dispatches  by  telegraph  in  quick  succession, 
which  surprised  and  embarrassed  him.  The  first  inquired  what 
movement  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives  from  Harper's  Ferry  he  contemplated, 
and  if  none  (and  he  recommended  none),  then  "send  to  me,"  he  said,  "at 
once,  all  the  regular  troops,  horse  and  foot,  with  you,  and  the  Rhode  Island 
[Burnside's]  Regiment."  Patterson  replied,  that  on  that  day  and  the  next, 
nine  thousand  of  his  troops  would  be  on  the  Virginia  «ide  of  the  Potomac, 
there  to  await  transportation,  and  to  be  sent  forward  toward  Winchester  in 
detachments,  well  sustained,  as  soon  as  possible.  He  requested  that  the 
Regulars  might  remain  ;  and  he  expressed  a  desire  to  make  Harper's  Ferry 
his  base  of  operations  ;  to  open  and  maintain  a  free  communication  along  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway  ;  to  hold,  at  Harper's  Ferry,  Martinsburg,  and 


1  The  favorite  song  among  the  soldiers  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  was  one  entitled,  John  Brown's  Soul 
^lurching  on  ! 


522  TEMPORARY   INVASION   OF   VIRGINIA. 

Charlestown  a  strong  force,  gradually  and  securely  advancing  a  portion  of 
them  toward  Winchester,  and  with  a  column  from  that  point,  operate  toward 
Woodstock,  thus  cutting  off  all  the  communication  of  the  insurgents  with 

Northwestern  Virginia,  and  force  them  to 
retire  and  leave  that  region  in  the  pos 
session  of  the  loyal  people.  By  that 
means  he  expected  to  keep  open  a  free 
communication  with  the  great  West,  by 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway.  The 
General-in-chief  disapproved  the  plan  ; 
repeated  the  order  to  send  to  Washing 
ton  the  designated  troops ;  told  Patter 
son  that  McClellan  had  been  ordered  to 
send  nothing  across  the  mountains  to 
support  him,  and  directed  him  to  remain 
where  he  was  until  he  could  satisfy  his 
Chief  that  he  ought  to  go  forward. 
ROBERT  PATTERSON.  This  was  followed  by  another,  saying : 

"  You  tell  me  you  arrived  last  night  at 

Hagerstown,  and  McClellan  writes  that  you  are  checked  at  Harper's  Ferry. 
Where  are  you  ?"    Early  the  next  morning"  the  Chief  telegraphed 
again,  saying : — "  We  are  pressed  here.     Send  the  troops  I  have 
twice  called  for,  without  delay." 

This  order  was  imperative,  and  was  instantly  obeyed.  The  troops  were 
sent,  and  Patterson  was  left  without  a  single  piece  of  available  artillery,  with 
only  one  troop  of  raw  cavalry,  and  a  total  force  of  not  more  than  ten  thou 
sand  men,  the  most  of  them  undisciplined.  A  larger  portion  of  them  were 
on  the  Virginia  side  of  the  Potomac,  exposed  to  much  peril.  Cadwalader 
had  marched  down  toward  Harper's  Ferry  as  far  as  Falling  Waters,  to  cover 
the  fords  ;  and  Johnston,  with  full  fifteen  thousand  well-drilled  troops,  inclu 
ding  a  considerable  force  of  cavalry  and  twenty  cannon,  was  lying  only  a  few 
miles  off.1  Patterson  had  only  the  alternative  of  exposing  the  greater  part 
of  his  army  to  destruction,  or  to  recall  them.  He  chose  the  latter,  mortifying 
as  it  was,  and  they  re-crossed  the  river  at  Williamsport,  with  the  loss  of  only 
one  man.  Patterson  was  severely  censured  by  the  public,  who  did  not  know 
the  circumstances,  fo*r  not  pushing  on  against  the  insurgents ;  but  the  wel 
fare  of  the  cause  compelled  him  to  keep  silence  and  bear  the  blame.2 

At  that  time  there  was  an  indescribable  state  of  feverish  anxiety  in  Wash 
ington  City.  It  was  shared  by  the  Government  and  the  General-in-chief. 
Exaggerated  accounts  of  immense  forces  of  insurgents  at  Manassas  were  con 
tinually  reaching  the  Capital.  It  was  known  that  General  Beauregard,  whose 
success  at  Charleston  had  made  him  famous,  had  been  placed  in  command  of 
the  troops  at  Manassas  at  the  beginning  of  June  ;  and  there  was  a  general 

1  Report  of  the,  Joint  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  ii.  78,  79,  and  SO.     Narrative  of  the  Cam 
paign  in  the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah:  by  Major-General  Robert  Patterson. 

2  John  Sherman,  a  representative  of  Ohio  in  Congress,  was  on  General  Patterson's  staff  at  that  time.    On  the 
30th  of  June,  he  wrote  to  the  General  from  Washington,  saying: — "Great  injustice  is  done  you  and  your  com 
mand  here,  and  by  persons  in  the  highest  military  positions.     I  Lave  been  asked,  over  and  over  again,  why  you 
did  not  push  on  to  Martinsburg,  Harper's  Ferry,  and  Winchester.    I  have  been  restrained,  by  my  being  on  your 
staff,  from  saying  more  than  simply  that  you  had  executed  your  orders,  and  that,  when  you  were  prepared  to  ad 
vance,  your  best  troops  were  recalled  to  Washington." 


SCHEMES   FOR   OVERTURNING  THE   GOVERNMENT.  523 

belief  that,  under  instructions  from  Davis,  he  would  attempt  the  seizure  of 
Washington  City  before  Congress  should  meet  there,  on  the  4th  of  July.1  It 
was  well  known  that  the  secessionists,  then  swarming  in  the  Capital,  were  in 
continual  communication  with  Beauregard,  and  it  was  believed  that  they 
were  ready  to  act  in  concert  with  him  in  any  scheme  for  overturning  the 
Government.  The  consequence  was,  that  credence  was  given  to  the  wildest 
rumors,  and  the  Government  and  the  General-in-chief  were  frequently  much 
alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  Capital.  It  was  during  one  of  these  paroxysms 
of  doubt  and  dread  that  General  Scott  was  constrained  to  telegraph  to  Pat 
terson  : — "  We  are  pressed  here.  Send  the  troops  I  have  twice  called  for, 
without  delay." 

The  danger  was,  indeed,  imminent.  It  is  now  known  that,  at  about  that 
time,  a  proposition  was  made  to  L.  P.  Walker,  the  so-called  Secretary  of  War 
of  the  conspirators,  to  blow  up  the  National  Capitol  with  gunpowder,  some 
time  between  the  4th  and  6th  of  July,  at  a  time  when  both  Houses  of  Con 
gress  should  be  in  session  therein,  and  when  Mr.  Lincoln,  it  was  hoped,  would 
be  present.  This  infernal  proposition  to  murder  several  hundred  men  and 
women  (for  on  such  occasions  the  galleries  of  the  halls  of  Congress  were 
generally  filled  with  spectators  of  both  sexes)  so  pleased  the  conspirators, 
that  directions  were  given  for  a  conference  between  the  assassin  and  Judah 
P.  Benjamin,  the  so-called  Attorney-General  of  the  "Confederacy."8  Thus 
early  in  the  conflict,  the  plotters  against  their  Government  were  ready  to 
employ  agencies  in  their  wicked  work  such  as  none  but  the  most  depraved 
criminals  would  use.  The  records  of  the  war  show  that  Jefferson  Davis,  and 
his  immediate  accomplices  in  the  Great  Crime  of  the  Ages,  were  participants 
in  plans  and  deeds  of  wickedness  which  every  right-minded  man  and  woman 
who  was  misled  into  an  adhesion  to  their  cause  should  be  eager  to  disavow, 
and,  by  genuine  loyalty  to  their  beneficent  Government,  to  atone  for. 

General  Patterson  was  compelled  to  remain  on  the  Maryland  side  of  the 
Potomac  until  the  beginning  of  July.  In  the  mean  time  the  General-in-chief 
had  asked  him"  to  propose  to  him  a  plan  of  operations,  without 
delay.  He  did  so.  lie  proposed  to  fortify  Maryland  lights,  and 
occupy  them  with  about  two  thousand  troops,  provisioned  for 
twenty  days ;  to  remove  all  of  his  supplies  to  Frederick,  and  threaten  with 
a  force  to  open  a  route  through  HarperVj  Ferry  ;  and  to  send  all  available 
forces  to  cross  the  Potomac  near  the  Point  of  Rocks,  and,  uniting  with 
Colonel  Stone  at  Leesburg,  be  in  a  position  to  operate  against  the  foe  in  the 
Shenandoah  Valley,  or  to  aid  General  McDowell  when  he  should  make  his 
proposed  march,  with  the  main  army  near  Washington,  on  the  insurgents  at 
Manass:is.  This  would  have  placed  him  in  a  better  position  to  prevent 
Johnston,  at  Winchester,  from  joining  Beauregard  at  Manassas,  than  if  sta 
tioned  between  Williamsport  and  Winchester.  These  suggestions  were  not 
heeded  ;  and  a  few  days  afterward,  while  Patterson  was  begging  earnestly 
for  cannon  and  transportation,  to  eni-ble  him  to  well  guard  the  fords  of  the 
river,  and  take  position  on  the  Virginia  side,  he  received  a  dispatch  &  ^  ^ 
from  the  General-in-chief,6  directing  him  to  remain  k*  in  front  of 
the  enemy,  between  Winchester  and  the  Potomac,"  and  if  his  (Patterson's) 


. Tune  20, 
1861. 


>  See  the  Proclamation  of  the  President,  April  15,  1S61,  on  page  336.  *  3  See  note  1.  page  '232. 


524 


BATTLE   AT   FALLING  WATERS. 


1861. 


force  was   "superior   or    equal"   to  that  of  Johnston,  he  might  "  cross  and 
offer  him  battle."     The  conditions  would  not  warrant  a  movement  then,  and 
the  disabilities  were  laid  before  the  Chief.     Two  days  afterward,0 
a  J"s6i27'     Scott  telegraphed  to  Patterson  that  he  expected  he  was  "  cross 
ing  the  river  that  day  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy." 

Patterson  was  eager  to  advance,  notwithstanding  his  foe  was  greatly  his 
superior  in  numbers  and  equipment ;  and  when,  on  the  29th,* 
harness  for  artillery  horses  arrived,  he  made  instant  preparations 
to  go  forward.1  A  reconnoissance  in  force  was  made  on  the  1st  of  July,' 
and  on  the  2d  the  whole  army  crossed  the  Potomac,  at  the 
Williamsport  Ford,  and  took  the  road  toward  Martinsburg, 
nineteen  miles  northwest  of  Harper's  Ferry.  Near  Falling  •  Waters,  five 
miles  from  the  ford,  the  advance-guard,  under  Colonel  John  J.  Abercrombie, 
which  had  crossed  the  river  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  fell  in  with 
Johnston's  advance,  consisting  of  about  three  thousand  five  hundred  infantry, 
with  cannon  (Pendleton's  battery  of  field  artillery),  and  a  large  force  of 
cavalry,  under  Colonel  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  the  whole  under  the  command  of 
the  heroic  leader  afterward  known  as  "  Stonewall "  Jackson.  Abercrombie 

immediately  deployed  his  regiments  (First 
Wisconsin  and  Eleventh  Pennsylvania)  on 
each  side  of  the  road ;  placed  Hudson's 
section  of  Perkins's  battery,  supported  by 
the  First  Troop  Philadelphia  City  Cavalry, 
in  the  highway,  and  advanced  to  the  attack, 
in  the  face  of  a  warm  fire  of  musketry  and 
artillery.  A  severe  contest  ensued,  in  which 
McMullen's  Philadelphia  company  of  Inde 
pendent  Rangers  participated.  It  lasted 
less  than  half  an  hour,  when  Lieutenant 
Hudson's  cannon  had  silenced  those  of  the 
insurgents,  and  Colonel  George  H.  Thomas's 
brigade  was  coming  up  to  the  support  of 
Abercrombie.  Perceiving  this,  Jackson 
fled,  hotly  pursued  about  five  miles,  to -the 

hamlet  of  Hainesville,  where  the  chase  was  abandoned.  Having  been  re- 
enforced  by  the  arrival  of  General  Bee  and  Colonel  Elzy,  and  the  Ninth 
Georgia  Regiment,  Johnston  had  sent  a  heavy  force  out  to  the  support  of 
Jackson,  and  the  Unionists  thought  it  prudent  not  to  pursue  further. 
Jackson  halted  and  encamped  at  Bunker's  Hill,  on  the  road  between  Mar 
tinsburg  and  Winchester.  The  skirmish  (which  is  known  as  the  Battle  of 
Falling  Waters)  and  the  chase  occupied  about  two  hours.  It  was  a  brilliant 
little  affair,  for  the  insurgents  considerably  outnumbered  the  Union  troops, 
and  were  sheltered  by  a  wood  in  a  chosen  position  ;  but  by  greater  opera 
tions,  that  soon  followed,  it  was  almost  totally  obscured. 

On   the   following   day/    General   Patterson    and   his   army 
entered    Martinsburg,    where   he    was    joined    on    the    8th   by   the    Nine- 


THOMAS  j.  ("STONEWALL")  JACKSON. 


'  July  3. 


1  On  that  day  a  party  of  insurgents  dashed  into  Harper's  Ferry  village,  drove  out  the  Union  men  there, 
destroyed  whaj  was  left  of  the  railroad  bridge  and  trestle-work  in  front  of  the  army,  and  crossed  the  river  and 
broke  up  or  carried  away  all  the  boats  they  could  find  there. 


UNION    TROOPS    AT    MARTIXSBURG. 


525 


•ATTERSON'S  QUARTERS  AT'MARTINSBCBG. 


teenth  and  Twenty-eighth  New  York  Regiments,  under  Colonel  Stone,  and 
on  the  following  day  by  the  Fifth  and  Twelfth  Xew  York  Regiments,  under 
General  Sandford.     Thus  strengthened,  Patterson  immediately  issued  orders 
for  an  advance  on  Winchester,  when  it  was  found  that  the  troops  of  «Stone 
were  too  weary  and   footsore   to  be  of  efficient  service.      The 
order  was  countermanded,  and  on  the  following  morning"  Patter-      "  ^  9' 
son  held  a  council  of  officers  at  his  quarters,  a  small  house  in  the 
village,  when  he  was  advised  not  to  advance  at  the  present.1     The  wisdom, 
of  that    advice    will   be    apparent   here 
after.      Patterson    acted   in    accordance 
with  it,  and  remained  almost  a  fortnight 
at    Martinsburg,   waiting  for  re-enforce 
ment,  jHpplies,  and  means  for  transporta 
tion. 

While  these  movements  were  in  pro 
gress  in  the  vicinity  of  Harper's  Ferry, 
others  equally  important  were  occurring 
elsewhere,  and  at  points  far  distant  from 
each  other.  In  Missouri,  the  fires  of 
civil  war  were  blazing  out ;  and  in  West 
ern  Virginia  the  opposing  forces  were 
carrying  on  quite  an  active  campaign. 
Nearer  Washington  City  blood  began  to 
flow.  From  their  grand  encampment  at 
Manassns  Junction  the  insurgents  were  continually  sending  out  reconnoiter- 
ing  parties,  all  having  reference  to  the  seizure  of  the  Capital.  These  were 
frequently  seen  along  the  line  of  the  Potomac  from  Leesburg  to  the  Chain 
Bridge,  within  five  or  six  miles  of  Washington  City;  while  others  were 
establishing  batteries  below  Alexandria  for  the  blockade  of  tho  river. 

At  the  middle  of  June  the  insurgents  were  hovering  along  the  line  of  the 
railway  between  Alexandria  and  Leesburg,  and  on  the  16th  they  fired  upon 
a  train  of  cars  on  that  road,  at  the  little  village  of  Vienna,  fifteen  miles  from 
Alexandria.  General  McDowell  immediately  ordered  the  First  Ohio  Regi 
ment,  Colonel  A.  McD.  McCook,  to  picket  and  guard  the  road.  These  troops 
left  their  encampment  near  Alexandria  on  the  17th,  accompanied  by  Briga 
dier-General  Robert  C.  Schenck,  and  proceeded  cautiously  in  cars  and  on 
trucks  in  the  direction  of  Vienna.  Detachments  were  left  at  different  points 
aloni^  the  road,  one  of  which  was  the  village  of  Falls  Church,  which  became 
a  famous  locality  during  the  earlier  years  of  the  war.  When  the  train  ap 
proached  Vienna,  only  four  companies,  comprising  less  than  three  hundred 
men,  were  on  the  train,  and  these  were  on  open  platforms  or  trucks. 

In  the  mean  time  a  detachment  of  Beauregard's  army  was  waiting  for 
them  in  ambush.  These  consisted  of  six  hundred  South  Carolina  infantry,  a 
company  of  artillery,  and  two  companies  of  cavalry,  under  Colonel  Maxcy 
Gresjg.5  They  had  been  on  a  reconnoissance  up  the  Potomac  region  as  far 

1  Keport  of  General  Patterton  to  Lieutenant-General  Scott.     Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of 
the  War.  volume  ii. 

2  Ore srjr  was  a  leading  member  of  the  South  Carolina  Secession  Convention  (see  pages  103  and  107).     lie 
entered  the  army,  was  promoted  to  brigadier-general,  elected  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  and  was  killed  at 
Fredericksburg.     Fort  Gregg,  on  Morris  Island,  near  Charleston,  was  named  in  his  honor. 


526 


A   SKIRMISH   AT   VIENNA. 


as  Dranesville,  and,  having  come  down  to  Vienna,  had  just  torn  up  some  of 
the  railway  and  destroyed  a  water-tank,  and  were  departing,  when  they 
heard  the  whistle  of  a  locomotive  engine  below  the  village.  They  hastened 
to  the  curve  of  the  railway,  in  a  deep  Cut  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  village, 
and  there  planted  two  cannon  so  as  to  sweep  the  road,  and  masked  them. 

Unsuspicious  of  danger,  McCook  and  his  men  entered  the  deep  cut. 
Contrary  to  orders,  the  engineer  had  run  up  to  that  point  quite  rapidly,  and 
there  had  been  no  opportunity  for  reconnoitering.  The  engine  was  behind 
the  train,  and  was  pushing  it  up.  When  the  whole  train  was  fairly  exposed 
to  the  masked  cannon,  they  opened  fire,  and  swept  it  from  front  to  rear  with 
grape  and  canister  shot.  Fortunately,  the 
shot  went  high,  and  most  of  the  soldiers 
were  sitting.  The  frightened  engineer, 
instead  of  drawing  the  whole  train  out  of 
the  peril,  uncoupled  the  engine  and  one 
passenger-car,  and  fled  with  all  possible 
speed  toward  Alexandria.  The  troops 
leaped  from  the  train,  fell  back  along  the 
railway,  and  rallied  in  a  grove  near  by, 
where  they  maintained  so  bold  a  front, 
under  a  shower  of  shell  and  other  missiles, 
that  the  assailants  believed  them  to  be  the 
advance  of  a  heavier  force  near.  With 
that  belief  they  soon  retired,  and  hastened 
to  Fairfax  Court  House,  leaving  the  hand 
ful  of  Ohio  troops,  whom  they  might  have  captured  with  ease,  to  make  their 
way  leisurely  back,  carrying  their  dead  and  wounded  companions  on  litters 
and  in  blankets.  The  Union  loss  was  five  killed,  six 
wounded,  and  thirteen  missing.1  That  of  the  insur* 
gents  is  unknown.  The  latter  destroyed  the  portion 
of  the  train  that  was  left  in  the  deep  cut,  and  captured 
a  quantity  of  stores.  When  they  ascertained  that 
the  National  troops  were  not  in  force  in  that  vicinity, 
they  returned  and  took  possession  of  Vienna  and 
Falls  Church  Village.  On  that  occasion,  the  flag  of 
^^B  the  "  Sovereign  State  of  South  Carolina  "2  was  dis- 
^  played,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  presence  of  National 

troops  out  of  that  State. 
"We  have  observed  that  the  insurgents  were  endeavoring  to  blockade  the 
Potomac.  Ten  days  after  the  affair  at  Vienna,  there  were  some  stirring 
scenes  connected  with  that  blockade  at  Matthias  Point,  a  bold  promontory 
in  King  George's  County,  Virginia,  jutting  out  into  the  river,  and  giving  it 
a  short  sharp  turn.  That  point  was  covered  with  woods,  and  there  the  insur 
gents  commenced  erecting  a  battery  which  might  completely  destroy  the 


RO15KRT    C.    SCHENCK. 


SOUTH    CAROLINA    FLAG. 


1  Report  of  General  Schenck  to  Lieutenant-General  Scott.      Correspondence  of  the  Louisville  Courier, 
June  29,  and  New  York  Tribune,  June  20. 

2  The  Hag  was  composed  of  blue  silk,  with  a  golden  Palmetto-tree  on  a  white  oval  center-piece,  and  a  silver 
crescent  in  the  left  upper  corner.     Partly  surrounding  the  white  oval  were  the  words  of  the  motto  of  the  Stater 
— "  ANIMIS  OPIBUSQUE  PARATI."    See  picture  of  the  Seal  of  South  Carolina,  on  page  105. 


INSURGENTS    AT   MATTHIAS   POINT. 


527 


water  communication   with  the  Capital.      Captain  Ward,  of  the  Potomac 
flotilla,  was  with  the  Freeborn,  his  flagship,  below  this  point,  when  informa 
tion  of  the  presence  of  an  insurgent  force  on  the  promontory  reached  him. 
He    determined    to 
drive  them,  off,  and 
on  the  evening  of 
the      -jr.th 

•   .    •- 


1S61. 


FALLS    CHrKCH    IX    1S65.1 


of   June," 

he  requested  Com 
mander  Rowan,  of 
the  PtnrtM,  then 
lying  near  Acquia 
Creek,  to  send  to 
him,  during  the 
night,  two  boat 
loads  of  marines, 
well  equipped,  with 
a  competent  leader. 
They  were  accord 
ingly  sent  in  charge 
of  Lieutenant  Chap 
lin.  Ward's  plan 
was  to  land,  drive 
off  the  insurgents, 

and  denude  the  Point  of  trees,  so  that  there  might  be  no  shelter  for  the  ag 
gressors  from  the  observation  of  cruisers  on  the  river. 

On  the  morning  of  the  27th,*  the    FMtnrtt,  with  the  boats  from   the 
J'atrtu-t^  went  up  to  Matthias  Point,  when  the  former  commenced 
firing  shot  and  shell  into  the  woods.     Under  cover  of  this  fire, 
Lieutenant  Chaplin  and  his  party,  with  others  from  the  Fmbont, 
landed  at  about  ten  o'clock.    Captain  Ward  accompanied  them.    Skirmishers 
were  thrown  out,  and  these  soon  encountered  the  pickets  of  the  insurgents, 
who  fired  and  fled.     Just  then  a  body  of  four  or  five  hundred  of  the  foe  were 
seen  coming  over  a  hill.     Ward  hastened  back  to  the  Freeborn,  to  renew  the 
shelling,  while  Chaplin  and  his  men  took  to  their  boats.     The  insurgents  were 
checked,    and,   in    the    course    of  fifteen  minutes,    Chaplin    was    agnin    or 
dered  to    land,   and    to    throw    up  a  breastwork  of   sand-bags.      This  was 
nearly  ready  for  the  guns  that  were  to  be  sent  ashore  to  arm  them  when  a 
signal   was   given  for  him  to  retire,  for  the  insurgents  were  too  many  for 
them.     Before  the  men  could  reach  their  boats,  the  foe  fired  upon  them  with 
muskets.     They  safely  embarked.     Chaplin  was  the  last  to  leave.     The  boats 


1  This  is  a  view  of  the  ancient  church  which  fives  the  name  to  the  village,  mentioned  on  page  526,  as  it 
appeared  when  the  writer  visited  and  sketched  it,  at  the  close  of  April,  1S65.  The  church  is  a  cotc-mporary  with 
Pohiek  Church,  near  Mount  Vernon,  built  before  the  Revolution,  of  brick,  and  in  a  style  similar  to  the  latter.  It 
is  about  eight  miles  north  of  Alexandria,  and  the  same  distance  west  of  Washington  City.  The  village  that  has 
prown  up  around  the  church  was  built  chiefly  by  Massachusetts  people  who  had  settled  there,  but  the  congre 
gation  of  this  church  (Episcopalians)  were  chiefly  native  Virginians,  and  were  nearly  all  secessionists.  Their 
rector,  a  secessionist,  afraid  to  pray  for  the  President  of  the  I'nited  Suites  or  for  Jefferson  Davis,  when  the  war 
broke  out,  took  the  safe  course  of  praying  for  the  Governor  of  Virginia.  The  church  is  now  (1S65)  a  ruin,  made 
*o  by  the  National  troops,  who  took  out  all  of  its  wood-work  for  timber  and  fuel,  and  had  commenced  taking 
the  brick  walls  for  chimneys  to  huts.  The  latter  depredation  was  immediately  checked. 


528 


DEATH   OF  CAPTAIN  WARD. 


had  drifted  away.  Unwilling  to  call  the  men  back  to  an  exposed  position, 
the  Lieutenant  swam  out  to  the  nearest  one,  carrying  on  his  back  a  soldier 
(and  his  musket)  who  could  not  swim. 

Only  one  man  of  the  party  who  landed  was  injured ;  but  a  sad  event 

occurred  on  the  deck  of  the  Freeborn. 
The  gunner  was  wounded  in  the  thigh, 
when  Captain  Ward  took  charge  of  the 
piece.  While  sighting  it,  a  well-aimed 
Minie  ball  came  from  the  shore  and 
mortally  wounded  him  by  entering  the 
abdomen.  As  he  fell  he  was  caught  by 
one  arm  of  Harry  Churchill,  the  boat 
swain's  mate,  who  used  his  other  hand 
with  the  string  to  fire  the  well-aimed  can 
non,  whose  round  shot  struck  plump 
among  the  insurgents.  Ward  lived  only 
forty-five  minutes.  The  ball  had  passed 
through  the  intestines  and  liver.  His 
was  the  only  life  sacrificed  on  the  occa 
sion,  on  the  Union  side.1 

This  attack  on  the  works  of  the  insurgents  on  Matthias  Point,  and  those 
on  the  batteries  at  SewelPs  and  Pig  Point,  and  at  Acquia  Creek,  convinced 
the  Government  that  little  could  be  done  by  armed  vessels,  without  an 
accompanying  land  force,  competent  to  meet  the  foe  in  fair  battle. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring  in  the  region  of  the  Potomac,  others 
equally  stirring  and  important  were  occurring  in  Northwestern 
Virginia.  For  a  month  after  the  dash  on  Romney,"  Colonel  Wal 
lace  and  his  regiment  were  placed  in  an  important  and  perilous 
position  at  Cumberland,  in  Western  Maryland.  When  the  insurgents  recov 
ered  from  the  panic  produced  by  that  dash,  which  made  them  flee  sixteen 
miles  without  halting,  and  found  that  Wallace  had  fallen  back  to  Cum 
berland,  they  took  heart,  advanced  to  Romney,  four  thousand  strong,  under 
Colonel  McDonald — infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery — and,  pushing  on  to  New 


JAMES   IIARMAN    WARD. 


1  Captain  Ward  was  the  first  naval  officer  who  was  killed  in  the  war.  His  body  was  taken  to  the  Washing 
ton  Navy  Yard,  and  thence  to  New  York,  where,  on  the  deck  of  the  North  Carolina,  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy 
Yard,  it  lay  in  state,  and  was  visited  by  many  persons.  It  was  then  conveyed  to  Hartford,  where  funeral 
services  were  performed  by  the  Eoman  Catholic  Bishop  of  that  diocese,  in  the  Cathedral.  It  was  buried  with 
imposing  ceremonies. 

The  Pawnee  became  so  obnoxious  to  the  insurgents  that  they  devised  many  schemes  for  her  destruction. 
Among  other  contrivances  was  a  torpedo,  or  floating  mine,  delineated 
in  the  accompanying  sketch.  It  was  picked  up  in  the  Potomac,  a  few 
yards  from  the  Pawnee,  on  the  evening  of  the  7th  of  Juh%  1S61.  The 
following  is  a  description : — 1, 1,  Oil-casks,  serving  for  buoys.  2,  2, 
Iron  tubes,  four  feot  six  inches  long,  and  eighteen  inches  in  diameter, 
charged  with  gunpowder.  3,  A.  3-inch  rope,  with  large  pieces  of 
cork  two  feet  apart.  4.  4,  Boxes  on  top  of  casks  with  fusees.  5,  5, 
Gutta-percha  tubing  connected  with  capped  tubes.  6,  6,  Brass  tops  on 
the  torpedoes.  7,  7,  Copper  tubes  running  through  the  casks.  8, 
Wooden  platform  in  center  of  cask,  on  which  the  fusee  was  coiled  and 
secured.  9,  Fusee.  This  infernal  machine  was  to  be  set  afloat  with 
the  tide  in  the  direction  of  the  vessel  to  be  destroyed,  after  the  fusee  TORPEDO 

or  slow  match  was  lighted.    This  was  the  beginning  of  the  use  of  tor- 

'pedoes,  which  the  insurgents  employed  very  extensively  during  the  war.     Others  will  be  hereafter  delineated 
and  described. 


EVENTS   IN   THE   VICINITY   OF  CUMBERLAND.  529 

Creek,  destroyed  the  bridge  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway  at  that  place. 
Then  they  passed  on  to  Piedmont,  five  miles  farther  westward,  where  they 
cut  the  telegraph-wires,  and  destroyed  all  communication  between  Cumber 
land  and  G ration.  Fortunately,  the  advance  of  the  insurgents  upon  Piedmont 
was  known  in  time  to  send  all  the  rolling  stock  of  the  railway  there  to  Graf- 
ton,  and  save  it  from  seizure. 

Wallace  was  now  completely  isolated,  and  expected  an  immediate  attack 
upon  his  camp  at  Cumberland.  He  had  no  cannon,  no  cavalry,  and  very 
little  ammunition.  For  twenty-one  days  his  men  had  only  ten  rounds  of 
cartridges  apiece.  lie  could  not  hold  Cumberland  against  the  overwhelming 
force  of  the  insurgents,  so  he  prepared  for  a  retreat,  if  necessary,  to  Bed 
ford,  in  Pennsylvania.  He  sent  his  sick  and  baggage  in  that  direction,  and 
after  advising  the  Union  people  in  Cumberland  to  keep  within  their  houses, 
he  led  his  regiment  out  upon  the  same  road,  to  the  dismay  of  the  loyal 
inhabitants  and  the  chagrin  of  his  men,  who  did  not  comprehend  his  design. 
It  was  soon  made  apparent.  He  halted,  changed  front,  and  prepared  for 
battle.  Believing  that  when  the  insurgents  should  enter  Cumberland  they 
would  scatter  in  search  of  plunder,  he  prepared  to  rush  in,  attack  them  in 
the  streets,  and  defeat  them  in  detail. 

When  the  insurgents  under  McDonald  reached  Frostburg,  only  six 
miles  from  Cumberland,  they  were  informed  of  Wallace's  bold  stand,  and 
ventured  no  farther,  but  remained  at  that  place  until  evening,  when  they 
turned  southward  and  hastened  to  Roniney.  Wallace  returned  to  Cumber 
land,  and  was  joyfully  received.  He  appealed  to  both  Morris  and  McClellan 
at  Graft  on,  and  to  Patterson  at  Hagerstovvn,  for  re-enforcements  and  supplies, 
but  neither  of  them  had  any  to  spare.  There  was  danger  at  all  points  and 
weakness  at  all  points.  Only  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  could  afford 
relief.  lie  sent  Wallace  some  ammunition,  and  ordered  two  regiments  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Reserves,1  under  Colonel  Charles  J.  Biddle,  with  a  field-bat 
tery  under  Captain  Campbell,  to  take  post  on  the  frontier  of  Maryland,  but 
not  to  step  over  the  line  unless  the  Indianians  should  be  attacked.2  That  fron 
tier  line  was  only  five  or  six  miles  from  Cumberland. 

During  that  month  of  peril,  while  the  Indiana  regiment  was  engaged  in 
independent  duty,  and  successfully  guarding  the  railway  for  about  a  hundred 
miles  each  way  from  Cumberland,  it  was  subjected  to  the  most  trying  and 
exhausting  services.  Wallace  succeeded  in  impressing  thirteen  horses  into 
his  service,  and  on  these  scouts  were  mounted,  whose  performances,  night 
and  day,  crowded  that  month's  history  of  the  Zouaves  with  the  most  exciting 
events.  The  insurgents  felt  a  wholesome  dread  of  these  Zouaves ;  and  their 
appearance  created  many  a  sudden  flight  of  a  much  superior  force.  The 
foot-soldiers  of  the  Eleventh  were  equally  active.  The  Potomac  was  every 
where  fordable,  and  both  parties  crossed  and  re-crossed  it  at  their  pleasure, 


i  Sec  note  2,  page  520. 

a  The  Pennsylvanians  were  restive  under  the  restraints  of  this  portion  of  the  order.  "Campbell,"  says  Dr. 
Btevenson.  u  ascertained  exactly  where  the  line  of  division  ran.  and  camping  his  men  close  by,  with  cutting 
practical  sarcasm,  planted  his  trims  so  that  the  wheels  were  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  muzzles  in  Maryland."— 
ln<li<intfn  /foil  of  Honor,  pa-re  100.  The  order  was  in  a  -conlanco  with  the  deference  then  felt  for  the  juris 
diction  of  the  respective  Statos.  The  Reserves  were  Pennsylvania  State  troops,  and  it  was  felt  that  they  had 
no  right  upon  the  soil  of  Maryland. 

VOL.  I.— :u 


530  . EXPLOITS   OF  INDIANA  TROOPS. 

and  often  engaged  in  little  skirmishes.     Finally,  on  the  26th,a  a  spirited  affair 
occurred  near  Frankfort,  on  the  road  between  Cumberland  and  Romney,  in 
which  thirteen  picked  men  of  the  regiment,  mounted  on  the  thir- 
*  i86i '       teen  imPressed  horses,  were  engaged.     They  were  sent  on  a  scout, 
led  by  Corporal  D.  B.  Hay,  one  of  their  number.     They  boldly 
attacked  forty-one  mounted  insurgents,  killing  eight  of  them,  chasing  the  re 
mainder  two  miles,  and  capturing  seventeen  of  their  horses.    The  leader  of  the 
scouts  was  severely  wounded,  but  was  saved.    On  their  way  back,  they  were 
attacked  by  seventy-five  mounted  men  of  the  command  of  the  afterward 
famous  Ashby,  near  the  mouth  of  Patterson's  Creek.     They  fell  back  across 
a  portion  of  the  stream  to  Kelley's  Island,  at  the  mouth  of  the  creek,  where 
they  had  a  terrible  hand-to-hand  fight  with  their  assailants,  that  ceased  only 
with  the  daylight.     It  ended  at  nightfall,  with  a  loss  to  the  Zouaves  of  only 
one  man  killed.     The  remainder  made  their  way  back  to  camp  in  the  dark 
ness.1     Their   bravery   elicited   the    highest  praise  of  both   Patterson    and 
McClellan.     The  former,  in  general  orders,2  commended  their  example  to  his 
troops ;  and  the   latter  thanked   them  for  their  noble   services, 
and  said  to  Colonel  Wallace  :A — "  I  more  than  ever  regret  that 
you  are  not  under  my  command.     I  have  urged  General  Scott  to  send  up  the 
Pennsylvania  regiments.      I  begin  to  doubt  whether  the  Eleventh  Indiana 
needs  re-enforcements."3 

On  the  8th  of  July,  by  order  of  General  Patterson,  Wallace's  regiment 

broke  camp  at  Cumberland,  and  joined  the  forces  under  their  chief  at  Mar- 

tinsburg;  and  they  were  engaged  on  duty  in  that  vicinity  until 

after  the  battle  of  Bull's  Run,c  notwithstanding  the  term  of  their 

three  months'  enlistment  had   expired.      For  his   eminent   services  in  this 

three  months'  campaign,  Wallace  was  rewarded  with  the  commission  of  a 

brigadier. 

Whilst  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway — the  great  line  of  communica 
tion  with  the  West — was  thus  held  by  the  National  troops,  attempts  were 
made  by  the  insurgents  to  occupy  the  country  in  Western  Virginia  south  of  it. 
We  have  observed  that  Colonel  Porterfield  had  notified  the  authorities  at 
Richmond  that  a  large  force  must  be  immediately  sent  into  that  region,  or  it 
would  be  lost  to  the  "  Confederacy."4  A  plan  of  campaign  in  that  direction 
was  immediately  formed  and  put  in  execution.  Porterfield  was  succeeded  in 
command  in  Northwestern  Virginia  by  General  Robert  S.  Garnett,  a  meri 
torious  officer,  who  served  on  the  staff  of  General  Taylor,  in  Mexico,  "and 
was  breveted  a  major  for  gallantry  in  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista.  He  made 
his  head-quarters  at  Beverly,  in  Randolph  County,  a  pleasant  village  on  a 
plain,  traversed  by  Tygart's  Valley  River.  It  was  an  important  point  in' 
operations  to  prevent  McClellan  pushing  through  the  gaps  of  the  mountain 
ranges  into  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  Garnett  proceeded  at  once  to  fortify 
places  on  the  roads  leading  from  Beverly  through  these  mountain  passes. 


1  The  following  arc  the  names  of  the  thirteen  brave  men  :— D.  B.  Hay,  E.  H.  Baker,  E.  Burkett,  J.  C.  Hol- 
lenback,  T.  Grover,  J.  Hollowell,  T.  Brazier,  G.  W.  Mudbargar,  L.  Farley,  F.  Harrison,  P.  M.  Dunlap,  R.  Dun- 
lap,  and  E.  P.  Thomas. 

a  Dated  Hagerstown,  June  30,  1S61. 

3  Letter  from  General  McClellan  to  Colonel  Wallace,  dated  Grafton,  June  28, 1861. 

4  See  page  494. 


McCLELLAN  IN   WESTERN  VIRGINIA.  531 

He  collected  a  considerable  force  at  that  place,  and  had  outlying  detachments 
at  Bea  ling  ton,  Buckhannon,  Romney,  and  Philippi.  Ex-Governor  Henry  A. 
Wise,  with  a  brigadier's  commission,  had  been  organizing  a  brigade  in  the 
Great  Kanawha  Valley,  beyond  the  Greenbrier  Mountains,  for  the  purpose  of 
holding  in  subjection  the  loyal  inhabitants  of  the  fertile  regions  of  that 
river.  He  was  now  ordered  to  cross  the  intervening  mountains  around  the 
head-waters  of  the  Gauley  River,  and  co-operate  with  Garnett ;  and  every 
measure  within  the  means  of  the  "Confederates"  was  used  for  the  purpose 
of  checking  the  advance  of  McClellan's  forces,  and  preventing  their  junction 
with  those  of  Patterson  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 

General  McClellan  took  command  of  his  troops  in  person,  at  Grafton,  on 
the  23d  of  June,  and  on  that  day  he  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Western-  Virginia,  similar  in  tenor  to  the  one  sent  forth  from  Cincinnati  a 
month  earlier."  He  severely  condemned  the  guerrilla  warfare  in 
which  the  insurgents  were  engaged,  and  threatened  the  offenders  "M^y23. 
with  punishment,  "according  to  the  severest  rules  of  military 
law.''  lie  also  told  the  disloyal  people  of  that  section  that  all  who  should 
be  found  acting  in  hostility  to  the  Government,  either  by  bearing  arms  or  in 
giving  aid  and  comfort  to  its  enemies,  should  be  arrested.  To  his  soldiers 
he  issued  an  address  two  days  afterward,  reminding  them  that  they  were  in 
the  country  of  friends,  and  not  of  enemies,  and  conjuring  them  to  behave 
accordingly.  He  denounced  the  insurgents  as  outlaws,  who,  without  cause, 
had  rebelled,  and  seized  public  property,  and  "  outraged  the  persons  of 
Xorthern  men  merely  because  they  came  from  the  Xorth,  and  Southern  men 
merely  because  they  loved  the  Union  ;"  and  he  exhorted  his  soldiers  to 
pursue  a  different  course.  He  concluded  by  saying: — "  I  now  fear  but  one 
thing — that  you  will  not  find  foemen  worthy  of  your  steel."' 

The  entire  force  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Virginia  troops,  now  under  the 
command  of  McClellan,  numbered  full  twenty  thousand  men,  and  he  resolved 
to  advance.  He  sent  a  detachment,  under  General  J.  I).  Cox,  into  the 
Kanawha  Valley,  to  meet  Wise  and  keep  him  in  check,  while  his  main  body, 
about  ten  thousand  strong,  led  by  himself,  advanced  from  Clarksburg,  on  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway,  twenty-two  miles  west  of  Grafton,  in  the  direc 
tion  of  Buckhannon,  to  attack  Garnett  at  Laurel  Hill,  near  Beverly.  At  the 
same  time  a  detachment  of  about  four  thousand  men,1  under  General  Morris, 
moved  from  Grafton  toward  Beverly,  by  way  of  Philippi ;  and  another  body, 
commanded  by  General  Hill,  was  sent  to  West  Union,  eastward  of  Philippi, 
toward  St.  George,  in  Tucker  County,  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  insur 
gents  by  that  way  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  to  join  Johnston  at  Win 
chester. 

Morris  was  instructed  not  to  attack  Garnett,  but  to  thoroughly  recon- 
noiter  the  country,  make  such  feints  as  would  deceive  the  insurgents  with 
the  belief  that  they  might  expect  the  main  attack  from  that  officer,  and  to 
keep  them  employed  until  McClellan  should  gain  their  rear.  Morris  carried 
out  the  plan  faithfully.  He  advanced  to  Bealington,  within  a  mile  of  Gar 
net  t's  camp,  which  was  on  a  wooded  slope  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Laurel 


1  This  force  was  composed  of  the  Sixth,  Seventh,  and  Ninth  Indiana,  the  Sixth  and  Fourteenth  Ohio,  the 
First  Virginia,  and  Burnett's  Artillery,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


532 


ADVANCE   ON  THE   INSURGENTS. 


Hill  range  of  mountains,  between  Leedsville  and  Beverly,  where  he  had 
about  eight  thousand  men  strongly  intrenched.1  These  were  chiefly  East 
Virginians,  Georgians,  Tennesseans,  and  some  Carolinians.2  In  front  of  these 
intrenchments  continual  and  heavy  skirmishing  was  carried  on  daily,  chiefly 
by  the  Seventh  and  Ninth  Indiana  Regiments,  commanded  respectively  by 
Colonels  E.  Dumont  and  Robert  H.  Milroy.  The  troops  were  so  eager  for 
conflict  that  Morris  found  it  difficult  to  restrain  them.  The  scouting  parties 

were  so  earnest,  vigilant,  and  bold,  that 
when  McClellan  approached  Beverly,  each 
position  of  the  insurgents  and  their  works 
in  all  that  region  was  perfectly  known. 
A  thousand  deeds  of  daring,  worthy  of 
record,  were  performed  during  those  few 
days.  Those  of  the  Ninth  Indiana  were 
so  notable  that  the  insurgents  gave  them 
the  name  of  "  Swamp  Devils." 

McClellan  reached  Buckhannon  on  the 
7th  of  July,  and  advanced  to  Roaring 
Run,  on  the  road  to  Beverly.  He  ascer 
tained  that  a  large  force  of  insurgents, 
about  fifteen  hundred  strong,  under  Colonel 
John  Pegram,  was  occupying  a  heavily 
intrenched  position  in  the  rear  of  Garnett, 
in  Rich  Mountain  Gap,  of  the  Laurel  Hill  Range,  about  four  miles  from 
Beverly,  where  his  forces  commanded  the  important  road  over  the  mountains 
to  Staunton,  and  the  chief  highway  to  Southern  Virginia.  Pegram  boasted 
that  his  position  could  not  be  turned,  because  of  the  precipitous  hills  on  his 
flanks  ;  but  he  was  mistaken.  McClellan  sent  the  Eighth,  Tenth,  and  Thir 
teenth  Indiana  Regiments,  and  the  Sixteenth  Ohio  Regiment,  with  Burdsall's 
troop  of  cavalry,  all  in  light  marching  order,  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
(afterward  General)  W.  S.  Rosecrans,  to  do  wrhat  Pegram  thought  impos 
sible.  They  were  accompanied  by  Colonel  Lander,  who  was  with  Dumont 
at  Philippi,3  and  were  piloted  by  a  young  man  named  Hart,  son  of  the 
owner  of  the  mountain  farm  on  which  Pegram  was  encamped.  They  started 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,a  made  a  wide  detour  through  the 
mountains  in  a  heavy  rain-storm,  along  most  perilous  ways,  path 
less,  slippery,  and  rough,  a  distance  of  about  eight  miles,  and  at 
noon  were  on  the  summit  of  a  ridge  of  Rich  Mountain,  high  above  Pegram's 
camp,  and  a  mile  from  it.  Just  as  they  reached  the  Staunton  road,  near 
Hart's,  they  were  furiously  assailed  by  musket  and  cannon  shot,  bullets, 
grape,  canister,  and  shells. 


T.   A.   MORRIS. 


July  11, 

1861. 


1  Garnett's  position  was  a  very  strong  one  by  nature,  and  was  made  stronger  by  art.     On  a  mountain  slope, 
masked  by  woods,  and  commanding  one  of  the  most  important  passes  in   all  that  region,  he  had   a  line  of 
intrenchments  a  mile  in  extent,  stretching  on  each  side  of  the  main  road  that  runs  up  from  Philippi  to  Beverly. 
Within  these  were  other  works  for  final  defense,  if  assailed.     Outside  of  all  was  a  strong  abatis,  formed  of 
felled  trees ;  also  numerous  rifle-pits,  the  earth  thrown  up  so  as  to  make  a  breastwork  for  each  man.     These 
works  extended  up  the  slopes  on  each  side  of  the  narrow  valley ;  and  on  the  summits  of  two  elevations  were  two 
redoubts  made  of  logs  and  earth,  with  embrasures  for  six  cannon,  and  also  loop-holes  for  musketry.     See  map  on 
page  536. 

2  General  McClellan'3  Dispatch  to  Adjutant-General  Townsend,  July  13,  1861. 

3  See  page  495. 


BATTLE   OF   RICH   MOUNTAIN.  533 

Rosecrans  supposed  his  movements  were  unknown  to  the  insurgents. 
He  was  mistaken.  A  courier  sent  after  him  by  McClellan  had  been  captured 
by  Pegram's  scouts,  and  the  march  of  Rosecrans  was  revealed.1  Pegram 
immediately  sent  about  nine  hundred  men,  with  two  cannon,  up  the  moun 
tain  road  in  his  rear,  to  meet  him.  They  hastily  cast  up  works  of  logs  and 
earth  near  Hart's,  and  masked  their  cannon,  and  from  these  came  the  unex 
pected  volley. 

Rosecrans  had  no  cannon,  but  he  had  men  eager  for  conflict.  He  formed 
the  three  Indiana  regiments  in  battle  order,  held  the  Ohio  regiment  as  a 
reserve,  and  sent  forward  his  skirmishers.  They  engaged  in  desperate 
fighting  while  the  main  body  lay  concealed  in  the  grass,  the  shot  of  the 
insurgents  passing  over  them.  Finally,  Pegram's  men  came  out  from  their 
works  and  charged  across  the  road.  The  Indianians  sprang  to  their  feet, 
and  at  a  given  onler  they  fired,  fixed  their  bayonets,  and  with  a  wild  shout 
charged  upon  the  foe.  A  sharp  conflict  ensued,  when  the  latter  gave  way 
and  fled  in  wild  confusion  down  the  declivities  of  the  mountain  to  Pegram's 
main  camp.  Re-enforcements  sent  from  Garnett's  reserves  at  Beverly,  then 
on  their  way,  hearing  of  the  disaster  to.  their  friends,  fell  back.  Rosecrans 
recalled  his  men  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives,  and  prepared  for  another 
encounter. 

This  engagement,  known  as  the  BATTLE  OF  Rim  MOUNTAIN,  commenced 
at  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  occupied  less  than  an  hour  and  a 
half.  The  Union  troops  in  action  numbered  about  eighteen  hundred,  and 
those  of  the  insurgents  about  nine  hundred.  The  loss  of  the  former  was 
righteen  killed,  and  about  forty  wounded.  The  latter  lost  about  one  hun 
dred  and  forty  killed,  and  a  large  number  wounded  and  made  prisoners. 
Their  entire  loss  was  more  than  four  hundred,  including  several  officers. 
For  his  gallantry  on  this  occasion,  Rosecrans  was  commissioned  a  brigadier- 
general. 

The  position  of  Rosecrans  was  no\v  perilous.  Pegram  was  immediately 
before  him  with  an  overwhelming  force,  and  he  was  separated  from  the  main 
army  by  the  rough  mountain  over  which  he  had  passed  with  the  greatest 
difficulty.  Fortunately  for  him,  McClellan,  who,  at  his  camp  at  Roaring 
Run,  had  heard  the  cannonading,  advanced  that  evening  to  a  position 
directly  in  front  of  Pegram's  main  camp,  and  prepared  to  assail  it  in  the 
morning  with  twelve  cannon.  Pegram  did  not  wait  for  the  assault,  but  stole 
off  during  the  night,  and  tried  to  make  his  way  with  the  remnant  of  his 
troops  to  Garnett's  camp.  This  movement  exposed  Garnett's  rear,  and  he, 
too,  under  cover  of  the  night,  abandoned  his  camp  and  all  in  it — cannon, 
tents,  and  many  wagons — and  in  light  marching  order  pushed  on  toward 
Beverly,  hoping  to  pass  it  before  McClellan  could  reach  it,  and  so  escape 
over  the  mountains  by  Iluttonsville,  toward  Staunton.  He  was  too  late. 
McClellan  had  moved  rapidly  on  Beverly,  and  fugitives  from  Pegram's 
camp  informed  him  that  his  advance  was  already  there.  Garnett  turned 
back,  and  taking  the  road  toward  St.  George,  through  a  gap  near  Leedsville, 
he  plunged  into  the  wild  mountain  regions  of  the  Cheat  Range,  taking  with 
him  only  one  cannon.  His  reserves  at  Beverly  fled  over  the  mountains,  by 

1  Statement  of  young  llart. 


534  PURSUIT   OF  THE   INSURGENTS. 

way  of  Huttonsville,  as  far  as  Monterey,  in  Highland  County,  and  the  re-en 
forcements  that  had  been  sent  to  Pegram,  as  we  have  observed,  scattered 
over  the  Laurel  Hill  Range.  Rosecrans  entered  Pegram's  abandoned  camp 
the  next  morning  ;  while  the  latter,  with  about  six  hundred  followers,  weary, 
worn,  and  dispirited,  were  vainly  seeking  a  way  of  escape.  They  had  been 
without  food  for  nearly  two  days.  Seeing  no  hope  of  relief,  Pegram  offered 
to  surrender  to  McClellan  ;  and  on  Sunday  morning,  the  14th,a  he 

"isei7'  an(^  kis  f°ll°wers  were  escorted  into  the  camp  of  the  chief  o.t 
Beverly  by  some  Chicago  cavajry. 

When  it  was  discovered  that  Garnett  had  fled,  McClellan  ordered  a  hot 
pursuit.  He  sent  a  detachment  from  his  own  column,  under  Captain  H.  "W. 
Benham,  his  Chief  Engineer,  to  join  that  of  General  Morris,  and  the  united 
forces  started  eagerly  after  the  fugitives,  who  had  about  twelve  hours  the 
start  of  them.  The  recent  rains  had  made  the  roads  very  muddy,  and 
{swelled  the  mountain  streams.  The  fugitives,  in  their  anxiety  to  escape, 
left  knapsacks,  provisions,  camp  furniture,  and  every  thing  that  might  im 
pede  their  flight,  along  the  way,  and  these  were  continual  clews  to  their 
route,  which  frequently  deviated  from  the  main  road  along  rough  mountain 
paths.  Broken  and  abandoned  wagons  were  found  in  many  places,  and  in 
narrow  gorges  the  insurgents  had  felled  trees  and  cast  down  rocks  to  ob 
struct  the  pursuit. 

Both  parties  rested  on  the  night  of  the  12th,  and  resumed  the  race  in  the 
morning.  The  pursuers  gradually  gained  on  the  fugitives ;  and  at  about 
noon,  while  a  driving  rain-storm  was  drenching  them,  the  advance  of  the 
former,  composed  of  the  Seventh  and  Ninth  Indiana,  Fourteenth  Ohio,  and  a 
section  of  Burnett's  Ohio  Battery,  came  in  sight  of  the  flying  insurgents  at 
Ivahler's  Ford  of  a  branch  of  the  Cheat  River.  They  were  evidently  pre 
paring  to  make  a  stand  there.  The  pursuing  infantry  dashed  into  the  stream, 
which  was  waist  deep,  and  halted  under  shelter  of  the  bank  until  the  artil 
lery  came  up.  A  single  cannon-shot  set  the  insurgents  in  motion,  for  they 
were  only  the  rear-guard  of  Garnett' s  force,  the  main  body  of  which  was 
some  distance  in  advance.  The  exciting  chase  was  renewed,  and  its  interest 
was  hightened  by  a  sort  of  running  fight  for  about  four  miles  to  another  ford 
of  the  same  stream,  known  as  Carrick's,  where  the  banks  were  high  and 
steep,  and  the  land  a  rolling  bottom  about  a  mile  in  width  between  the 
mountains. 

After  crossing  the  stream  Garnett  made  a  stand.  The  Fourteenth  Ohio 
(Colonel  Steedman)  of  the  advance  was  close  upon  him,  and  rushed  down  to 
the  Ford  in  pursuit,  when  it  was  met  by  a  volley  of  musketry  and  cannon- 
shot  from  a  single  heavy  gun,  under  Colonel  Taliaferro,  of  the  Twenty-third 
Virginia  Regiment.  The  Ohio  troops  stood  their  ground  bravely.  The 
Seventh  and  Ninth  Indiana  and  Burnett's  battery  hastened  to  their  aid ;  and 
Captain  Benham,  who  was  in  command  of  the  advance,  ordered  Colonel 
Dumont  and  a  detachment  of  his  regiment  to  cross  the  deep  and  rapid 
stream  above  the  ford,  and  gain  the  rear  of  the  foe.  The  opposite  shore  was 
too  precipitous  for  them  to  scale,  and  they  were  ordered  to  wade  down  in 
the  bed  of  the  stream  hidden  by  the  bank,  and,  under  cover  of  fire  of  can 
non  and  musketry,  charge  the  insurgents  in  front.  The  order  was  quickly 
executed,  and  while  the  Indianians  were  struggling  up  the  bank  among  the 


BATTLE   OF   CARRICK'S   FORD. 


laurel  bushes,  the  insurgents  broke  and  fled.  They  had  fought  bravely 
against  great  odds,  and  yielded  only  when  their  ammunition  was  almost 
exhausted.  Garnett  tried  to  rally  them  to  make  another  stand,  and  while 
trying  to  do  so  he  was  shot  dead.1  A  youthful  Georgian,  who  was  among 
the  few  around  the  General  at  that  moment,  fell  dead  at  his  side.  The  insur 
gents  fled  to  the  mountains,  and  were  pursued  only  about  two  miles.  The 


•  MIIIK  K  s  FORD.' 


main  body  of  Morris's  force  soon  came  up,  and  the  victors  slept  near  the  Ford 
that  night.  They  had  lost  two  killed  and  ten  wounded,  two  of  them  mor 
tally.  The  insurgents  lost  thirty  men  killed,  a  much  larger  number 
wounded,  and  many  who  were  made  prisoners.  They  also  lost  their  cannon, 
many  wagons,  and  forty  loads  of  provisions.  The  body  of  their  fallen 
General  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors,  and  was  tenderly  cared  for  and 
sent  to  his  friends.3  This  is  known  as  the  BATTLE  OF  CARKICK\S  FORD. 

Whilst  the  stirring  events  which  we  have  just  considered  were  transpi 
ring,  General  McOellan,  at  Beverly,  sent  cheering  dispatches  to  his  Govern 
ment  ;  and,  when  he  heard  of  the  dispersion  of  Garnt-tt's  forces  at  Carrick's 
Ford,  he  expressed  his  belief  that  General  Hill,  then  at  Rowlesburg,  on  the 
Cheat  River,  where  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway  crosses  that  stream, 
would  certainly  intercept  the  fugitives  at  West  Union  or  St.  George.  He 


1  Major  Gordon,  who  accompanied  the,  Ninth  Indiana,  had  joined  the  Seventh  in  the  water.  He  jumped 
upon  a  .stump  to  cheer  on  his  comrades,  when  Oarnett  directed  several  of  his  men  (Tompkins's  Richmond  Sharp 
shooters)  to  fire  on  him.  They  did  so,  but  without  effect.  lie  discovered  Oarnett,  and  directed  Sergeant  Bur- 
lingame,  of  the  Seventh,  to  shoott  him.  The  General  almost  instantly  fell. — See  Stevenson's  Indiana's  Roll 
of  Honor,  [»ape  58. 

1  This  view  of  Carrick's  Ford  is  from  a  drawing  by  Edwin  Forbes,  an  artist  who  accompanied  the  expe 
dition.  The  name  of  the  Ford  was  derived  from  that  of  the  person  who  owned  the  land  there. 

3  Stevenson  (page  .'>9)  cites  the  following  description  of  Oarnett,  who  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  of  the 
class  of  1S41  :— u  In  form  he  was  about  five  feet  eight  inches,  rather  slenderly  built,  with  a  fine,  high,  arching 
forehead,  and  regular  and  handsome  features,  almost  classic  in  their  regularity,  and  mingled  delicacy  and 
strength  of  beauty.  His  hair,  almost  coal  black,  as  were  his  eyes,  he  wore  long  on  the  neck,  in  the  prevailing 
fashion  of  the  Virginia  aristocracy.  His  dress  was  of  fine  broad-cloth  throughout,  and  richly  ornamented.  The 
buttons  bore  tho  coat  of  arms  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  the  star  on  his  shoulder-strap  was  richly  studded 
with  brilliants." 


536 


UNION   TRIUMPH   IN   WESTERN   VIRGINIA. 


was  so  confident  of  this  result,  that  on  the  night  of  the  14th  he  telegraphed, 
saying :— "  Our  success  is  complete,  and  I  firmly  believe  that  secession  is 

killed  in  this  sec 
tion  of  the  coun 
try."  He  was  dis 
appointed.  The 
fugitives  were  ral 
lied  by  Colonel 
Ramsay,  and  turn 
ing  short  to  the 
right  near  West 
Union,  they  fled 
over  the  Allegha- 
nies  and  joined 
"Stonewall"  Jack 
son  at  Monterey, 
Highland  County, 
Virginia. 

On  the  morn 
ing  after  the  con 
flict  at  Carrick's 
Ford,  General 
Morris  returned 
to  his  camp  at 
Bealington,1  while 
detachments  from 
McClellan's  force 
pursued  the  fugi 
tives  from  Bever 
ly,  under  Major 
Tyler,  to  the  sum 
mit  of  the  Cheat 
Mountain  Range, 
on  the  road  toward 
Staunton,  where 
the  Fourteenth 
Indiana,  Colonel 
Kimball,  was  left 
as  an  outpost. 

A  camp  was  established  at  the  eastern  foot  of  the  mountain,  and  detachments 
were  posted  at  important  points  along  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Alleghanies. 
On  the  19th,"  McClellan  issued  an  address  to  his  troops,  from  Huttonsville, 
telling  them  that  he  was  "more  than  satisfied"  with  their  con 
duct;    that   they    had    annihilated    two    armies  well  intrenched 
among  mountain  fastnesses ;  recounted  the  results  of  the   cam 
paign,  and  praised  their  courage  and  endurance  without  stint.     The  campaign 


SEAT   OF    WAR   IN    WESTERN    VIRGINIA. 


a  July, 

1861. 


1  The  three  months'  term  of  enlistment  of  these  troops  had  now  expired,  and  they  returned  to  their  homes, 
a  greater  portion  of  them  to  re-enlist  for  "three  years  or  the  war." 


COX   AND   WISE   IN   THE   KANAWHA  VALLEY.  537 

had  been  successful,  and  McClellan  thus  summed  up  the  results  in  a  dispatch 
to  the  War  Department:  "We  have  completely  annihilated  the  enemy  in 
Western  Virginia.  Our  loss  is  about  thirteen  killed,  and  not  more  than  forty 
wounded;  while  the  enemy's  loss  is  not  far  from  two  hundred  killed ;  and 
the  number  of  prisoners  we  have  taken  will  amount  to  at  least  one  thousand. 
We  have  captured  seven  of  the  enemy's  guns  in  all." 

General  Cox  had  been  successful  in  the  Kanawha  Valley.     lie  crossed  the 
Ohio  at  the  mouth  of  the  Guyandotte  Kiver,  captured  Barbours- 
ville  *  after  a  slight  skirmish,  and  pushed  on  to  the  Kanawha  Kiver.     *  J1u^j12' 
Wise  was  then  in  the  valley  of  that  stream,  below  Charleston,  the 
capital  of  Kanawha  County,  and  had  an  outpost  at  Scareytown,  composed 
of  a  small  force  under  Captain  Patton.     This  was  attacked  by  fifteen  hun 
dred  Ohio  troops  under  Colonel  Lowe,  who  were  repulsed.     That  night,  the 
assailed  insurgents  fled  up  the  valley  to  Wise's  camp,  and  gave  him  such  an 
alarming  account  of  the  numbers  of  the  invaders,  that  the  General  at  once 
retreated,  first  to  Charleston,  then  to  Gauley  Bridge  (which  he  burnt),  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Gauley  Kiver,6  ami  did  not  make  a  permanent 
halt  until  he  reached  Lewisburg,  the  capital  of  Greenbrier  County. 
The  news  of  Garnett's  disaster,  and  Wise's  own  incompetence,  had  so  dis 
pirited  his  troops,  that  large  numbers  had  left  him.     At  Lewisburg,  he  was 
re-enforced  and  outranked  by  John   B.   Floyd,  late  Secretary  of  War,  who 
had  a  brigadier's  commission. 

The  war  in  Western  Virginia  seemed  to  have  ended  with  the  dispersion 
of  Garnett's.  forces,  and  there  was  much  rejoicing  over  the  result.     It  was 
premature.     The  "Confederates"  were  not  disposed  to  surrender  to  their 
enemy  the  granaries  that  would  be  needed  to  supply  the  troops  in  Eastern 
Virginia,   without  a  severer   struggle.     General   Robert  E.   Lee   succeeded 
Garnett,  and  more  important  men  than  Wise  and  Floyd  took  the 
places  of  these  incompetents.      Kosecrans   succeeded   McClellan, 
who  was  called  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac/  and  the  war 
in  the  mountain  region  of  Virginia  was  soon  renewed,  the  most  prominent 
events  of  which  will  be  recorded  hereafter. 


038 


TREASONABLE  WORK   IN   MISSOURI. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


THE  WAR  IN  MISSOURI.— DOINGS   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  "CONGRESS."— AFFAIRS  IN 

BALTIMORE.— PIRACIES. 


ET  us  turn  for  a  moment  from  the  contemplation  of 
the  aspect  of  affairs  in  Virginia,  and  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  National  Capital,  to  that  of  the  course 
of  events  in  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
especially  in  Missouri,  where,  as  we  have  observed, 
the  loyalists  and  disloyalists  had  begun  a  sharp 
conflict  for  the  control  of  the  State,  early  in  May. 
The  first  substantial  victory  of  the  former  had  been 
won  at  St.  Louis,  in  the  loyal  action  of  the  State  Convention,1  and  in 
the  seizure  of  Camp  Jackson  ;2  and  its  advantages,  imperiled  by  the  treaty 
for  pacification  between  Generals  Harney  and  Price,3  were  secured  by  the 
refusal  of  the  Government  to  sanction  that  arrangement,  ancl  of  General 
Lyon  to  treat  with  the  disloyal  Governor  Jackson.  The  latter  plainly  saw 
the  force  of  this  advantage,  and  proceeded  immediately  to  array  the  State 
militia,  under  his  control,  in  opposition  to  Lyon  and  his  troops  and  the 
General  Government,  and,  by  the  violence  of  immediate  war,  to  sever  Mis 
souri  from  the  Union. 

As  we  have  observed,4  Governor  Jackson,  by  proclamation,  called  "  into 
the  service  of  the  State  "a  fifty  thousand  of  the  militia,  "  for  the 
purpose  of  repelling  invasion,"  et  ccetera ;  in  other  words,  he 
called  into  the  service  of  the  disloyal  politicians  of  Missouri  a 
host  of  men  to  repel  the  visible  authority  of  the  National  Government,  in 
the  form  of  United  States  troops  and  regiments  of  loyal  citizens  of  the  Com 
monwealth.  The  Legislature  worked  in  harmony  with  him,  and  various 
moneys  of  the  State,  such  as  the  School  Fund,  the  money  provided  for  the 
payment  of  the  July  interest  of  the  State  debt,  and  other  available  means,  to 
the  amount  of  over  three  millions  of  dollars,  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  conspirators,  for  military  purposes.  Jackson  declared  in  his  proclamation 
that  his  object  was  peace  ;  that  he  had  proposed  the  fairest  terms  for  con 
ciliation,  but  they  were  rejected,  and  that  now  nothing  was  left  for  him  to  do 
but  to  resist  "  invasion  "  by  force  of  arms.  At  Jefferson  City,  the  capital  of 
the  State,  he  raised  the  standard  of  revolt,  with  General  Sterling  Price  as 
military  commander. 

General  Lyon  promptly  took  up  the  gauntlet  cast  down  by  the  Governor. 
He  had   already  taken  measures  for  the  security  of  the  important  post  at 


1  See  page  461. 


2  See  page  463. 


3  See  page  469. 


4  See  page  471. 


BIRD'S   POINT   AND   THE  CONFEDERATES. 


539 


Cairo,  by  sending  .1  regiment  of  Missouri  volunteers,  under  Colonel  Shiittner, 
to  occupy  and  fortify  Bird's  Point  opposite.1  That  point  is  a  few  feet  higher 
than  Cairo,  and  a  battery  upon  it  perfectly  commanded  the  entire  ground 


CAMI'    OK   TUB   MISSOURI   VOLUNTEERS  ON    BIRD'S   POINT. 

occupied  by  the  National  troops  at  the  latter  place.  Captain  Benhain,  of  the 
Engineers,2  who  constructed  the  works  there,  called  attention  early  to  the 
importance  of  occupying  that  point,  for  its  possession  by  the  insurgents 
would  make  Cairo  untenable.  Shiittner  so  strongly  fortified  his  camp,  that 
lie  was  in  no  fear  of  any  force  jhe  insurgents  were  likely  to  assail  it  with. 
But  he  was  there  none  too  early,  and  cast  up  his  fortifications  none  too  soon, 
for  General  Pillow,  who  was  collecting  a  large  force  in  Western  Tennessee 
for  the  capture  of  Cairo,  made  Bird's  Point  the  most  important  objective  in 
his  plan. 

Pillow  worked  diligently  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose,  efficiently 
aided  by  B.  F.  Cheatham,  a  more  accomplished  soldier  of  Tennessee,  who 
served  with  distinction  under  General  Patterson  in  the  war  in  Mexico.  He  was 
among  the  first  of  his  class  in  Tennessee  to  join 
the  insurgents,  and  was  no\v  holding  the  com 
mission  of  a  brigadier-general  in  the  service 
of  the  conspirators.  Pillow  was  superseded 
in  command  by  Leonidas  Polk,  a  graduate 
of  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  and 
Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  the  Diocese  of  Louisiana.  Early  in  July, 
Polk  accepted  the  commission  of  major- 
general  in  the  " Provisional  Army  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America,"  and  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  a  department, 
which  extended  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Arkansas  River,  on  each  side  of  the  Missis 
sippi  as  far  as  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
44  Confederacy."  He  made  his  head-quarters 

at  Memphis,  in  Tennessee;  and,  in  his  first  general  order,  issued  on  the  13th 
of  July,  he  showed  great  bitterness  of  feeling.  He  declared  that  the  uinva- 


I5EXJAMIN    K.    CHEATHAM. 


1  See  map  on  page  4?2. 


See  page  41)  7. 


540  GENERAL  LYON'S  EXPEDITION. 

sion  of  the  South  by  the  Federal  armies  comes  bringing  with  it  a  contempt 
for  constitutional  liberty,  and  the  withering  influence  of  the  infidelity  of 
New  England  and  Germany  combined." 

General  Lyon's  first  movement  against  Jackson  and  Price  was  to  send" 

the    Second    Missouri   Regiment   of  Volunteers,   under   Colonel 

*Jis6i.12'      (afterward  General)   Franz  Sigel,   to    occupy   and   protect  from 

injury  the  Pacific  Railway,   from  St.   Louis  to   the   Gasconade 

River,  preparatory  to  an  advance  toward  the  southern  portion  of  the  State, 

by  way  of  Rolla,  to  oppose  an  invasion 
by  Ben  McCullough,  the  Texas  Ranger,1 
who  had  crossed  the  border  from  Arkan 
sas  with  about  eight  hundred  men,  and 
was  inarching,  with  rapidly  increasing 
numbers,  on  Spring-field.  On 

"June  13.       .,/.„.  T         f T  T    f 

the  following  day,6  Lyon  left 
St.  Louis  in  two  river  steamers  (Tat an 
and  J.  C.  Swan),  with  about  two  thou 
sand  men  well  supplied  for  a  long  march, 
their  immediate  destination  being  the 
capital  of  the  Commonwealth,  on  the 
Missouri  River,  and  their  first  business 
to  drive  Jackson  and  Price,  with  their 

LEONIDAS   POLK.  . 

followers,  out  of  it.     These  troops  were 

composed  of  Missouri  volunteers,  under  Colonels  Blair  and  Boernstein ;  regu 
lars,  under  Captain  Lathrop;  and  artillery,  under  Captain  James  Totten. 
The  expedition  reached  the  capital  on  the  afternoon  of  the  15th.  Jackson 
and  Price,  with  their  armed  followers,  had  fled  westward  by  way  of  the  rail 
road,  destroying  the  bridges  behind  them,  and,  turning  northward,  took  post 

a  few  miles  below  Booneville,  on  the  Missouri,  forty  miles  from 

Jefferson  City.  Lyon  followed  them  the  next  day,"  leaving  Colo 
nel  Boernstein,  with  three  companies  of  his  regiment,  to  hold  the  capital. 
Contrary  to  the  expectation  of  the  insurgents,  Lyon  went  by  water,  in  three 
steamers  (A.  McDonnell,  latan,  and  City  of  Louisiana),  and  the  destruction 
of  bridges  availed  the  insurgents  nothing. 

At  Rocheport,  at  dawn  on  the  17th,  Lyon  ascertained  that  the  insurgents 
were  encamped  a  few  miles  below  Booneville.  Pressing  into  his  service  a 
ferry-boat  there,  he  pushed  forward  a  short  distance,  when  he  discovered  a 

battery  on  a  bluff,  and  scouts  hastening  to  report  his  approach. 

He  at  once  disembarked  d  on  low  ground,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
river,  formed  in  column,  sent  forward  his  skirmishers,  and  soon  found  his 
foes.  They  were  encamped  on  the  high  ground,  and  were  under  the  com 
mand  of  Colonel  J.  S.  Marmaduke,  of  the  State  forces,  General  Price  having 
gone  on  in  a  boat  to  Lexington,  on  account  of  alleged  illness.  On  the  near 
approach  of  Lyon,  the  frightened  Governor  had  ordered  that  no  resistance 
should  be  made  ;  but  the  braver  Marmaduke,  feeling  strongly  posted,  had 
resolved  to  fight.  A  troop  of  his  cavalry  and  a  battalion  of  infantry  occupied 
the  road.  Some  of  his  troops  had  made  a  citadel  of  a  strong  brick  house  on 

1  See  page  267. 


BATTLE   NEAR  BOONEVILLE. 


541 


his  left ;  and  in  a  lane  in  his  rear,  leading  to  the  river,  was  the  main  body  of 
his  left  wing.  His  main  right  wing  was  posted  behind  a  fence,  between  a 
wheat  and  corn  field,  and  in  these  fields  were  detached  and  unorganized 
squads  of  men.1 

Lyon  led  his  troops  up  a  gently  rolling  slope  for  half  a  mile,  and  when 
within  three  hundred  yards  of  his  foe,  he  made  dispositions  for  battle.  He 
posted  the  regulars,  with  Colonel  Blair's  troops,  on  the  left,  and  some  Ger 
man  volunteers  of  Boernstcin's  regiment,  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Shaefter, 
on  the  right.  Totten's  artillery  occupied  the  center,  and  they  opened  the 
conflict  by  firing  a  shell  from  a  12-pounder  in  the  midst  of  the  insurgents  in 
the  road.  Another  shell  immediately  followed,  and  scattered  the  men  in  the 
wheat-field,  when  Lyon's  column  advanced,  and  the  battle  beiran.  It  con 
tinued  for  a  short  time  with  great  spirit  on  both  sides.  The  insurgents  were 
forced  back  by  the  pressure  of  the  Union  infantry,  and  the  round  shot,  and 
shell,  and  grape,  and  canister,  from  Totten's  cannon.  Two  of  his  shells 
entered  the  brick  house  and  drove  out  the  inmates ;  and  twenty  minutes 
later,  Lyon's  men  occupied  it,  and  had  full  possession  of  the  battle-field. 

The  insurgents  made  a  stand  at  the  edge  of  a  wood  near  their  camp,  but 
were  soon  driven  from  their  rallying-point.  They  now  fled  in  confusion,  for 
they  found  themselves  attacked  on  their  flank  by  a  cannonade  from  the 
river.  Captain  Kichards,  with  some  infantry,  and  a  small  company  of  artil 
lery,  under  Captain  Voester,  who  had  been  left  in  charge  of  the  transports, 
had  moved  up  the  river  and  captured  a  shore-battery  of  two  guns,  with 
which  the  insurgents  intended  to  sink  the  vessels  of  their  pursuers.  They 
also  took  twenty  prisoners,  several  horses,  and  a  considerable  amount  of 
military  stores.  They  then  moved  forward  to  co-operate  with  the  land 
force;  and  it  was  the  shot  from  a  howitzer  on  the  City  of  Louisiana^  and 
the  missiles  from  Totten's  guns,  falling  simultaneously  among  the  insur 
gents,  that  produced  a  panic  and  a  flight.  Their  camp,  which  Lyon  took 
possession  of  immediately  afterward,  showed  evidences  of  hasty  departure.* 

1  Those  wore  now  recruits  just  sent  In  from  Camp  Vest,  about  four  miles  from  Boonevillc.     That  camp  had 
boon  established  on  the  14th.  ami  Mariuaduko  had  sent  out  urgent  appeals  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  surrounding 
country  to  rally  to  his  standard.     "  Hurry  on.  day  and  night,"  he  said.     "  EverylMMly,  citizens  and  soldiers,  must 
come,  bringing  their  arms  and  ammunition.     Time  is  every  thing.'1     As  they  came  into  the  camp,  they  were 
sent  to  the  front  in  squads. 

2  An  eye-witness  wrote,  that  the  breakfasts  of  the  men  were  found  in  course  of  preparation.      Half-baked 
bread  was  in  the  heat  of  fires,  and  hams  had  knives  sticking  in  them.      Pots  uf  coffee  were  on  the  fires;    and  in 
various  ways  there  was  evidence  that  the  flight  of  the  occupants 

of  the  camp  had  been  most  precipitate.  Lyon's  loss  was  two 
killed,  two  wounded,  and  one  missing.  That  of  the  insurgents  is 
unknown.  It  was  estimated  at  more  than  fifty  killed  and 
wounded,  and  a  considerable  number  made  prisoners.  The  latter 
were  nearly  all  young  men,  who  declared  that  they  had  been 
deceived  and  misled  by  the  conspirators.  They  were  very  peni 
tent,  and  Lyon  released  them.  The  whole  number  of  insur 
gents  was  about  three  thousand,  of  whom  nine  hundred  were 
half-disciplined  cavalry,  and  the  remainder  raw  militia,  six- 
sevenths  of  them  armed  with  the  rifles,  shot-guns,  and  knives 
which  they  had  brought  from  their  homes.  The  t'nion  troops 
numbered  less  than  two  thousand;  and  not  a  third  of  either  party 
was  in  the  engagement  at  one  time. 

The  accompanying  illustration  represents  weapons  found  in 
the  camp  of  the  insurgents  near  Rooneville.  The  knife  was  made, 

evidently,  by  a  common  blacksmith,  in  the  form  of  the  Bowie  [see  note  1,  page  26<>],  but  very  rudely.  The  sheath 
below  it  was  made  of  common  stiff  leather.  The  dagger,  also,  was  the  work  of  a  blacksmith  The  handle  of  each 
was  made  of  hickory  wood.  Weapons  of  this  kind  were  in  common  use  among  the  insurgent  troops  from  the 
Mississippi  region  during  the  earlier  period  of  the  war. 


•WEAPONS    OF   TIIK    INSl'KC  ENTS. 


542        GOVERNOR  JACKSON  GATHERING  TROOPS. 

Leaving  a  company  to  hold  the  camp,  Lyon  pressed  on  to  Booneville, 
where  the  loyal  inhabitants  received  him  with  joy,  and  the  town  was  for 
mally  surrendered  to  him.    The  insurgents  had  continued  their  flight.    Some 
of  them  went  directly  southward,  but  a  large  portion  of  them,  including 
most  of  the  cavalry,  fled  westward  toward  Lexington,  whither,  as  we  have 
observed,  General  Price  had  gone.      The  Governor,  who  had  kept  at  a  safe 
distance  from  the  battle,  fled,  with  about  five  hundred  men,  to  Warsaw,  on 
the  Osage  River,  eighty  miles  southwest  of  Booneville,  pursued 
"is™6'      some  distance  by  Totten.     There  he  was  joined,  on  the  20th, a  by 
about  four   hundred   insurgents,  under   Colonel    O'Kane,   who, 
before  dawn  on  the  19th,  had  surprised,  dispersed,  and  partially  captured 
about  the  same  number  of  Home  Guards,  under  Captain  Cook,  who  were 
asleep  in  two  barns,  fifteen  miles  north  of  Warsaw,  at  a  place  of  rendezvous 
called  Camp  Cole. 

Jackson    and  his  followers  continued   their    retreat  fifty  miles   farther 
southwest,  to  Montevallo,  in  Yernon  County,  on  the  extreme  western  bor 
ders  of  Missouri,  where  he  was  joined  by  General  Price,6  with 
troops  gathered  at  Lexington  and  on  the  way,  making  the  whole 
force  there  about  three  thousand.     At  the  same  time,  General  G.  J.  Rains,  a 

graduate  of  the  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point,  was  hurrying  forward  to  join  Jack 
son  with  a  considerable  force  of  insurgents, 
closely  pursued  by  Major  Sturgis,  of  the 
regular  Army,  who  was  leading  a  body  of 
Kansas  volunteers,  who  were  eager  to  be 
avenged  on  Jackson  for  sufferings  which 
they  alleged  he  had  caused  them  a  few 
years  before,  when  they  were  struggling 
with  invaders  from  Missouri,  called  "  Bor 
der  Ruffians,"  of  whom  the  now  fugitive 
Governor  was  a  conspicuous  leader.  Satis 
fied  that  the  northern  part  of  the  State  was 
lost  to  the  cause  of  Secession,  for  the  time, 
Jackson  now  endeavored  to  concentrate 
all  of  the  disloyal  Missouri  troops,  with 
McCullough's  men,  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  Commonwealth,  pre 
paratory  to  the  speedy  "  deliverance  of  the  State  from  Federal  rule." 

In  the  camp  of  the  insurgents,  near  Booneville,  Lyon -found  ample  evi 
dence  of  the  hypocrisy  of  Jackson  and  Price,  who  had  proclaimed  to  the 
world  that  they  earnestly  desired  peace  and  reconciliation,  but  that  it  was 
denied  them  by  the  National  Government  and  its  servants,  while,  at  the 
same  time,  they  were  preparing  to  wage  a  cruel  and  relentless  war  in  favor 
of  the  rebellion.      To  counteract  the  effect  of  the  false  allegations  of  the 
Governor  in  his  proclamation,1  Lyon  issued  an  address,  at  Boone 
ville,'  to%the  inhabitants  of  Missouri,  plainly  stating  the  inten 
tions  of  the  Government  to  be  nothing  more  than  the  maintenance  of  its 
authority,  and  the  preservation  of  the  life  of  the  Republic.      On  the  day 


See  page  470. 


GABRIEL   JAMES   RAINS. 


CONDITION   OF   AFFAIRS   IN    MISSOURI.  543 

before,  Colonel  Boernstein,  who  was  holding  the  capital  to  obedience  with 
a  mild  but  firm  hand,  had  issued  a  proclamation,  addressed  to  the  inhabit 
ants  of  that  immediate  region,  assuring  them  of  protection  in  the  enjoyment 
of  all  their  rights,  and  that  "slave  property"  should  not  be  interfered  with, 
nor  the  slaves  encouraged  to  be  unfaithful ;  at  the  same  time  warning  all 
disloyal  men  that  he  would  not  allow  the  enemies  of  the  Government  to 
work  mischief  openly.  These  proclamations  quieted  the  fears  of  the  people, 
and  strengthened  the  cause  of  the  Government.  Assured  of  military  pro 
tection,  and  encouraged  by  the  aspect  of  affairs  favorable  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  National  authority  in  the  Commonwealth,  the  State  Convention  was 
called  to  reassemble  at  Jefferson  City  on  the  22d  of  July. 

General  Lyon  remained  at  Booneville  about  a  fortnight,  making  prepara 
tions  for  a  vigorous  campaign  against  gathering  insurgents  in  the  south 
western  part  of  the  State.  lie  now  held  military  control  over  the  whole 
region  northward  of  the  Missouri  River,  and  east  of  a  line  running  south 
from  Booneville  to  the  Arkansas  border,  thus  giving  to  the  Government  the 
control  of  the  important  points  of  St.  Louis,  Hannibal,  St.  Joseph,  and 
Bird's  Point,  as  bases  of  operations,  with  railways  and  rivers  for  transporta 
tion.  On  the  1st  of  July  there  were  at  least  ten  thousand  loyal  troops  in 
Missouri,  and  ten  thousand  more  might  be  thrown  into  it,  in  the  space  of 
forty-eight  hours,  from  camps  in  the  adjoining  State  of  Illinois.  And,  at 
the  same  time,  Colonel  Sigel,  already  mentioned,  an  energetic  and  accom 
plished  German  liberal,  who  had  command 
ed  the  republican  troops  of  his  native  state 
(the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden)  ih  the  revolu 
tion  of  1848,  was  pushing  forward  with 
eager  soldiers  toward  the  insurgent  camps 
on  the  borders  of  Kansas  and  Arkansas,  to 
open  the  campaign,  in  which  he  won  lau 
rels  and  the  commission  of  a  brigadier. 
That  campaign,  in  which  Lyon  lost  his  life, 
will  be  considered  hereafter. 

There  was  now  great  commotion  all 
over  the  land.  War  had  begun  in  earnest. 
The  drum  and  fife  were  heard  in  every  city, 
village,  and  hamlet,  from  the  St.  Croix  to 
the  Rio  Grande.  Propositions  for  compro-  FRANZ  SI).FL 

mises  and  concessions  were  no  longer  lis 
tened  to  by  the  opposing  parties.  The  soothing  echoes  of  the  last  "Peace 
Convention,"  held  at  Frankfort,  in  Kentucky,  on  the  27th  of  May,1  were  lost 
in  the  din  of  warlike  preparations;  and  it  was  evident  that  the  great  ques 
tion  before  the  people  could  only  be  settled  by  the  arbitrament  of  the 
sword,  to  which  the  enemies  of  the  Republic  had  appealed. 

As  we  look  over  the  theater  of  events  connected  with  the  secession 
movement  at  the  beginning  of  July,  1861,  we  perceive  that  the  Insurrection 
had  then  become  an  organized  Rebellion,  and  was  rapidly  assuming  the  dig 
nity  and  importance  of  a  Civil  War.  The  conspirators  had  formed  a  confed- 


a  See  page  460. 


544        ACTS  OF  THE  "CONFEDERATE  CONGRESS." 

eracy,  civil  and  military,  vast  in  the  extent  of  its  area  of  operations,  strong 
in  the  number  of  its  willing  and  unwilling  supporters,  and  marvelous  in  its 
manifestations  of  energy  hitherto  unsuspected.  It  had  all  the  visible  forms 
of  regular  government,  modeled  after  that  against  which  the  conspirators 
had  revolted ;  and  through  it  they  were  wielding  a  power  equal  to  that  of 
many  empires  of  the  globe.  They  had  been  accorded  belligerent  rights,  as  a 
nation  struggling  for  its  independence,  by  leading  governments  of  Europe, 
and  under  the  sanction  of  that  recognition  they  had  commissioned  embassa- 
dors  to  foreign  courts,  and  sent  out  upon  the  ocean  armed  ships,  bearing 
their  chosen  ensign,  to  commit  piracy,  as  legalized  by  the  law  of  nations. 
They  had  created  great  armies,  and  were  successfully  defying  the  power  of 
their  Government  to  suppress  their  revolt.  Henceforth,  in  this  chronicle,  the 
conflict  will  be  treated  as  a  civil  war,  and  the  opposing  parties  be  designated 
respectively  by  the  titles  of  Nationals  and  Confederates. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  meeting  of  the  Confederate  "  Congress," 
so-called,  in  second  session,  at  Montgomery,  on  the  29th  of  April," 
and  the  authorization  thereby  of  the  issuing  of  commissions  for 
privateering;  also  for  making  thorough  preparations  for  war  on  the  land.1 
That  "Congress"  worked  diligently  for  the  accomplishment  of  its  purposes. 
It  passed  an  unlimited  Enlistment  Act,  it  being  estimated  that  arms  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  could  be  furnished  by  the  Confederacy. 
That  Act  authorized  Jefferson  Davis  to  "  accept  the  services  of  volunteers 
who  may  offer  their  services,  without  regard  to  the  place  of  enlistment, 
either  as  cavalry,  mounted  riflemen,  artillery,  or  infantry,  in  such  proportion 
of  their  several  arms  as  he  may  deem  expedient,  to  serve  for  and  during  the 
existing  war,  unless  sooner  discharged."2  Acts  were  passed  for  the  regula 
tion  of  telegraphs,  postal  affairs,  and  the  mints;3  and  on  the  16th  of  May  an 
Act  was  approved  authorizing  the  issuing  of  bonds  for  fifty  millions  of  dol 
lars,  at  an  annual  interest  not  to  exceed  eight  per  cent.,  and  payable  in 
twenty  years.  Made  wiser  by  their  failure  to  find  a  market  for  their  bonds 
authorized  in -February,4  and  offered  in  April,  the  conspirators  now  devised 
schemes  to  insure  the  sale  of  this  new  issue,  or  to  secure  money  by  other 
means.  The  Act  gave  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  so-called,  discretionary 
power  to  issue  in  lieu  of  such  bonds  twenty  millions  of  dollars  in  treasury 
notes,  not  bearing  interest,  in  denominations  of  not  less  than  five  dollars, 
and  "  to  be  receivable  in  payment  of  all  debts  or  taxes  due  to  the  Confed 
erate  States,  except  the  export  duty  on  cotton,  or  in  exchange  for  the  bonds 
herein  authorized  to  be  issued.  The  said  notes,"  said  the  Act,  "  shall  be  pay 
able  at  the  end  of  two  years  from  the  date  of  their  issue,  in  specie."5 


1  See  page  372. 

a  Approved  May  8,  1861.  See  Acts  and  Resolutions  of  the  three  Sessions  of  the  Provisional  Congress  of 
the  Confederate  States :  Second  Session,  page  5. 

3  The  Act  directed  that  the  operations  of  the  mints  at  New  Orleans,  in  Louisiana,  and  Dahlonega,  in  Georgia, 
should  be  suspended.     They  had  no  other  dies  for  coin  than  those  of  the  United  States,  and  the  conspirators  saw, 
in  the  scheme  for  issuing  an  irredeemable  paper  currency,  without  limit,  no  use  for  coin. 

4  See  page  263. 

*  Act  approved  May  16, 1861.  See  Acts  and  Resolutions  of  the  Confederate  Congress :  Second  Session, 
pages  32  to  34.  Afac-simile  of  one  of  these  treasury  notes,  issued  at  Richmond  after  that  city  became  the  seat 
of  the  Confederate  Government,  is  given  on  pase  545.  After  this  issue,  the  terms  of  redemption  were  changed. 
A  note  before  me,  dated  "  Richmond,  September  2d,  1S61,"  reads  as  follows  : — "  Six  months  after  the  ratification 
of  a  Treaty  of  Peace  between  the  Confederate  States  and  the  United  States,  the  Confederate  States  of  America 


FINANCIAL   SCHEMES   OF  THE   CONSPIRATORS. 


545 


Another  scheme 
for  raising  money, 
in  connection  with 
the  issue  of  bonds, 
is  found  in  an  act 
approved  on  the 
21st  of  May,  which 
forbade  the  debtors 
to  individuals  or 
corporations  in  the 
Free-labor  States 
from  making  pay 
ments  of  the  same 
"  to  their  respective 
creditors,  or  their 
agents  or  assignees, 
pending  the  exi*t- 
inir  war."1  Such 
debtors  were  au- 
thorized  by  the  act 
to  pay  the  amount 


will  [HIT  to  the  Wnrer  Five 

Dollars.         IM.-hilK.li.l.      Sep- 

l.-inl-T  I'd.  1*61.  Km.d.ibli. 
in  fljrht  jM-r  cent  Stock  or 
Konds  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America.  Hecciv- 
uM«  In  payment  of  nil  dues 
except  c.x|M>rt  duties."  Hun 
dreds  of  millions  o(  dollars 
In  these  notes  were  Issued 
durlmr  the-  war.  Tho  bonds 
i-»u.-d  by  tho  cun.H|iimtors, 
from  time  to  time.  In  differ 
ent  denominations,  nl*o  to 
tin-  amount  of  hundred*  uf 
million*  of  dollars,  were  In 
tho  tiMidl  form  of  such  evi 
dences  of  debt,  nnd  contain 
ed  various  devices,  most  of 
them  of  u  warlike  character, 
an. I  several  of  them  with  a 
portrait  »t  M.  minim.-'  r.  the 
Ro-called  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  These  bonds  nnd 
notes*,  and  the  checks  of  the 
( 'oil  fed  *  Tat  e  ( io\*ernmeut,arc* 
all  much  Inferior  in  execu 
tion  t<>  those  issued  by  our 
Government.  On  the  notes, 
preen  and  blue  inks  were 
used  to  prevent  counter 
feits. 

1  This  Act  excepted  in 
its  operations  the  Slave- 
labor  States  not  in  tho  Con 
federacy,  namely :  Delaware. 
Maryland,  Kentucky,  and 
Missouri,  and  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

VOL.  I.— 35 


'! 


1  =  o  S     >;-:- 

^ffii>\     C^&    ^ 

SsO) 


:-,in!il,  ';:;,- 

OJ^VHI'/J  —        >*     '\ 


OON>EI)EK\TE    TRKASl'llV    NOTli 


546  ORIGIN  OF  THE  COTTON  LOAN. 

of  their  indebtedness  "into  the  treasury  of  the  Confederate  States,  in 
specie  or  treasury  notes,"  and  receive  for  the  same  the  treasurer's  certifi 
cate,  which  should  show  the  amount  paid  in,  and  on  what  account,  and 
the  rate  of  interest  to  be  allowed.  These  were  to  be  "  redeemable  at  the 
close  of  the  Avar  and  the.  restoration  of  peace,  in  specie  or  its  equivalent."1 
It  was  estimated  that  the  aggregate  of  the  indebtedness  of  the  business  men 
within  the  lines  of  the  so-called  Confederate  States  to  those  of  the  Free-labor 
States,  at  that  time,  was  about  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  All  honor 
able  debtors  gave  no  countenance  to  the  proposed  scheme  of  villainy,  and 
not  only  refrained  from  reporting  their  indebtedness  and  paying  the  amount 
into  the  treasury  of  the  conspirators,  but  took  every  favorable  opportunity 
to  liquidate  the  claims  of  Northern  creditors.  There  was  a  large  class  who 
favored  secession  because  by  its  means  they  hoped  to  avoid  paying  their 
debts.  These,  too,  kept  away  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  and  this 
notable'scheme  gave  the  craving  coffers  of  the  conspirators  very  little  relief. 
Still  another  scheme  for  insuring  the  sale  of  the  bonds  was  planned.  To 
recommend  them  to  the  confidence  of  the  people,  it  was  necessary  for  them 
to  have  some  tangible  basis  for  practical  purposes,  in  the  absence  of  specie. 
The  conspirators  could  not  calculate  upon  a  revenue  from  commerce,  for  the 
blockading  ships  of  the  Government  were  rapidly  closing  the  seaports  of 
States  in  which  rebellion  existed  to  regular  trade.  It  was  therefore  pro 
posed  to  make  the  great  staple  of  the  Confederacy — cotton — the  main  basis 
for  the  credit  of  the  bonds,  with  other  agricultural  products  in  a  less  degree. 
The  blockade  was,  of  necessity,  diminishing  the  commercial  value  of  the 
surplus  of  these  products,  for,  without  an  outlet  to  the  markets  of  the 
world,  they  were  useless.  The  experiment  was  tried ;  and  while  the  con 
spirators  realized  very  little  money,  almost  every  thing  required  for  the 
consumption  of  their  armies,  for  a  while,  was  supplied.  The  plan  was,  that 
the  planters  should  subscribe  for  the  use  of  the  government  a  certain  sum  of 
money  out  of  the  proceeds  of  a  certain  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  when 
sold,  the  planter  being  allowed  to  retain  the  custody  of  his  cotton,  and  the 
right  to  choose  his  time  for  its  sale.  When  sold,  he  received  the  amount  of 
his  subscription  in  the  bonds  of  the  Confederacy.  The  people  had  little 
confidence  in  these  bonds,  but  were  willing  to  invest  in  them  the  surplus  of 
their  productions,  which  they  could  not  sell ;  and  it  was  announced  by  the 
so-called  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  Confederates,  when  the  "  Con 
gress  "  reassembled  at  Richmond,  late  in  July,  that  subscriptions  to  the 
Cotton  Loan  amounted  to  over  fifty  millions  of  dollars.2  Bonds,  with  cot- 

1  Act*,  «fec.,  of  the  Confederate  Congress:  Second  Session,  page  88. 

2  Alexander  H.  Stephens  assumed  the  office  of  expounder  of  the  principles,  intentions,  and  effects  of  this 
Cotton  Loan.     The  object  of  the  scheme  was,  he  said,  to  avoid  taxing  the  people,  if  possible.     But  he  told  the 
inhabitants  of  Georgia,  plainly,  that  if  it  should  be  necessary  to  tax  the  people,  the  taxes  would  be  levied,  and 
they  would  be  compelled  to  pay  them.     "I  tell  you  the  government  does  not  intend  to  be  subjugated,"  he  said, 
"and  if  we  do  not  raise  the  money  by  loans,  if  the  people  do  not  contribute,  I  tell  you  we. intend  to  have  the 
money,  and  taxation  will  be  resorted  to,  if  nothing  else  will  raise  it.    Every  life  and  dollar  in  the  country  will  be 
demanded  rather  than  you  and  every  one  of  us  shall  be  overrun  by  the  enemy.      On  that  you  may  count.1"      He 
then  proceeded  to  speak  of  the  great  value  of  the  bonds,  which  bore  eight  per  cent,  interest,  payable  semi- 
aunually,  and  declared  that  if  the  Confederacy  was  not  defeated,  they  would  be  the  best  government  bonds  in 
the  world,  and  would  doubtless  command  a  premium  of  fifteen  or  twenty  per  cent.     At  the  same  time  he 
frankly  told  them  (what  came  to  pass)  that  if  the  schemes  of  the  conspirators  did  not  succeed,  "these  bonds 
will  not  be  worth  a  dime." — Speech  of  Alexander  II.  Stephens  to  a  Convention  of  Cotton-groicers  at  Augusta, 
July  11,  1861.     These  planters  well  understood  the  tenor  of  his  demands.     They  well  knew  that  an  omission  to 
eubftcribe  to  the  loan  would  be  constructive  treason  to  the  "  Confederate  States  Government,"  which  would  soon 


THE   CONSPIRATORS'  HEAD-QUARTERS   AT   RICHMOND.          547 

» 

ton  as  a  basis  of  promises  of  redemption,  to  the  amount  of  fifteen  millions 
of  dollars,  were  disposed  of  in  Europe,  chiefly  in  England.  We  shall  here 
after  further  consider  this  Cotton  Loan. 

In  retaliation  for  an  order  issued  by  Mr.  Chase,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  on  the  2d  of  May,  directing  all  officers  in  the  revenue  service,  on 
the  Northern  and  Northwestern  waters  of  the  United  States,  to  seize  and 
detain  all  arms,  munitions  of  war,  provisions,  and  other  supplies,  on  their 
way  toward  States  in  which  rebellion  existed — in  other  words,  establishing 
a  blockade  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  railways  leading  southward  from  Ken 
tucky — the  Confederates  forbade  the  exportation  of  raw  cotton  or  cotton 
yani,  "excepting  through*'  seaports  of  the  Confederate  States,  under  heavy 
penalties,  expecting  thereby  to  strike  a  heavy  blow  at  manufactures  in  the 
Free-labor  States.1  By  an  order. of  John  H.  Reagan,  the  so-called  Post 
master-General  of  the  Confederates,  caused  by  an  order  of  Postmaster-Gen 
eral  Blair  for  the  arrest  of  the  United  States  postal  service  in  States  wherein 
rebellion  existed,  after  the  31st  of  May,  the  postmas'ters  in  those  States  were 
ordered  to  retain  in  their  possession,  after  the  1st  of  June,  "for  the  benefit 
of  the  Confederate  States,  all  mail-bags,  locks  and  keys,  marking  and  other 
stamps,*'  and  "all  property  connected  with  the  postal  service." 

The  Confederate  "Congress"  adjourned  on  the  21st  of  May,  to  re 
assemble  at  Richmond  on  the  '20th  of  July  following,8  after  providing  for 
the  removal  thither  of  the  several  Executive  Departments  and  their  archives, 
and  authorizing  Davis,  if  it  "should  be  impolitic  to  meet  in  Richmond  "  at 
that  time,  to  call  it  together  elsewhere*.  He  was  also  authorized  to  proclaim 
a  Fast  Day,  which  he  did  on  the  25th,  appointing  as  such  the  13th  of  June. 
In  that  proclamation  he  said  :  "  Knowing  that  none  but  a  just  and  righteous 
cause  can  gain  the  Divine  favor,  we  would  implore  the  Lord  of  Hosts  to 
guide  and  direct  our  policy  in  the  paths  of  right,  duty,  justice,  and  mercy  ; 
to  unite  our  hearts  and  our  efforts  for  the  defense  of  our  dearest  rights ;  to 
strengthen  our  weakness,  crown  our  arms  with  success,  and  enable  us  to 
secure  a  speedy,  just,  and  honorable  peace/' 

On  Sunday,  the  26th,"  Davis  left  Montgomery  for  Richmond,  with  the 
intention,  it  is  said,  of  taking  command  of  the  Confederate  troops 
in  Virginia  in  person,1  accompanied  by  his  favorite  aid,  Wigfall,       '^7' 
of  Texas,4  and  Robert  Toombs,  his  "  Secretary  of  State."     His 
journey  was  a  continuous  ovation.     At  every  railway  station,  men,  women, 
and  children   greeted   him   with   cheers  and   the  waving  of  handkerchiefs. 
u  When   the  flute-like  voice  of  Davis,"  said   a  reporter  of  the  Richmond 


fln-l  the  force  of  a  ponalty.  an<l  so  they  subscribed,  with  a  feeling  akin  to  that  of  Englishmen  in  the  case  of  the 
levying  of  ship-money  by  Charles  the  First;  a  proceeding  that  cost  him  his  head,  and  his  heir  a  kingdom. 

'  Act  approved  May  21.  1*61. 

*  In  a  speech  at  Atlanta.  Georgia,  on  the  (by  after  the  adjournment.  Howell  Oobb  cave  reasons  for  thf  ad 
journment  to  Kichmond:— "  I  will  tell  you  why  we  did  this,"  he  said.  "The  Old  Dominion,  as  you  know,  has 
at  last  shaken  off  the  bonds  of  Lincoln,  and  joined  her  noble  Southern  Bisters.  Her  soil  is  to  be  the  battle 
ground,  and  her  strains  are  to  be  dyed  with  Southern  blood.  We  felt  that  her  cause  was  our  cause,  and  that  if 
she  fell,  we  wanted  to  die  by  her.  We  have  sent  our  soldiers  into  the  posts  of  danger,  and  we  wanted  to  be 
there  to  aid  and  counsel  our  brave  boys.  In  the  progress  of  the  war.  further  legislation  may  be  necessary,  and 
we  will  be  there,  that  when  the  hour  of  danger  eonu-s.  we  may  lay  aside  the  robes  of  legislation,  buckle  on  th« 
armor  of  the  soldier,  and  do  battle  beside  the  bn»T«  ones  who  have  volunteered  for  the  defense  of  our  beloved 
South."  This  was  the  open  pretense.  The  speaker,  with  wise  caution,  refrained  from  avowing  the  real  reason 
to  be,  to  keep  war  from  the  households  of  the  Monttrornery  conspirators,  who  well  knew  that  one  grand  objective 
of  the  National  Army  would  be  the  possession  of  the  seat  of  the  Confederate  "Government." 

1  Speech  of  Alexander  II.  Stephens  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  May  25.  1861.  «  See  pages  81  and  82fi. 


548 


DAVIS'S  JOURNEY   TO  RICHMOND. 


Enquirer,  who  had  been  sent  to  chronicle  the  journey,  "arose  upon  the  air, 
hushed  to  silence  by  the  profound  respect  of  his  auditors,  it  was  not  long 
before  there  was  an  outburst  of  feeling  which  gave  vent  to  a  tornado  of 
voices.  Every  sentiment  he  uttered  seemed  to  well  up  from  his  heart,  and 
was  received  with  the  wildest  enthusiasm."  The  modesty  of  Wigfall  on  the 
occasion  was  most  remarkable.  "  In  vain,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  he  would 
seek  some  remote  part  of  the  cars ;  the  crowd  hunted  him  up,  and  the  welkin 
rang  with  rejoicings,  as  he  addressed  them  in  his  emphatic  and  fervent  style 
of  oratory."  Toombs  was  likewise  modest.  "  He,  too,"  said  the  chronicler, 
"  sought  to  avoid  the  call,  but  the  echo  would  ring  with  the  name  of  Toombs ! 
Toombs !  and  the  sturdy  Georgia  statesman  had  to  respond."  At  Golds- 
boro',  in  North  Carolina,  Davis  was  received  at  the  cars  by  the  military  (a 

part  of  which  were  some  of  the  mounted 
riflemen  of  that  State,  then  on  their  way  to 
Virginia),  who  escorted  him  to  the  hotel, 
where  he  supped.  "The  hall,"  says  the 
chronicler,  "  was  thronged  with  beautiful 
girls,  and  many  were  decking  him  with  gar* 
lands  of  flowers,  while  others  fanned  him. 
It  was  a  most  interesting  occasion."  After 
declaring  that  the  confidence  of  the  people 
showed  "  that  the  mantle  of  Washington " 
fell  "  gracefully  upon  the  shoulders  "  of  the 
arch-conspirator,  the  historian  of  the  journey 
said:  "Never  were  a  people  more  enraptured 
with  their  chief  magistrate  than  ours  are  with 
President  Davis,  and  the  trip  from  Mont 
gomery  to  Richmond  will  ever  be  remembered 
with  delight  by  all  who  witnessed  it."1 

Davis  and  his  party  were  met  at  Peters 
burg  by  Governor  Letcher  and  the  Mayor 
(Mayo)  of  Richmond ;  and  he  was  escorted 

into  his  future  "  capital "  by  soldiers  and  civilians,  and  out  to  the  "  Fair 
Grounds,"  where  he  addressed  a  great  crowd  of  people,"  and  de 
clared  that,  to  the  last  breath  of  his  life,  he  was  wholly  their  own. 
On  the  evening  of  the  31st  he  was  serenaded,  when  he  took  the 
occasion  to  utter  that  memorable  speech,  so  characteristic  of  the  orator  when 
ever  he  was  impressed  with  a  sense  of  power  in  his  own  hands,  which  gave 
the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States  an  indication  of  the  spirit  that  ani 
mated  the  conspirators,  and  with  which  the  opening  war  would  be  waged. 
He  said  that  upon  the  Confederates  was  laid  the  "high  and  holy  responsi 
bility  of  preserving  the  constitutional  liberty  of  a  free  government."  "  Those 
with  whom  we  have  lately  associated,"  he  said,  "  have  shown  themselves  so 
incapable  of  appreciating  the  blessings  of  the  glorious  institutions  they  in 
herited,  that  they  are  to-day  stripped  of  the  liberty  to  which  they  were  born. 
They  have  allowed  an  ignorant  usurper  to  trample  upon  all  the  prerogatives 
of  citizenship,  and  to  exercise  powers  never  delegated  to  him ;  and  it  has 


NORTH    CAROLINA   MOUNTED    KIFLEMAN. 


May  28, 
1861. 


1  Richmond  Examiner,  May  28,  1S61. 


DA  VIS'S   SPEECH   AT   RICHMOND. 


549 


been  reserved  to  your  State,  so  lately  one  of  the  original  thirteen,  but  now, 
thank  God !  fully  separated  from  them,  to  become  the  theater  of  a  great 
central  camp,  from  which  will  pour  forth  thousands  of  brave  hearts,  to  roll 
back  the  tide  of  this  despotism.  Apart  from  that  gratification  we  may  well 
feel  at  being  separated  from  such  a  connection,  is  the  pride  that  upon  you 
devolves  the  task  of  maintaining  and  defending  our  new  government.  I 
believe  that  we  shall  be  able  to  achieve  this  noble  work,  and  that  the  institu 
tions  of  our  fathers  will  go  to  our  children  as  safely  as  they  have  descended 
to  us.  In  these  Confederate  States,  we  observe  those  relations  which  have 
been  poetically  ascribed  to  the  United  States,  but  which  never  there  had  the 
same  reality — States  so  distinct  that  each  existed  as  a  sovereign,  yet  so 
united  that  each  was  bound  with  the  other  to  constitute  a  whole — 'Distinct 
as  the  billows, 
vet  one  as  the 

sea.     L  pon  ev-  £•*  = 

ery  hill  which 
now  overlooks 
Richmond  you 
have  had,  and 
will  continue 
to  have,  camps 
containing  sol 
diers  from  ev 
ery  State  in 
the  Confeder 
acy  ;  and  to  its 
remotest  lim 
its  every  proud 

heart  beats  high  with  indignation  :it  tin-  thought  that  the  foot  of  the 
invader  has  been  set  upon  the  soil  of  Old  Virginia.  There  is  not  one  true 
son  of  the  South  who  is  not  ready  to  shoulder  his  musket,  to  bleed,  to  die,  or 
to  conquer  in  the  cause  of  liberty  here.  .  .  .  We  have  now  reached  the  point 
where,  arguments  being  exhausted,  it  only  remains  for  us  to  stand  by  our 
weapons.  When  the  time  and  occasion  serve,  we  shall  smite  the  smiter  with 
manly  arms,  as  did  our  fathers  before  us,  and  as  becomes  their  sons.  To  the 
enemy  we  leave  the  base  acts  of  the  assassin  and  incendiary.1  To  them  we 
leave  it  to  insult  helpless  women  ;  to  us  belongs  vengeance  upon  man."  He 
had  ceased  speaking,  and  was  about  to  retire,  when  a  voice  in  the  crowd 
shouted  :  "Tell  us  something  about  Buena  Vista,"  when  he  turned  and  said : 
4k  Well,  my  friends,  I  can  only  say  we  will  make  the  battle-fields  in  Virginia 
another  Buena  Vista,  and  drench  them  with  blood  more  precious  than  that 
which  flowed  there." 

The  Virginians  were  so  insane  with  passion  at  that  time,  that  instead  of 
rebuking  Davis  for  virtually  reiterating  the  assurance  given  to  the  people  of 
the  more  Southern  States,  "You  may  plant  your  seed  in  peace,  for  Old  Vir 
ginia  will  have  to  bear  the  brunt  of  battle,"-  they  rejoiced  because  upon  every 
hill  around  their  State  capital  were  camps  of  "  soldiers  from  every  State  in 


DAVIS  8    KE8IHKNCE    IS    Riril.MoM). 


1  Sec  the  proposition  to  destroy  the  National  Capitol,  with  Congress  in  session,  on  page  523. 
1  Sec  note  1,  pa-re  344. 


550  BEAUREGARD'S   PROCLAMATION. 

the  Confederacy ;"  and  the  citizens  of  that  capital  purchased  from  James  A. 
Seddon  (afterward  Confederate  "  Secretary  of  War")  his  elegant  mansion, 
on  the  corner  of  Clay  and  Twelfth  Streets,  and  presented  it,  sumptuously 
furnished,  to  the  "  President  "  for  a  residence.1 

In  successful  imitation  of  his  chief,  Beauregard,  who  arrived  at  Richmond 
on  the  1st  of  June,a  and  proceeded  to  take  command  of  the 
Confederate  troops  in  the  "Department  of  Alexandria,"  issued  a 
proclamation  from  "  Camp  Pickens,  Manassas  Junction,"  to  the  inhabitants 
of  that  region  of  Virginia,  which  has  forev7er  linked  his  name  with  those  of 
the  dishonorable  men  of  his  race.2  The  obvious  intention  of  Davis  and  Beau- 
regard,  and  the  authors  of  scores  upon  scores  of  speeches  at  political  gather 
ings,  from  pulpits,  and  to  soldiers  on  their  departure  for  the  seat  of  war, 
poured  forth  continually  at  that  time  in  all  parts  of  the  Confederacy,  was,  by 
the  most  reckless  disregard  of  truth,  and  the  employment  of  the  most  incen 
diary  language,  to  "  fire  the  Southern  heart,"  and  make  the  people  and  the 
soldiers  believe  that  they  were  called  upon  to  resist  a  horde  of  cut-throats 
and  plunderers,  let  loose  by  an  ignorant  usurper,  for  the  sole  object  of  de 
spoiling  the  Slave-labor  States.  Every  thing  that  malignity  could  imagine 
and  language  could  express,  calculated  to  cast  discredit  upon  the  National 
Government,  abase  the  President  in  the  opinions  of  the  Southern  people,  and 
make  them  hate  and  despise  their  political  brethren  in  the  Free-labor  States, 


1  The  view  of  the  residence  of  Davis  in  Richmond,  given  on  the  preceding  page,  is  from  a  sketch  made  by 
the  writer  just  after  that  city  was  evacuated  by  the  Confederates,  in  April,  1865.     It  was  a  brick  house,  painted 
a  stone  color.     On  the  corner  diagonally  opposite  was  the  residence  of  A.  H.  Stephens.     In  front  of  the  residence 
of  Davis  is  seen  a  sentry-box,  and  beyond  it  the  stables  belonging  to  the  establishment.     The  house  was  occu 
pied,  at  the  time  of  the  writer's  visit,  by  General  Ord,  who  had  there  the  table  on  which  Lee  and  Grant  had 
signed  articles  of  capitulation  a  few  days  before.    A  picture  of  it  will  be  found  in  another  part  of  this  work.    A 
small  black-and-tan  terrier  dog  that  belonged  to  Mrs.  Davis  was  left  in  the  house  when  the  "President"  hastily 
fled  from  Eichmond,  at  midnight,  early  in  April,  1865. 

2  The  following  is  a  copy  of  Beauregard's  proclamation  : — "A  reckless  and  unprincipled  tyrant  has  invaded 
your  soil.     Abraham  Lincoln,  regardless  of  all  moral,  legal,  and  constitutional  restraints,  has  thrown  his  Aboli 
tion  hosts  among  you,  who  are  murdering  and  imprisoning  your  citizens,  confiscating  and  destroying  your 
property,  and  committing  other  acts  of  violence  and  outrage  too  shocking  and  revolting  to  humanity  to  be 
enumerated.     All  rules  of  civilized  warfare  are  abandoned,  and  they  proclaim  by  their  acts,  if  not  on  their  ban 
ners,  that  their  war-cry  is  '  Beauty  and  Booty.1    All  that  is  dear  to  man— your  honor,  and  that  of  your  wives 
and  daughters,  your  fortunes,  and  your  lives — are  involved  in  this  momentous  contest.     In  the  name,  therefore, 
of  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  Confederate  States — in  the  sacred  cause  of  constitutional  liberty  and  self- 
government,  for  which  we  are  contending — in  behalf  of  civilization  itself— I,   G.  T.   Beauregard,  Brigadier- 
General  of  the  Confederate  States,  commanding  at  Camp  Pickens,  Manassas  Junction,  do  make  this  my  procla 
mation,  and  invite  and  enjoin  you,  by  every  consideration  dear  to  the  hearts  of  freemen  and  patriots,  by  the 
name  and  memory  of  your  Eevolutionary  fathers,  and  by  the  purity  and  sanctity  of  your  domestic  firesides, 
to  rally  to  the  standard  of  your  State  and  country,  and,  by  every  means  in  your  power  compatible  with  honor 
able  warfare,  to  drive  back  and  expel  the  invaders  from  your  land.     I  enjoin  you  to  be  true  and  loyal  to  your 
country  and  her  legal  and  constitutional  authorities,  and  especially  to  be  vigilant  of  the  movements  and  acts  of 
the  enemy,  so  as  to  enable  you  to  give  the  earliest  authentic  information  at  these  head-quarters,  or  to  officers 
under  my  command.     I  desire  to  assure  you  that  the  utmost  protection  in  my  power  will  be  given  to  you  all." 

The  reader  will  comprehend  the  infamy  and  shamelessness  displayed  in  this  proclamation,  by  considering 
that  it  was  from  a  man  who,  at  the  head  of  several  thousand  troops,  had.  almost  two  months  before,  when  there 
was  no  war  in  the  land,  assailed  a  garrison  of  seventy  men  in  Fort  Sumter,  and  when  its  interior  was  all  on  fire, 
inhumanly  allowed,  if  not  directed,  his  gunners  to  fire  red-hot  shot  and  heavy  bombshells  with  increased  rapid 
ity  into  that  furnace  where  the  little  band  of  defenders  were  almost  roasting;  also,  by  considering  the  fact  that 
at  the  time  this  proclamation  was  issued,  the  only  National  troops  in  Virginia  (excepting  in  the  loyal  western 
counties)  were  those  who  were  holding,  as  a  defensive  position  in  front  of  Washington,  Arlington  Rights  and 
the  shore  of  the  Potomac  to  Alexandria,  and  the  village  of  Hampton,  near  Fortress  Monroe.  It  must  be  re 
membered,  also,  that  the  only  "murders"  that  had  been  committed  at  that  time  were  inflicted  on  the  bodies  of 
Massachusetts  soldiers  by  his  associates  in  Baltimore,  and  on  the  body  of  Colonel  Ellsworth  by  one  of  his  con 
federates  in  treason  in  Alexandria.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  the  superiors  of  the  author  of  this  pro 
clamation,  at  about  the  same  time,  entertained  a  proposition  for  wholesale  murder  at  the  National  Capital.  Sec 
page  523.  Beauregard  was  noted,  throughout  the  war,  for  his  official  misrepresentations,  his  ludicrous  boastings, 
and  his  signal  failures  as  a  military  leader,  as  the  record  will  show 


DISLOYALTY   IN   MARYLAND.  551 

was,  as  we  have  already  observed,  continually  thrust  upon  the  notice  of  that 
people  through  the  most  respectable  as  well  as  the  most  disreputable  of  their 
public  speakers  and  journals.  The  Richmond  papers,  published  under  the 
inspiration  of  Davis  and  his  fellow-conspirators,  were  especiallv  offensive. 
Sufficient  has  been  cited  from  thes.e  journals,  and  others  in  the  Slave-labor 
States,  to  show  how  horribly  the  minds  of  the  people  were  abused ;  and  yet 
what  we  have  given  is  mild  in  sentiment  and  decent  in  expression  compared 
with  much  that  filled  the  newspapers  of  the  Confederacy  and  was  heard  from 
the  lips  of  leaders. 

The  speech  of  Davis  and  the  proclamation  of  Beauregard  were  applauded 
by  the  secession  leaders  in  Washington  City  and  in  Baltimore,  as  exhibiting 
the  ring  of  true  metal,  and  gave  a  new  impulse  to  their  desires  for  linking 
the  fortunes  of  Maryland  with  the  Confederacy,  and  renewed  their  hopes  of  a 
speedy  consummation  of  their  wishes.  The  temporary  panic  that  seized  them 
when  Butler  so  suddenly  took  military  possession  of  Baltimore  had  quickly 
subsided  after  he  was  called  away;  and  under  the  mild  administration  of 
martial  law  by  General  Cadwalader,  his  successor,  they  became  dailv  more 
bold  and  detiant,  ami  gave  much  uneasiness  to  the  Government.  It  was 
known  that  the  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Maryland  Legislature  were 
disloyal,  and  that  secretly  and  openly  they  were  doing  all  they  could  to 
array  their  State  against  the  National  Government.  A  committee  of  that 
body  '  had  addressed  a  sympathizing  epistle  to  Jefferson  Davis,  in  which  he 
was  unwarrantably  assured  that  the  people  of  Maryland  coincided  with  the 
conspirators  in  sentiment;  for  at  the  elections  for  members  of 
Congress,"  to  represent  the  State  in  the  extraordinary  session  to 
begin  on  the  4th  of  July,  so  loyal  was  the  great  mass  ot  the  peo 
ple  of  that  State,  that  not  a  single  sympathizer  with  secession  was 

In  the  city  of  Baltimore  was  the  head  of  the  secession  movements  in  the 
State;  and  it  was  made  apparent  to  the  Government,  early  in 
June,*  that  there  was  a  powerful  combination  there  whose  purpose 
was  to  co-operate  with  the  armed  insurgents  in  Virginia  in  attempts  to  seize 
the  National  Capital,  by  preventing  soldiers  from  the  North  passing  through 
that  city,  and  by  arming  men  to  cross  into  Virginia  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the 
insurgents  there.  The  Government  took  energetic  steps  to  avert  the  threat 
ened  danger.  X.  P.  Hanks,  Kx-Governor  of  Massachusetts,  who  had  lately 
been  appointed  a  Major-General  of  Volunteers,  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  Department  of  Annapolis,  with  his  head-quarters  at  Baltimore;  and 
on  the  10th  of  June  he  succeeded  Cadwalader,  who  joined  the  expedition 
under  General  Patterson.2  It  soon  became  so  evident  to  Banks  that  the 
Board  of  Police,  and  Kane,3  the  Chief  of  that  body,  were  in  active  sympathy, 
if  not  in  actual  complicity,  with  the  conspirators,  that  he  reported  to  his 
Government  his  suspicions  of  the  dangerous  character  of  that  organization, 
suspicions  which  subsequent  events  showed  to  be  well  founded. 

After  satisfying  himself  of  the  guilt  of  certain  officials,  General  Banks 
ordered  a  large  body  of  soldiers,  armed  and  supplied  with  ball-cartridges,  to 
march  from  Fort  McIIenry  into  the  city  just  before  daybreak  on  the  27th 


«  June  13, 
186L 


1  The  Committee  consisted  of  Messrs.  MeKaig,  Ycllott,  nml  H.irding. 

*  8*M>  j.age  5*21.  *  See  pago  2SL 


552 


MARTIAL   LAW  IN   BALTIMORE. 


of  June,  and  to  proceed  to  the  arrest  of  Marshal  Kane,  and  his  incarceration 
in  that  fort.  He  at  once  gave  to  the  people,  in  a  proclamation,  his  reasons 
for  the  act.  He  told  them  it  was  not  his  intention  to  interfere  in  the  least 
with  the  legitimate  government  of  the  citizens  of  Baltimore  or  of  the  State  ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  was  his  desire  to  "  support  the  public  authorities  in  all 
appropriate  duties.  But  unlawful  combinations  of  men,"  he  continued,  "  or 
ganized  for  resistance  to  such  laws,  that  provide  hidden  deposits  of  arms  and 
ammunition,  encourage  contraband  traffic  with  men  at  war  with  the  Govern 
ment,  and,  while  enjoying  its  protection  and  privileges,  stealthily  wait  an 
opportunity  to  combine  their  means  and  force  with  those  in  rebellion  against 
its  authority,  are  not  among  the  recognized  or  legal  rights  of  any  class  of 
men,  and  cannot  be  permitted  under  any  form  of  government  whatever." 
He  said  that  such  combinations  were  well  known  to  exist  in  his  department, 
and  that  the  Chief  of  Police  was  not  only  believed  to  be  cognizant  of  those 
facts,  "but,  in  contravention  of  his  duty  and  in  violation  of  law,"  was,  "by 
direction  or  indirection,  both  witness  and  protector  to  the  transaction  and 
parties  engaged  therein."  Under  such  circumstances,  the  Government  could 
not  "  regard  him  otherwise  than  as  the  head  of  an  armed  force  hostile  to  its 
authority,  and  acting  in  concert  with  its  avowed  enemies."  He  further  pro 
claimed  that,  in  accordance  with  instructions, 
he  had  appointed  Colonel  (afterward  Brigadier- 
General)  John  R.  Kenly,  of  the  First  Mary 
land  Volunteers,  provost-marshal  in  and  for  the 
city  of  Baltimore,  "to  superintend  and  cause 
to  be  executed  the  police  laws  "  of  the  city, 
"  with  the  aid  and  assistance  of  the  subordi 
nate  officers  of  the  police  department."  He 
assured  the  citizens  that  whenever  a  loyal  man 
among  them  should  be  named  for  the  perfor 
mance  of  the  duty  of  chief  of  police,  the  mili 
tary  would  at  once  yield  to  the  civil  authority. 
Colonel  Kenly  was  well  known  and  highly 
respected  as  an  influential  citizen  and  thorough 
loyalist ;  and  he  entered  upon  the  important 
duties  of  his  office  with  promptness  and  en 
ergy.  The  Police  Commissioners  '  had  met  as 
soon  as  Banks's  proclamation  appeared,  and 
protested  against  his  act  as  illegal,  and  declared 

that  the  ."  suspension  of  their  functions  suspended  at  the  same  time  the 
operations  of  the  police  laws,"  and  put  the  subordinate  officers  and  men  off 
duty.  This  declaration  filled  the  citizens  with  the  liveliest  excitement,  caused 
by  indignation  and  alarm.  They  felt  that  they  were  given  over  to  the  power 
of  the  worst  elements  of  society,  with  no  law  to  protect  them. 
Banks  hastened,  by  the  publication a  of  instructions  to  Kenly,  to 
disabuse  and  quiet  the  public  mind.  He  therein  declared  that 
the  functions  of  the  police  officers  and  men,  and  the  operations  of  police 


FIRST   MARYLAND   REGIMENT. 


*  June  27, 
1861. 


1  These  Commissioners  were  Charles  Howard,  President,  and  William  II.  Gatchell,  Charles  D.  Ilincks,  and 
John  W.  Davis,  with  George  W.  Brown,  the  Mayor,  who  was  e,x-officio  a  member  of  the  Board. 


MILITARY   AND    CIVIL  AUTHpRITY  IN   CONFLICT. 


553 


laws,  were  in  full  force,  excepting  so  far  as  the  latter  affected  the  Commis 
sioners  and  the  Chief  of  Police  ;  and  he  authorized  Kenly,  in  the  event  of  a 
refusal  of  any  of  the  police  force  to  perform  their  duty,  to  select,  in  conjunc 
tion  with  such  of  the  public  authorities  as 
would  aid  him,  "  good  men  and  true,"  to 
fill  their  places. 

Kenly  worked  with  energy.  He  chose 
to  select  new  men  for  a  police  force.  Be 
fore  midnight,  he  had  enrolled,  organized, 
and  armed  such  a  force,  twro  hundred  and 
fifty  strong,  composed  of  Union  citizens 
whom  he  could  trust,  and  had  taken  pos 
session  of  the  head-quarters  of  the  late 
Marshal  and  Police  Commissioners,  in  the 
Old  City  Hall,  on  Holliday  Street.  In 
that  building  he  found  ample  evidence  of 
the  guiltiness  of  the  late  occupants.  Con 
cealed  beneath  the  floors,  in  several  rooms, 
were  found  a  large  number  of  arms,  con 
sisting  of  muskets,  rifles,  shot-guns,  carbines,  pistols,  swords,  and  dirk  knives, 
with  ample  ammunition  of  various  kinds ;  also,  in  the  covered  yard  or  wood- 
room  in  the  rear,  in  a  position  to  command  Watch-house  Alley,  leading  to 
Saratoga  Street,  were  two  6-pound  and  two  4-pound  iron  cannon,  with  suit 
able  cartridges  and  balls.  In  that  building  was  also  found  the  cannon-ball 
sent  from  Charleston  to  Marshal  Kane,  delineated  on  page  322.  These  dis 
coveries,  and  others  of  like  character  in  other  parts  of  the  city,  together 

with  the  rebellious  conduct  of  the 
Board  of  Police,  who  continued 
their  sittings  daily,  refused  to  ac 
knowledge  the  new  policemen,  and 
held  the  old  "force  subject  to  their 
orders,  seemed  to  warrant  the  Gov 
ernment  in  ordering  their  arrest. 
They  were  accordingly  taken  into 
custody,  and  were  confined  in  Fort 
Warren,  in  Boston  Harbor,  as  pris 
oners  of  State. 

These  vigorous  measures  secured 
the  ascendency  of  the  Unionists  in 
Maryland,  which  they  never  after- 

ou>  cm-  HALL,  BALTIMORE.'  vard  lost'     Jt  was  thenceforward 

entitled  to  the  honor  of  being   a 

loyal  State,  and   Baltimore  a  loyal  city.    The  secessionists  were 
silenced;  and,  at  the  suggestion  of  many  Unionists  of  Baltimore,     " ^j^10' 
George  R.  Dodge,  a  citizen  and  a  civilian,  was  appointed"  marshal 
of  police   in  place  of  Colonel   Kenly,  who,  with  his  regiment,  soon  after- 


1  Tliis  Is  a  view  of  the  building  as  it  appeared  when  the  writer  sketched  it,  in  the  autumn  of  1864,  from 
Holliday  Street,  near  Saratoga  Street.  Adjoining  it  is  seen  the  yard  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  and  in 
the  distance  the  spire  of  Christ  Church.  The  City  Hall  was  built  of  brick,  and  stuccoed. 


554  DISLOYAL  MARYLANDERS   IN   RICHMOND. 

ward  joined  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  When  the  necessity  for  their  pres 
ence  no  longer  existed,  Banks  withdrew  his  troops  from  the  city,  where 
they  had  been  posted  at  the  various  public  buildings  and  other  places; 
and,  late  in  July,  he  superseded  General  Patterson  in  command  on  the 
Upper  Potomac,  and  his  place  in  Baltimore  was  filled  by  General  John  A. 
Dix.  A  few  days  later,  Federal  Hill  was  occupied,  as  we  have  observed, 
by  the  Fifth  New  York  regiment  (Zouaves),  under  Colonel  Duryee  (who 
was  appointed  a  brigadier  on  the  31st  of  August),  and  by  their  hands  the 
strong  works  known  as  Fort  Federal  Hill  were  constructed. 

The  turn  of  affairs  in  Maryland  was  disheartening  to  the  conspirators. 
They  had  counted  largely  upon  the  active  co-operation  of  its  citizens  in  the 
important  military  movements  about  to  be  made,  when  Johnston  should 
force  his  way  across  the  Potomac,  and  with  their  aid  strike  a  deadly  blow 
for  the  possession  of  the  National  Capital  in  its  rear.  These  expectations 
had  been  strongly  supported  by  refugees  from  their  State  who  had  made 
their  way  to  Richmond,  and  these,  forming  themselves  into  a  corps  called 
The  Maryland  Guard,  had  shown  their  faith  by  offering  their  services  to 
the  Confederacy.  These  enthusiastic  young  men,  blinded  by  their  own  zeal, 
assured  the  conspirators  that  the  sympathies  of  a  greater  portion  of  the  peo 
ple  of  their  State  were  with  them.  This  was  confirmed  by  the  arrival  of  a 
costly  "  Confederate  "  banner  for  the  corps,  wrought  by  women  of  Baltimore, 
and  sent  clandestinely  to  them  by  a  sister  secessionist.  This  was 
publicly  presented  to  the  Guard a  on  Capitol  Square,  in  front  of  the 
monument  there  erected  in  honor  of  Washington  and  the  founders 

O 

of  Virginia.1  Ex-Senator  Mason  made  a  speech  on  the  occasion,  in  which  the 
hopes  of  the  conspirators  concerning  Maryland  were  set  forth.  "  Your  own 
honored  State,"  he  sai,d,  uis  with  us  heart  and  soul  in  this  great  controversy. 
.  .  .  We  all  know  that  the  same  spirit  which  brought  you  here  actuates 
thousands  who  remain  at  home."  He  complimented  Chief  Justice  Taney  for 
his  sympathies  with  the  conspirators,  as  one  (referring  to  his  action  in  the 
case  of  Merryman2)Nvho  had  "  stood  bravely  in  the  breach,  and  interposed 
the  unspotted  arm  of  Justice  between  the  rights  of  the  South  and  the  malig 
nant  usurpation  of  power  by  the  North."  In  conclusion,  after  hinting  at 
a  contemplated  Confederate  invasion  of  Maryland,  in  which  the  troops  before 
him  were  expected  to  join,3  he  told  them  they  were  to  take  the  flag  back  to 
Baltimore.  "  It  came  here,"  he  said,  "  in  the  hands  of  the  fair  lady  who 
stands  by  my  side,  who  brought  it  through  the  camps  of  the  enemy  with  a 

1  The  Richmond  Despatch  of  June  10  thus  announced  the  event: — "Mrs.  Augustus  McLaughlin,  the  wife 
of  one  of  the  officers  of  the  late  United  States  Navy,  who  brought  the  flag  from  Baltimore,  concealed  as  only  a 
lady  knows  how,  was  present,  and  received  the  compliments  of  a  large  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  who 
surrounded  her  upon  the  steps  of  the  monument." — Moore's  Rebellion  Record,  vol.  i.,  Diary,  page  96. 

On  the  banner  were  the  following  words : — "The  Ladies  of  Baltimore  present  this  flag  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America  to  the  soldiers  comprising  the  Maryland  Regiment  now  serving  in  Virginia,  as  a  slight  testi 
monial  of  the  esteem  in  which  their  valor,  their  love  of  right,  and  determination  to  uphold  true  constitutional 
liberty  are  approved,  applauded,  and  appreciated  by  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  Monumental  City." 

2  See  page  451. 

3  A  correspondent  of  the  Charleston  Mercury,   writing  at  Richmond,  on  the  4th  of  July,  said: — "Every 
thing  depends  upon  the  success  and  movements  of  General  Johnston.     If  he  has  orders  from  President  Davis 
to  march  into  Maryland,  and  towards  Baltimore,  the  game  commences  at  once.     Lincoln  will  find  himself  en 
compassed  by  forces  in  front  and  rear.      Cut  off  from  the  North  and  West,  Washington  will  be  destroyed,  and 
the  footsteps  of  the  retreating  army,  though  tracked  in  blood  across  the  soil  of  Maryland — as  they  assuredly 
will  be,  in  such  an  event— may  possibly  pave  the  way  to  an  honorable  peace."— Duyckinck's  War  for  th« 
Union,  i.  249. 


PIRATES   ON  THE   CHESAPEAKE.  '555 

woman's  fortitude  and  courage  and  devotion  to  our  cause  ;  and  you  are  to 
take  it  back  to  Baltimore,  unfurl  it  in  your  streets,  and  challenge  the  applause 
of  your  citizens."  For  more  than  three  years  the  conspirators  were  deceived 
by  the  belief  that  Maryland  was  their  ally  in  heart,  but  was  made  powerless 
by  military  despotism ;  and  her  refugee  sons  were  continually  calling  with 
faith,  in  the  spirit  of  Randall's  popular  lyric  : — 

"  Dear  Mother !  burst  the  tyrant's  chain, 

Maryland  ! 
Virginia  should  not  call  in  vain, 

Maryland ! 

She  meets  her  sisters  on  the  plain  ; 
4  Sic  Semper,'1  'tis  the  proud  refrain 
That  battles  minions  back  again, 

Maryland  ! 
Arise  in  majesty  again, 

Maryland !  my  Maryland  !"  ' 

The  delusion  was  dispelled  when,  in  the  summer  of  1863,  Lee  invaded 
Maryland,  with  the  expectation  of  receiving  large  accessions  to  his  army  in 
that  State,  but  lost  by  desertion  far  more  than  he  gained  by  recruiting. 

At  about  this  time,  a  piratical  expedition  was  undertaken  on  Chesapeake 
Bay,  and  successfully  carried  out  by  some  Mary  landers.  On  the 
day  after  the  arrest  of  Kane,"  the  steamer  St.  Xicholas,  Captain  a  J^  2S' 
Kirwan,  that  plied  between  Baltimore  and  Point  Lookout,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Potomac  River,  left  the  former  place  with  forty  or  fifty  pas 
sengers,  including  about  twenty  men  who  passed  for  mechanics.  There  were 
also  a  few  women,  and  among  them  was  one  who  professed  to  be  a  French 
lady.  When  the  steamer  was  near  Point  Lookout,  the  next  morning,  this 
"  French  lady,"  suddenly  transformed  to  a  stout  young  man,  in  the  person  of 
a  son  of  a  citizen  of  St.  Mary's  County,  Maryland,  named  Thomas,  and  sur 
rounded  by  the  band  of  pretended  mechanics,  all  well  armed,  demanded  of 
Captain  Kirwan  the  immediate  surrender  of  his  vessel.  Kirwan  had  no 
means  for  successful  resistance,  and  yielded.  The  boat  was  taken  to  the 
Virginia  side  of  the  river,  and  the  passengers  were  landed  at  Cone  Point, 
while  the  captain  and  crew  were  retained  as  prisoners.  There  one  hundred 
and  fifty  armed  accomplices  of  the  pirates,  pursuant  to  an  arrangement,  went 
on  board  the  St.  Nicholas,  which  was  destined  for  the  Confederate  naval 
service.  She  then  went  cruising  down  the  Chesapeake  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Rappahannock  River,  where  she  captured  three  brigs  laden  respectively  with 
coffee,  ice,  and  coal.  With  her  prizes,  she  went  up  the  Rappahannock  to 
Fredericksburg,  where  the  pirates  sold  their  plunder,  divided  the  prize- 
money,  and  were  entertained  at  a  public  dinner  by  the  delighted  citizens  of 
that  town,  then  suffering  from  the  blockade,  when  Thomas  appeared  in  his 
costume  of  a  "French  lady,"  and  produced  great  merriment. 

A  few  days  after  this  outrage,  officers  Carmichael2  and  Ilorton,  of  Kenly's 
Baltimore  police  force,  were  at  Fair  Haven,  on  the  Chesapeake,  with  a  cul- 


1  Written  by  James  R.  Randall,  at  Point  Coupoe,  Louisiana,  on  the  26th  of  April,  1S61.  It  contains  nine 
stanzas,  and  was  very  popular  throughout  the  "Confederacy."  It  was  successfully  parodied  by  a  loyal  writer, 
after  Lee's  invasion  of  Maryland. 

7  This  was  Thomas  Carmichael,  who  was  afterward  marshal  of  the  police  of  Baltimore,  and.  with  officer 
P.  P.  West,  arrested  a  number  of  the  members  of  the  Maryland  Legislature  on  a  charge  of  disloyalty. 


556'  PIRATICAL   OPERATIONS   ON   THE   OCEAN. 

prit  in  charge.  They  took  passage  for  home  in  the  steamer  Mary  "Washing 
ton,  Captain  Mason  L.  Weems.  On  board  of  her  were  Captain  Kir  wan  and 
his  fellow-prisoners,  who  had  been  released ;  also  Thomas,  the  pirate,  and 
some  of  his  accomplices,  who  were  preparing,  no  doubt,  to  repeat  their  bold 
and  profitable  achievement.  Carmichael  was  informed  of  their  presence, 
and  directed  Weems  to  land  his  passengers  at  Fort  McHenry.  When 
Thomas  perceived  the  destination  of  the  vessel  he  remonstrated  ;  and,  finally, 
drawing  his  revolver,  and  calling  around  him  his  armed  associates,  he  threat 
ened  to  throw  the  officers  overboard  and  seize  the  vessel.  He  was  over 
powered  by  superior  numbers,  and  word  was  sent  to  General  Banks  of  the 
state  of  the  case,  who  ordered  an  officer  with  a  squad  of  men  to  arrest  the 
pirates.  Thomas  could  not  be  found.  At  length  he  was  discovered  in  a 
large  bureau  drawer,  in  the  ladies'  cabin.  He  was  drawn  out,  and,  with  his 
accomplices,  was  lodged  in  Fort  McHenry. 

Piratical  operations  on  a  more  extended  scale  and  wider  field,  under  the 
sanction  of  commissions  from  the  conspirators  at  Montgomery,  were  now 
frightening  American  commerce  from  the  ocean.  We  have  already  men 
tioned  the  issuing  of  these  commissions  by  Jefferson  Davis,1  the  efforts  of 
the  conspirators  to  establish  a  navy,  and  the  fitting  out  of  vessels  for  the 
purpose,  which  had  been  stolen  from  the  National  Government,  or  purchased. 
Among  the  latter,  as  we  have  observed,  was  the  Lady  Davis^  the  first  regu 
larly  '  commissioned  vessel  in  the  Confederate  Navy.  When  the  National 
Congress  met  in  extraordinary  session,  on  the  4th  of  July,  more  than  twenty 
of  these  ocean  depredators  were  afloat  and  in  active  service  ;2  and  at  the 
close  of  that  month,  they  had  captured  vessels  and  property  valued  at  several 
millions  of  dollars.  Their  operations  had  commenced  early  in  May,  and  at 
the  beginning  of  June  no  less  than  twenty  vessels  had  been  captured  and 
sent  as  prizes  into  the  port  of  New  Orleans  alone. 

The  most  notable  of  the  Confederate  pirate  vessels,  at  that  early  period 
of  the  war,  were  the  /Savannah,  Captain  T.  H.  Baker,  of  Charleston,  and 
the  .Petrel,  Captain  William  Perry,  of  South  Carolina ;  one  of  which  was 
captured  by  an  armed  Government  vessel,  and  the  other  was  destroyed  by 
one. 

The  Savannah  was  a  little  schooner  which  had  formerly  done  duty  as 

1  See  page  372.    The  terms  pirate  and  piratical  are  here  used  considerately,  when  speaking  of  the  so- 
called  privateering  under  commissions  issued  by  Jefferson  Davis  and  Robert  Toombs  (See  note  4,  page  37). 
The  lexicographer  defines  a  pirate  to  be  "A  robber  on  the  high  seas;"  and  piracy,  "The  act,  practice,  or  crime 
of  robbing  on  the  high  seas:  the  taking  of  property  from  others  by  open  violence,  and  without  authority,  on 
the  sea."     The  acts  of  men  commissioned  by  Davis  and  Toombs  were  in  exact  accordance  with  these  con 
ditions.     Those  leading  conspirators  represented  no  actual  government  on  the  face  of  the  earth.     The  Confed 
eracy  of  disloyal   men  like  themselves,  formed  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  their  Government,  had  been 
established,  as  we  have  observed,  without  the  consent  of  the  people  over  whom  they  had  assumed  control,  and 
whose  rights  they  had  trampled  under  foot.     They  had  no  more  authority  to  issue  commissions  of  any  kind, 
than  Jack  Cade,  Daniel  Shays,  Nat.  Turner,  or  John  Brown.     Hence,  those  who  committed  depredations  on  the 
high  seas  under  their  commissions,  did  so  "  without  authority."     And  privateering,  authorized  by  a  regular 
government,  is  nothing  less  than  legalized  piracy,  which  several  of  the  leading  powers  of  Europe  have  abol 
ished,  by  an  agreement  made  at  Paris  in  1S56.     To  that  agreement  the  United  States  Government  refused  its 
assent,  because  the  other  powers  would  not  go  further,  and  declare  that  all  private  property  should  be  exempt 
from  seizure  at  sea,  not  only  by  private  armed  Vessels,  but  by  National  ships  of  war.     The  governments  of 
France  and  Russia  were  in  favor  of  this  proposition,  but  that  of  Great  Britain,  a  powerful  maritime  nation, 
refused  its  assent.     It  also  refused  its  assent  to  a  modification  of  the  laws  of  blockade,  saying,  "The  system  of 
commercial  blockade  is  essential  to  our  naval  supremacy." 

2  A  full  account  of  the  operations  of  the  Confederate  Nary,  domestic  and  foreign,  will  be  given  in  another 
part  of  this  work. 


CAPTURE   OF   THE   SAVANNAH. 


557 


pilot-boat  No.  7,  off  Charleston  harbor.      She  was  only  fifty-four  tons  bur- 
den,  carried  one  18-pounder  amidships,  and  was  manned  by  only  twenty 
men.     At  the  close  of  May  she 
sallied  out  from  Charleston,  and, 
on  the  1st  of  June,  captured  the 
merchant  brig  Joseph,  of  Maine, 
laden    with    sugar,    from    Cuba, 
which  was  sent  into  Georgetown, 
South  Carolina,  and  the  Savan 
nah  proceeded  in  search  of  other 
prizes.       Three   days 
afterward,"  she  fell  in 

with     the     National  -^  ^""""111         _.^M^^^^ 

brig  Pvrry,  which  she  mistook 
for  a  merchant  vessel,  and  ap 
proached  to  make  her  a  prize. 
When  the  mistake  was  discov 
ered,  the  Savanna h  turned  and 
tried  to  escape.  The  Perry  gave  TII1 8AVANNAH. 

hot   pursuit,   and   a   sharp  fight 

ensued,  which  was  of  short  duration.  The  Savannah  surrendered;  and  her 
crew,  with  the  papers  of  the  vessel,  were  transferred  to  the  war-ship  Minne 
sota,  the  flag-ship  of  the  Atlantic  Blockading  Squadron,  and  the  prize  was 
sent  to  New  York  in  charge  of  Master's  Mate  McCook.  She  was  the  first 
vessel  bearing  the  Confederate  flag  that  was  captured,  and  the  event  pro 
duced  much  gratification  among  the  loyal  people. 

The  captain  and  crew  of  the  Savannah  were  imprisoned  as  pirates,  and 
were  afterward  tried k  as  such,  in  New  York,  under  the  proclama 
tion  of  the  President  of  the  19th  of  April.1     In  the  mean  time, 
Jefferson    Davis   had  addressed    a   letter'  to  the   President,   in      ejlll,s 
which  he  threatened  to  deal  with  prisoners  in  his  hands  precisely 
as  the  commander  and  crew  of  the  Savannah  should  be  dealt  with.     He 
prepared  to  carry  out  that  threat  by  holding  Colonel  Michael  Corcoran,*  of 
the  Sixty-ninth  New  York  (Irish)  Regiment,  who  was  captured  near  Bull's 
Run,   and  others,  as   hostages,  to   suffer  death  if  that    penalty  should  be 
inflicted  on  the   prisoners  o4'  the  Savannah.*      Meanwhile  the  subject  had 
been  much  discussed  at  home,3  and  commanded  attention  abroad,  especially 

1  See  page  372. 

2  Corcoran  was  treated  with  great  harshness      He  was  handcuffed  and  placed  in  a  solitary  cell,  with  a  chain 
attached  to  the  floor,  until  the  mental  excitement  produced  by  this  ignominious  treatment,  combining  with  a 
susceptible  constitution,  and  the  infectious  nature  of  the  locality  (Libby  Prison),  brought  on  an  attack  of  typhoid 
fever.     See  Judge  Daley's  public  letter  to  Senator  Harris.  December  21.  1861. 


1  On   the  21st  of  December.  Charles  P.  Daley,  Judge  < 
York,  addressed  a  letter  to  Ira  Harris,  of  the  United  States  S 


Privateersmen  Pirat 


in  which  he  took  the  ground,  firs 


guilt,  with  every  Southern  soldier,  and  that  if  one  must  suff 


'  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  the  city  of  New 
nate.  in  discussion  of  the  question,  ''Are  Southern 
that  they  were  on  the  same  level,  in  the  grade  of 
death  for  jrintcy,  the  others  must  suffer  the  same 
ifederates  the  rights  of  belligerents  as  to  exchange 


for  ti'fiixon  ;  and,  second!  v,  bv  havintr  so  far  acceded  to  th 
prisoners,  the  Government  could  not  consistently  make  a  distinction  between  prisoners  taken  on  land  and  those 
taken  on  the  sea.  He  stronsrly  recommended,  as  a  measure  of  expediency,  that  the  President  should  treat  the 
"  privatcersmcn."  who  had  been  convicted,  and  were  awaiting  sentence,  as  prisoners  of  war.  He  also  pleaded  in 
extenuation  of  the  rebellious  acts  of  the  people  of  the  South,  that,  through  their  want  of  information  concerning 
the  people  of  the  North,  they  had  "been  hurried  into  their  present  position  by  the  professional  politicians  and 
larsre  landed  proprietors,  to  whom  they  had  hitherto  been  accustomed  to  confide  the  management  of  their  public 
affairs.*1 


558  CAPTURE    OF   THE    PETREL. 

in  England,  where  it  was  assumed  that  Davis  was  at  the  head  of  an  actual 
government,  to  whom  the  British  authorities  had  officially  awarded  belli 
gerent  rights.  With  that  assumption,  and  that  opinion  of  the  character  of 
the  Confederates,  it  was  argued  in  the  British  Parliament  that  the  captives 
were  not  pirates,  but  privateers,  and  ought  to  be  treated  as  prisoners  of  war. 
The  United  States  Government,  on  the  contrary,  denied  that  Jefferson 
Davis  represented  any  government,  and  hence  his  commissions  were  null, 
and  the  so-called  privateers  were  pirates,  according  to  the  accepted  law  of 
nations ;  but,  governed  by  the  dictates  of  expediency  and  a  wisely  directed 
humanity,  it  was  concluded  to  treat  them  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  they 
were  afterward  exchanged. 

The  Petrel  was  more  suddenly  checked  in  her  piratical  career  than  the 
Savannah.  She  was  the  United  States  revenue-cutter  Aiken,  which  had 
been  surrendered  to.  the  insurgents  at  Charleston,  in  December,  1860,  by  her 
disloyal  commander.1  She  was  now  manned  by  a  crew  of  thirty-six  men, 
who  were  mostly  Irishmen,  picked  up  in  Charleston  while  seeking  employ 
ment.  She  evaded  the  blockading  squadron  off  Charleston  harbor,  and 
went  to  sea  on  the  28th  of  July,  when  she  was  discovered  by  the  National 
frigate  St.  Lawrence,  that  was  lying  behind  one  of  the  islands  on  that  coast. 
The  St.  Lawrence  was  immediately  made  to  assume  the  appearance  of  a 
large  merchant  vessel.  Her  heavy  spars  were  hauled  down,  her  ports  were 
closed,  and  her  people  sent  below.  The  Petrel  regarded  her  as  a  rich 
prize,  and  bore  down  upon  her,  while  the  St.  Lawrence  appeared  to  be 
crowding  sail  so  as  to  escape.  As  the  Petrel  approached,  she  sent  a  warning 
shot  across  the  St.  Laicrence,  but  the  latter  kept  on  her  course,  chased  by 
the  pirate.  When  the  Petrel  came  within  fair  range,  the  St.  Lawrence 
opened  her  ports,  and  gave  her  the  contents  of  three  heavy  guns.  One  of 
them — a  Paixhan — was  loaded  with  an  8-inch  shell,  known  as  the  "  Thunder 
bolt,"2  which  exploded  in  the  hold  of  the  Petrel,  while  a  32-pound  solid  shot 
struck  her  amidships,  below  water-mark.  These  made 
her  a  total  wreck  in  an  instant,  and  she  went  to  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean,  leaving  the  foaming  waters  over  her 
grave  thickly  strewn  with  splinters  and  her  struggling 
crew.  Four  of  her  men  were  drowned,  and  the  remain 
der,  when  brought  out  of  the  water,  were  so  amazed  and 
THUNDERBOLT  SHELL.  confused  that  they  scarcely  knew  what  had  happened. 
A  flash  of  fire,  a  thunder-peal,  the  crash  of  timbers,  and  engulfment  in  the 
sea,  had  been  the  incidents  of  a  moment  of  their  experience.  The  rescued 
crew  were  sent  to  Philadelphia  and  placed  in  Moyamensing  Prison,  to  answer 
the  charge  of  piracy.  They,  like  the  crew  of  the  Savannah,  were  finally 
admitted  to  the  privileges  of  prisoners  of  war,  and  were  exchanged. 

While  the  piratical  vessels  of  the  Confederates  were  making  war  upon 


1  Sec  page  138. 

2  This  shell  was  invented  by  William  Wheeler  Ilubbell,  counselor  at  law,  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1842, 
and  for  which  he  received  letters  patent  in  1856.     It  was  introduced  into  the  service  in  1S47,  under  an  agreement 
of  secrecy,  by  Colonel  Bomford,  the  inventor  of  the  columbiad  (see  page  123),  then  the  Chief  of  the  Ordnance 
Department.      This  shell  was  the  most  efficient  projectile  in  us«i  when  the  war  broke  out.     Its  appearance  is 
shown  by  the  annexed  illustration,  of  which  A  is  the  shell ;  B,  the  sabot,  or  shoe  of  wood,  and  C,  the  fuse.     The 
peculiar  construction  of  this  shell  will  be  hereafter  mentioned,  when  noticing  the  various  projectiles  used  in  the 


INCREASE   OF   THE   NATIONAL   NAVY. 


559 


isci. 


GIDEON    WELLES. 


commerce,  and  the  conspirators  were  encouraged  by  foreign  powers,  who 
had  conceded  to  them  belligerent  rights,  to  increase  their  number,  Secretary 
Welles  was  putting  forth,  in  full  measure,  all  the  instrumentalities  at  his 
command  for  increasing  the  strength  and  efficiency  of  the  National  Navy. 
The  blockade  of  ports  along  almost  three  thousand  miles  of  coast,  with  its 
numerous  harbors  and  inleti,1  had  been  declared,  and  must  be  made  as 
perfect  as  the  law  of  nation's,  as  they 
were  then  construed,  required,  to  com 
mand  respect.  There  was  no  time  for 
the  building  of  vessels  for  the  purpose; 
so  the  Secretary  purchased  various 
kinds  of  craft,  and  converted  them  into 
warriors  as  speedily  as  possible. 

We  have  seen  how   inefficient   and 
scattered  was  the  Navy  at  the  accession 
of  the  new  Administration, 
at  the  beginning  of  March  ;' 
now,   at    the   beginning   of   July,    four 
months    later,    there    were   forty-three 
armed  vessels  engaged  in  the  blockade 
service,  and  in  defense  of  the  coast  on 
the-eastern  side  of  the  continent.    These 
were  divided  into  two  squadrons,  known 

respectively  as  the  Atlantic  and  the  Gulf  Squadron.  The  former,  under  the 
command  of  Flag-officer  Silas  II.  Stringham,  consisted  of  twenty-two  vessels, 
and  an  aggregate  of  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  guns  and  three  thousand 
three  hundred  men;  the  latter,  under  command  of  Flag-officer  William  Mer- 

vine,  consisted 
of  twenty-one 
vessels,  with  an 

.Ji^aw 

aggregate  of 
two  hundred 
and  eighty-two 
guns  and  three 
thousand  five 
hundred  men.* 
And  before  the 
close  of  the 
year,  the  Secre 
tary  purchased  and  put  into  commission  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  vessels,  and  had  contracted  for  the  building  of  a  large  number  of 
steamships  of  a  substantial  class,  suitable  for  performing  continuous  duty  off 
the  coast  in  all  weathers. 

The  Secretary,  in  his  Report,  called  attention  to  the  important  subject  of 


BTBVENS'8    IRON-CLAD   FLOATING    BATTEBT. 


>  Report  of  Gideon  Welles.  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  July  4.  1S61. 

a  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  July  4,  1861.  The  commanders  of  the  squadrons  had  been  instructed 
to  penult  the  vessels  of  foreigners  to  leave  the  blockaded  ports  within  fifteen  days  after  such  blockade  vsas 
established,  and  their  vessels  were  not  to  be  seized  unless  they  attempted,  after  beinp  once  warned  off.  to  enter 
MI  interdicted  port. 


560 


THE   NAVY   SUPPLIED   WITH  MEN   AND    OFFICERS. 


iron-clad  vessels,  and  recommended  the  appointment  of  a  competent  board 
to  inquire  into  and  report  on  the  subject.  Already  there  had  been  spent 
more  than  a  million  of  dollars  in  the  construction  of  an  immense  iron-clad 
floating  battery,  for  harbor  defense,  by  Messrs.  Stevens,  of  Hoboken,  New 
Jersey,  most  of  it  by  the  Government,  and  yet  it  was  not  completed.  He 
recommended  a  special  inquiry  concerning  that  battery,  before  the  large  sum 
asked  for  its  completion  should  be  appropriated.1 

The  call  for  recruits  for  the  Navy  was  promptly  complied  with,  and  for 
the  want  of  them  no  vessel  was  ever  detained  more  than  two  or  three  days. 
Since  the  4th  of  March,  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  officers  had  resigned 
their  commissions  or  had  been  dismissed  from  the  service  for  disloyalty;  and 
several  vessels  were  sent  to  sea  at  first  without  a  full  complement  of  officers. 
The  want  was  soon  supplied.  Many  who  had  retired  to  civil  pursuits  now 
patriotically  came  forth  promptly  to  aid  their  country  in  its  struggle  for  life, 
and  were  re-commissioned  ;2  while  many  masters  and  masters'  mates  were 
appointed  from  the  commercial  marine.3  The  Naval  School  and  public  prop 
erty  at  Annapolis,  in  Maryland,  had  been  removed  to  Newport,  Rhode 
Island,  because  it  was  unsafe,  in  the  state  of  public  affairs  in  Maryland,  to 
continue  the  school  there.  Fort  Adams,  near  Newport,  was  tendered  by 
the  War  Department  for  the  temporary  accommodation  of  the  school. 


1  Until  just  before  the  -war,  this  structure  had  been  shut  in  from  the  public  eye.     It  was  to  be  seven  hun 
dred  feet  long,  covered  with  iron  plates,  so  as  to  be  proof  against  shot  and  shell  of  any  kind.     It  was  to  be 
moved  by  steam-engines  of  sufficient  power  to  give  it  a  momentum  that  would  cause  it  to  cut  in  two  any  ship- 
of-war  then  known,  when  it  should  strike  it  at  the  waist.     It  was  intended  to  mount  a  battery  of  sixteen  heavy 
rifled  cannon,  in  bomb-proof  casemates,  and  two  heavy  columbiads  for  throwing  shells.    The  latter  were  to  be 
on  deck,  fore  and  aft.     The  smoke-stack  was  to  be  constructed  in  sliding  sections,  like  a  telescope,  for  obvious 
purposes;  and  the  vessel  was  to  be  so  constructed  that  it  might  be  sunk  to  the  level  of  the^water.     Its  bur 
den  was  to  be  rated  at  six  thousand  tons.     It  is  yet  (18(55)  unfinished. 

2  The  following  is  the  form  of  the  naval  commissions: — "TiiK  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF 
AMERICA,  To  all  who  shall  see  these  presents,  Greeting:  Know  ye,  that  reposing  special  Trust  and  Confidence 

in  the  Patriotism,  Valor,  Fidelity,  and  Abilities  of  —  — ,  I  have 

nominated,  and,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 

do  appoint  him  a  —      — ,  from  the  day  of ,  IS — ,  in  the 

service  of  the  United  States.  He  is  therefore  carefully  and  diligently 
to  discharge  the  Duties  of ,  by  doing  and  performing  all  Man 
ner  of  Things  thereto  belonging.  And  I  do  strictly  charge  and 
require  all  Officers,  Seamen,  and  Marines,  under  his  command,  to  be 

obedient  to  his  Orders  as •— .     And  he  is  to  observe  and  follow 

such  Orders  and  Directions,  from  time  to  time,  as  he  shall  receive 
from  me,  or  the  future  President  of  the  United  States,  or  his  Superior 
Officer  set  over  him,  according  to  the  Rules  and  Discipline  of  the 
Navy.  This  Commission  to  continue  in  force  during  the  pleasure  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States  for  the  time  being.  Given  under 

my  hand  at  Washington,  this  day  of ,  in  the  year  of  our 

Lord  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and  Sixty-one,  and  in  the  Eighty- 
fifth  year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States. 

"  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

"  GIDEON  WELLES,  Secretary  of  the  Navy.'1'' 
These  commissions  are  printed  on  parchment.     At  the  top  is  seen  a  spread  eagle  on  a  rock  in  the  ocean,  on 
which  is  a  mariner's  compass,  the  fasces  and  olive-branch,  with  sailing  vessels-of-war  in  the  distance.     At  the 
bottom,  Neptune  and  the  Goddess  of  Liberty,  in  a  shell  drawn  by  horses  and  surrounded  by  Tritons ;  and  below 
this  the  seal,  surrounded  by  a  wreath,  and  military  and  naval  trophies. 

3  lieport  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  July  4, 1861. 


NAVY   DEPARTMENT  SEAL. 


STATE   OP  THE   COUNTRY   AT  MIDSUMMER.  561 


CHAPTER     XXIV. 

THE    CALLED    SESSION    OF    CONGRESS.— FOREIGN    RELATIONS.— BENEVOLENT    ORGANI 
ZATIONS.— THE    OPPOSING    AKMIES. 

Thursday,  the  4th  of  July,  1861,  which  was  the  eighty- 
fourth  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  the  Independence 
of  the  United  States,  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress  assembled 
in  the  Capitol  at  Washington  City,  in  extraordi 
nary  session,  in  compliance  with  the  cull  of  the 
I'n  sident."  Xo  Congress  since  the  First — by  which  the 
policy  of  the  new  government  in  its  domestic  and  foreign  relations 
had  to  be  determined,  the  practical  foundations  of  the  Nation 
established,  and  the  machinery  of  law  put  in  motion — had  been 
burdened  with  such  momentous  duties  and  such  grave  responsibili 
ties  us  this.  The  delicate  and  difficult  task  of  preserving,  by  the  strong 
arm  of  absolute  power,  the  life  of  the  Nation,  imperiled  by  internal  foes, 
without  usurping  the  constitutional  prerogatives  of  the  people,  was  imposed 
upon  it.  Its  members  were  elected  when  the  country  seemed  to  be  in  a 
state  of  profound  peace  and  great  prosperity  ;  they  now  came  together,  a 
few  months  later,  to  legislate,  when  the  country  was  rent  by  violence  and 
its  industrial  energies  were  paralyzed — when  the  fires  of  civil  war  were 
madly  blazing  over  an  area  of  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  million  of 
square  miles  of  the  Republic,  and  were,  in  a  special  manner,  menacing  the 
seat  of  government  and  the  national  archives  with  utter  desolation.  Large 
armies,  destined  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Government,  were  within  the 
sound  of  cannon  of  the  Capital ;  and  secret  assassins,  it  is  believed,  intrusted 
with  errands  of  deadliest  mischief  by  conspirators,  were  prowling  about  the 
halls  of  Congress  and  the  house  of  the  Chief  Magistrate.  At  such  a  time, 
the  representatives  of  the  people  went  up  to  the  National  Capital,  charged 
with  the  duty  of  preserving  the  Republic  from  harm  ;  and,  as  we  shall 
observe,  the  great  majority  of  them  wisely,  patriotically,  and  efficiently 
performed  that  duty. 

In  the  Senate,  twenty-three  States,  and  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
twenty-two  States  and  one  Territory  were  represented.  There  were  forty 
senators -and  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  representatives  present  on  the  first 
day  of  the  session.  Ten  States,  in  which  the  politicians  had  adopted  ordi 
nances  of  secession,  were  not  represented.1  In  both  houses,  there  was  a 
large  majority  of  Unionists. 


1  These  were  Virginia  (the  eastern  portion,  controlled  by  the  conspirators  at  Richmond).  North  and  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi.  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  Texas.  Four  Slave-labor  States, 
namely,  Delaware,  Maryland.  Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  were  represented.  Tennessee  had  not  then  held  its 

VOL.  I.— :<6 


5(52 


THE   PRESIDENT'S   MESSAGE. 


July  5, 
1S61. 


HANNIBAL    HAMLIN. 


The  proceedings  of  the  Senate,  over  which  Hannibal  Hamlin,  the  Vice- 
president  of  the  United  States,  presided,  were  opened  by  prayer  by  the 
Rev.  Byron  Sundorland,  D.  D.,  and  those  of  the  House  of  Representatives 

by  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Stockton,  chaplain  of 
the  last  House.1  This  was  the  first  session 
of  this  Congress,  and  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  was  organized  by  the  election 
of  Galusha  A.  Grow,  of  Pennsylvania,  to 
be  speaker  or  presiding  officer. 

On  the  second  day  of  the 
session,'1  President  Lincoln  sent 
into  Congress,  by  the  hands  of 
his  private  secretary,  J.  G.  Nicolay,  a 
message,  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  the 
consideration  of  the  important  subject 
which  occasioned  the  assembling  of  that 
body  in  extraordinary  session.  He  recited 
the  many  and  grave  offenses  of  the  con 
spirators,  such  as  the  seizure  and  appro 
priation  of  public  property,  the  preparations  for  war,  and  the  seeking  of 
recognition  by  foreign  powers,  as  an  independent  nation ;  and  then  he  gave 
an  outline  history  of  events  connected  with  Fort  Sumter,  already  recorded 
in  this  volume.  Speaking  of  the  assault  on  that  work,  he  said  that  it  was 
in  "no  sense  a  matter  of  self-defense  upon  the  part  of  the  assailants,''2  for 
they  u  knew  that  the  garrison  in  the  fort  could  by  no  possibility  commit 
aggression  upon  them."  By  the  affair  at  Fort  Sumter,  he  said,  "  the  assail 
ants  of  the  Government  began  the  conflict  of  arms,  without  a  gun  in  sight 
or  in  expectancy  to  return  their  fire,  save  only  the  few  in  the  fort,  sent  to 
that  harbor  years  before  for  their  own  protection,  and  still  ready  to  give 
that  protection  in  whatever  was  lawful.  In  this  act,  discarding  all  else,  they 
have  forced  upon  the  country  the  distinct  issue,  '  immediate  dissolution  or 
blood.'  And  this  issue  embraces  more  than  these  United  States.  It  presents 
to  the  whole  family  of  man  the  question,  whether  a  constitutional  republic 
or  democracy — a  government  of  the  people  by  the  same  people — can  or 
can  not  maintain  its  territorial  integrity  against  its  own  domestic  foes.  It 
presents  the  question,  whether  discontented  individuals,  too  few  in  number 
to  control  administration  according  to  organic  law,  in  any  case,  can  always, 
upon  the  pretenses  made  in  this  case,  or  on  any  other  pretenses,  or  arbi- 


elections  for  members  of  Congress.  When  they  were  held,  five  weeks  later,  only  three  districts  in  East  Ten 
nessee  chose  representatives.  One  of  these,  Thomas  A.  II.  Nelson,  while  on  his  way  to  Washington  City,  was 
arrested  by  the  insurgents  and  taken  to  Eichrnond,  where  he  secured  his  personal  liberty  by  an  open  profes 
sion  of  allegiance  to  the  "Southern  Confederacy "  of  conspirators.  Andrew  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  appeared 
and  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate. 

1  See  page  65. 

2  The  excuse  of  the  conspirators  for  their  revolutionary  act  alluded  to  by  the  President,  like  all  others,  was 
only  a  pretext,  and  so  transparent  that  no  well-informed  person  was  deceived  by  it.     Such  was,  evidently,  the 
Peace  Convention  (see  page  235)  at  Washington,  planned  by  the  Virginia  conspirators.     Such,  also,  was  the 
mission  of  Forsyth  and  Crawford  (see  page  300),  who  were  sent  by  Jefferson  Davis  to  Washington  to  say  that 
they  were  "intrusted  with  power,  in  the  spirit  of  humanity,  the  civilization  of  the  age,"  tt  ccetera,  to  offer  to 
the  National  Government  the  olive-branch  of  peace  (see  page  303),  when  it  is  known  that  while  they  were  in 
the  Capital,  these  "peace  ambassadors "  made  large  contracts  with  Northern  manufacturers  (to  the  shame  of 
these  contractors  be  it  recorded  !),  for  arms  and  ammunition,  in  preparation  for  war. 


THE   DEMANDS   OF   THE   EXECUTIVE.  563 

trarily,  without  any  pretense,  break  up  their  government,  ami  thus  practically 
put  an  end  to  free  government  upon  the  earth.  It  forces  us  to  ask, '  Is  there 
in  all  republics  this  inherent  and  fatal  weakness  ?  Must  a  government,  of 
necessity,  be  too  strong  for  the  liberties  of  its  own  people,  or  too  weak  to 
maintain  its  own  existence?'  So  viewing  the  issue,  no  choice  was  left  but 
to  call  out  the  war-power  of  the  Government,  and  so  to  resist  force  employed 
for  its  destruction  by  force  for  its  preservation." 

The  President  then  reviewed  the  conduct  of  the  Virginia  conspirators 
and  secessionists  after  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  condemned  the  policy 
of  u  armed  neutrality  "  proposed  in  some  of  the  Bordejj  Slave-labor  States, 
as  a  policy  that  recognized  "no  fidelity  to  the  Constitution,  no  obligation  to 
maintain  the  Union."1  lie* then  noticed  the  call  for  troops  to  put  down  the 
insurrection,  and  the  wonderful  response;  the  action  of  the  executive  gov 
ernment  in  the  matter  of  the  writ  of  /Hib«tx  corjtnn  •  the  attitude  of  foreign 
nations  toward  the  Government,  and  the  necessity  for  vindicating  its  power; 
and  then  said,  u  It  is  now  recommended,  that  you  give  the  legal  means  for 
making  this  contest  a  short  and  decisive  one;  that  you  place  at  the  control 
of  the  Government,  for  the  work,  at  least  four  hundred  thousand  men  and 
four  hundred  millions  of  dollars.2  ...  A  ri<_jht  result,  at  this  time,  will 
be  worth  more  to  the  world  than  ten  times  the  men  and  ten  times  the 
money.  The  evidence  reaching  us  from  the  country  leaves  no  doubt  that 
the  material  for  the  work  is  abundant,  and  that  it  needs  only  the  hand  of 
legislation  to  give  it  legal  sanction,  an  1  the  hand  of  the  Executive  to  give 
it  practical  shape  and  efficiency.  In  other  words,  the  people  will  save  their 
Government,  if  the  Government  itself  will  do  its  part  only  indifferently  well." 

The  President  spoke  of  the  methods  used  by  the  conspirators  to  stir 
up  the  people  to  revolt,  .-rlready  noticed,1  and  then  argued,  at  consider 
able  length,  against  the  existence  of  State  Sovereignty  and  the  right  of 
a  State  to  secede;4  and  he  questioned  whether,  at  that  time,  there 
was  a  majority  of  the  legally  qualified  voters  of  any  State,  excepting  South 
Carolina,  who  were  in  favor  of  disunion.  "This  is  essentially  a  people's 
contest,"  he  said;  and  he  was  happy  in  the  belief  that  the  "plain  people" 
comprehended  it  as  such.  lie  then  noticed  the  remarkable  fact,  that  while 
large  numbers  of  the  officers  of  the  Army  and  Xavy  had  proved  themselves 
unfaithful,  i%  not  one  common  soldier  or  common  sailor  is  known  to  have 


1  Altlmuch  the  President  made  no  allusion  t<»  Slavery,  as  the  inciting  cause  of  the  rebellion,  he  stated  the 
siswittrant  fact,  that  "Norn-  of  the  States,  commonly  called  Slave  States,  except  Delaware,  pave  a  regiment, 
through  regular  State  organizations,"  for  the  support  of  the  Government.  "A  few  regiments."  he  said.  ••  have 
Wen  organized  within  some  others  of  those  States,  by  individual  enterprise,  and  received  into  the  Government 
service." 

3  K<>ur  hundred  thousand  men  constituted  only  about  one-tenth  of  those  of  proper  age  for  military  service 
"within  the  regions  where,"  the  President  said,  "apparently  all  are  willing  to  engage:"  and.  he  added,  the 
Mini  of  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars  "  is  less  than  a  twenty-third  part  of  the  money  value  owned  by  the 
men  who  seem  ready  to  devote  the  whole." 

3  See  page  40. 

4  "The  States  have  their  ntaiiiit  in  the  t'nion,"  he  said, '•  and  they  have  no  other  legal  stattif.     If  they 
break  from  tlii>.  they  can  only  do  so  against  law  and  by  revolution.     The  Union,  and  not  themselves  separately, 
procured  their  independence  and  their  liberty.     I5y  conquest  or  purchase,  the  Union  gave  each  of  them  what 
ever  of  independence  or  liberty  it  has.     The  Union  is  older  than  any  of  the  States,  and,  in  fact,  it  created  them 
as  States.     Originally,  some  dependent  colonies  made  the  Union,  and,  in   turn,  the   Union   threw  off  their  old 
drp.Tidrrice  for  them,  and  made  them  States,  such  as  they  are.     Not  one  of  them  ever  had  a  State  Constitution 
independent  of  the  Union.     Of  course,  it   is  not   forgotten   that  all  the  new  States  framed   their  constitutions 
before  they  entered  tin-  Union  ;  nevertheless,  dependent  upon  and  preparatory  to  coming  into  the  Union." 


564  REPORTS   OF   CABINET  MINISTERS. 

deserted  his  flag.  .  .  .  This  is  the  patriotic  instinct  of  plain  people.  They 
understand,  without  an  argument,  that  the  destroying  of  the  Government 
which  was  made  by  Washington  means  no  good  to  them." 

The  President  concluded  by  assuring  the  people  that  it  was  with  the 
deepest  regret  that  he  found  himself  compelled  to  employ  the  war-power  in 
defense  of  the  Government,  and  that  the  sole  object  of  its  exercise  should 
be  the  maintenance  of  the  National  authority  and  the  salvation  of  the  life  of 
the  Republic.  "  And  having  so  chosen  our  course,  without  guile  and  with, 
pure  motives,"  he  said  to  Congress,  after  expressing  a  hope  that  the  views 
of  that  body  were  coincident  with  his  own,  "  let  us  renew  our  trust  in  God, 
and  go  forward  without  fear  and  with  manly  hearts." 

The  President's  Message  was  accompanied  by  important  reports  from 
heads  of  Executive  Departments.  Mr.  Cameron,  the  Secretary  of  War, 
recommended  the  enlistment  of  men  for  three  years,  with  a  bounty  of  one 
hundred  dollars  for  the  additional  regiments  of  the  regular  Army;  that 
appropriations  be  made  for  the  construction,  equipment,  and  current  expenses 
of  railways  and  telegraphs  for  the  use  of  the  Government;  also,  for  the  fur 
nishing  of  a  more  liberal  supply  of  approved  arms  for  the  militia  of  the 
several  States  and  Territories,  and  other  measures  necessary  in  a  state  of 
war.  He  also  recommended  the  appointment  of  an  Assistant  Secretary  of 
War,  and  an  increase  of  the  clerical  force  of  his  department. 

Mr.  Chase,  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury,  whose  management  of  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  country  during  a  greater 
portion  of  the  period  of  the  war  was  con 
sidered  eminently  wise  and  efficient,  asked 
for  two  hundred  and  forty  millions  of 
dollars  for  war  purposes,  and  eighty  mil 
lions  of  dollars  to  meet  the  ordinary  de 
mands  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  on  the 
30th  of  June,  1862.  He  proposed  to  raise 
the  eighty  millions,  in  addition  to  the  sum 
of  nearly  sixty-six  millions  of  dollars 
already  appropriated,  by  levying  increased 
duties  on  specified  articles,  and  also  by 

SALMON  P  CHASE  certain  internal  revenues,  or  by  the  direct 

taxation  of  real    and    personal   property. 

To  raise  the  amount  asked  for  war  purposes,  he  proposed  a  National  loan  of 
not  less  thnn  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  to  be  issued  in  the  form  of 
treasury  notes,  bearing  an  annual  interest  of  seven  and  three-tenths  per  cen 
tum,  or  one  cent  a  day  on  fifty  dollars,  in  sums  from  fifty  dollars  to  five 
thousand  dollars.  He  proposed  to  issue  bonds,  or  certificates  of  debt,  in  the 
event  of  the  National  loan  proving  to  be  insufficient,  to  the  amount  of  not 
exceeding  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  to  be  made  redeemable  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  Government,  after  a  period  not  exceeding  thirty  years,  and 
bearing  an  interest  not  exceeding  seven  per  cent.  He  further  recommended, 
for  the  supply  of  the  full  amount,  the  issue  of  another  class  of  treasury 
notes,  not  exceeding  in  the  aggregate  fifty  millions  of  dollars  (some  of  small 
denominations),  bearing  an  interest  of  three  and  sixty-five  one-hundredths 


IMPORTANCE   OF   PROMPT   ACTION.  565 

per  cent.,  and  exchangeable  at  the  will  of  the  holders  for  the  treasury  notes 
of  the  first-named  issue. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who  had  been  compelled  to  employ  extra 
ordinary  measures  to  meet  the  demands  imposed  by  treason,  asked  Congress 
to  sanction  his  acts,  and  recommended  various  measures  for  the  increase  of 
the  efficiency  of  his  department.  He  also  recommended  the  appointment  of 
an  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ;  an  increase  of  the  clerical  force  of  the 
department ;  and  the  appointment  of  commissioners  to  inquire  into  the  ex 
pediency  of  iron-clad  steamers  or  floating  batteries. 

With  the  President's  Message  and  the  reports  of  Cabinet  ministers  be 
fore  it,  Congress  prepared  to  enter  upon  its  solemn  and  important  duties 
with  industry  and  vigor,  after  disposing  of  several  claims  for  seats  in  dispute 
in  the  House  of  Representatives.  And  in  that  chamber,  one  of  the  first  acts 
was  to  provide  for  checking  irrelevant  discussion,  by  the  adoption  of  a  reso 
lution  that  only  bills  relating  to  the  military,  naval,  and  financial  affairs  of 
the  Government  at  that  crisis  should  be  considered,  and  that  all  other  busi 
ness  should  be  referred  to  appropriate  committees,  to  be  acted  upon  at  the 
next  regular  session. 

It  was  very  important  that  Congress  should  confine  its  efforts  to  the  one 
great  object  of  furnishing  the  Executive  with  ample  powers  for  suppressing 
the  rebellion  speedily,  for  its  magnitude  and  promises  of  success  were  so 
great  and  hopeful,  that  a  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  "  Confederate 
States,"  and  armed  interference  in  their  favor  by  powerful  foreign  govern 
ments,  seemed  to  be  not  only  possible  but  probable.  From  the  time  when 
South  Carolinians  declared  their  State  withdrawn  from  the  Union," 
there  had  been  observed  in  most  of  the  European  courts,  and  in  " ' 
the  public  journals  in  their  interest,  an  unfriendliness  of  spirit 
toward  the  National  Government,  and  a  willingness  to  encourage  its  enemies 
in  their  revolutionary  measures.  At  these  courts,  and  at  the  ear  of  these 
journals,  emissaries  of  the  conspirators  had  already  been  engaged  in  magni 
fying  the  strength  of  the  Slave-labor  States ;  in  promising  great  benefits  to 
European  friends  and  helpers  ;  and  in  misrepresenting  the  character,  temper, 
and  resources  of  the  National  Government.  And  at  the  powerful  French 
court,  the  source  of  much  of  the  political  opinion  of  the  ruling  classes  of 
Continental  Europe,  Charles  J.  Faulkner,  of  Virginia,  the  American  Min 
ister  Plenipotentiary,  it  was  believed,  was  an  efficient  accomplice  of  the  con 
spirators  in  the  work  of  misrepresenting  their  Government,  and  maturing 
plans  for  securing  the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  "Seceded" 
States.  This  suspicion  of  Mr.  Faulkner  was  unfounded  in  truth. 

When,  during  the  month  of  January,  the  politicians  of  several  of  the 
Slave-labor  States  declared  those  States  separated  from  the  Union,  and,  early 
in  February,  proceeded  to  form  a  League  of  so-called  Seceded  States,  Europe 
was  prepared  to  accept  the  hopeless  dissolution  of  the  Republic  as  a  fact 
accomplished.  This  belief  was  strengthened  by  the  dispatches  of  most  of 
the  foreign  ministers  at  Washington  to  their  respective  governments,  early 
in  February,  who  announced  the  practical  dissolution  of  the  Union  ;  and 
some  affected  to  be  amazed  at  the  folly  of  Congress  in  legislating  concerning 
the  tariff  and  other  National  measures,  when  the  Nation  was  hopelessly  ex 
piring  ! 


566  ERRONEOUS   OPINIONS  ABROAD. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  foreign  governments  and  publicists 
should  have  made  this  grave  mistake.  They  had  been  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  taught  by  a  certain  class  of  leading  politicians,  in  all  parts  of  the 
Union,  that  the  States  were  sovereign,  and  formed  only  a  league  by  compact, 
without  having  more  than  a  few  dissenting  opinions  from  the  expounders  of 
the  Constitution  in  Congress  and  out  of  it ;  and  the  practical  conclusion  was, 
what  some  of  the  conspirators  boldly  asserted,  that  secession  was  a  "  reserved 
right "  of  the  States.  When,  therefore,  the  positive  and  irrevocable  disso 
lution  of  the  Union,  by  the  secession  of  several  States,  was  announced  on 
the  floor  of  Congress  and  in  leading  newspapers,  by  men  of  every  portion 
of  the  Union,  what  other  conclusion  could  ill-informed  or  misinformed 
foreigners  arrive  at  than  that  the  war  was  unrighteous,  and  that,  instead  of 
being  waged  by  the  National  Government  in  vindication  of  its  own  right 
ful  and  supreme  authority  over  all  the  States,  and  for  the  preservation  of 
its  integrity,  it  was  a  war  of  sections — a  war  of  States  against  States? 
This  fundamental  error  prevailed  during  the  entire  period  of  the  war,  and 
was  for  a  long  time  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  many  earnest  friends 
of  our  Government  abroad. 

So  early  as  the  close  of  February,  Mr.  Black,  the  Secretary 
of  State  under  Mr-  Buchanan,1  addressed a  a  circular  letter  to  the 
American  ministers  abroad,  informing  them  of  the  state  of  public 
affairs  at  home,'  directing  them  to  endeavor  to  counteract  the  efforts  of  the 
agents  of  the  conspirators  at  foreign  courts,  and  assuring  them  that  the 
Government  had  not  "relinquished  its  constitutional  jurisdiction  within  the 
States  "  wherein  rebellion  existed,  and  did  "  not  desire  to  do  so." 
h  9'  This  was  followed,  a  few  days  afterward,6  by  a  circular  letter 
from  Mr.  Seward,  the  Secretary  of  State  under  Mr.  Lincoln,  conjuring  them 
to  use  all  diligence  to  "  prevent  the  designs  of  those  who  would  invoke 
foreign  intervention  to  embarrass  and  overthrow  the  Republic."  More  than 
a  month  later,  when  Jefferson  Davis  had  offered  commissions  for  depredating 
on  the  commerce  of  the  United  States,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  had  declared  that 
such  depredators  should  be  treated  as  pirates,2  Mr.  Seward  addressed  an 
other  circular  to  American  ministers  at  the  principal  European  courts,  m 
which  he  reviewed  recent  measures  tending  to  the  abolition  of  the  practice 
of  privateering,  and  instructed  the  American  minister  at  the  British  court 
to  seek  an  early  opportunity  to  propose  to  that  government  an  agreement 
on  the  subject,  on  the  basis  of  the  declarations  of  the  Congress  at  Paris,  in 
1856,  with  an  additional  agreement  that  should  secure  from  seizure  on  the 
high  seas,  under  all  circumstances,  private  property  not  contraband  of  war. 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  a  son  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  had  just  been  ap 
pointed  to  fill  the  station  of  minister  at  the  court  of  St.  James,3  which  had 
been  held  by  his  father  and  grandfather ;  and  to  him  the  proposed  nego 
tiation  was  intrusted.  Mr.  Adams  had  already  been  instructed4  concerning 
the  manner  in  which  he  should  oppose  the  efforts  of  the  agents  of  the  con- 


1  See  page  70.  2  See  page  372. 

3  Mr.  Adams  suceeeded  the  late  George  M.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania,  as  embassador  at  the  British  court. 
Mr.  Dallas  was  a  highly  accomplished  and  patriotic  gentleman,  whose  voice  was  heard,  on  his  return  home,  in 
wholesome  denunciations  of  the  conspirators  against  the  life  of  the  Republic. 

4  See  Mr.  Seward's  Letter  of  Instructions  to  Mr.  Adams,  April  10,  1861. 


RELATIONS   WITH   GREAT   BRITAIN.  567 

spirators.  lie  was  directed  to  acknowledge  the  appreciation  of  the  Ameri 
can  people  and  Government  of  the  late  expressions  of  good-will  by  the 
Queen  and  her  ministers;1  at  the  same  time,  he  was  warned  not  to  "rely 
upon  any  mere  sympathies  or  national  kind 
ness,"2  but  to  stand  up  manfully  as  the 
representative  of  his  tr/tole  country,  and 
that  as  a  powerful  nation,  asking  no  favors 
of  others.3  The  high  position  taken  by  Mr. 
Seward,  in  the  name  of  his  Government,  in 
that  able  letter  of  instructions  to  Mr. 
Adams,  was  doubtless  one  of  the  most 
efficient  causes,  together  with  the  friendly 
attitude  assumed  by  Russia  toward  the 
United  States,  of  the  fortunate  delay  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  matter  of  recognizing 
the  independence  of  the  Confederates,  until 
the  strength  and  resources  of  the  Republic 
were  made  so  manifest  that  common  pru-  CUARLRS  FRANCIS  ADAMS. 

deuce    compelled    all    foreign     powers    un 
friendly  to  that  Republic  to  act  with  great  circumspection. 

But   whilst  it    seemed    inexpedient    for    the    British    crown    to  formally 
recognize  the   independence  of  the    Confederates,    the    ministry,   evidently 
sympathizing  most  thoroughly  with  the  political  objects  of  the  conspirators, 
procured   in  their  behalf  the  powerful  assistance  of  a  Proclama 
tion  of  Neutrality  by  the  Queen,11  by  which  a  Confederate  Gov-       'J^18' 
eminent,  as  existing,  was  acknowledged,  and  belligerent  rights 
were  accorded  to   the   insurgents.4     Already  an  understanding  existed  be 
tween  the  British  Government  and  the  French  Emperor,  that  they  were  to 
act  together  in  regard  to  American  affairs.     They  had  even  gone  so  far  as  to 


1  Reference  Is  here  made  to  an  expression  in  the  Queen's  speech  from  the  throne  on  the  5th  of  February, 
1861,  in  which  she  declared  her  "great  concern"  at  the  events  then  taking  place  in  the  United  States,  and  & 
'•heart-felt  wish  that  the  differences  that  then  distracted  the  country  mijrht  be  susceptible  of  a  satisfactory 
adjustment."  For  tlx-se  htnnnnc  expressions.  Mr.  Toulmin  Smith,  the  conductor  of  the  Parliamentary  Re 
membrancer  (vol.  iv..  page  M>.  reproved  his  Sovereign.  "These  last  loose  words."  he  said,  "are  characteristic 
of  the  very  loose  notions  that  are  common  in  England  on  the  subject  of  what  used  to  be  the  United  States  of 
North  America.  It  is,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  facts,  no  other  than  impossible  that  the  'differences'  can  be 
•  susceptible'  [whatever  that  means]  of  satisfactory  adjustment/'  He  then  went  on  to  say  :  "Already  the  honor 
of  the  Northern  States  has  been  seriously  imperiled:  and  it  has  been  proclaimed  that  many  of  them  are  so 
given  up  to  the  worship  of  the 'almisrhty  dollar,' that  every  preat  principle  will  be  cheerfully  sacrificed  by 
them,  if  only  the  States  of  the  South  will  be  so  pood  as  to  remain  in  the  Union,  which  the  Northern  States 
take  to  be  rather  profitable,  in  a  commercial  sense,  to  themselves."  This  reads  strangely  in  the  li^it  of  sub 
sequent  events.  • 

3  "There  can  be  no  greater  error  than  to  expect  or  calculate  upon  real  favors  from  nation  to  nation.    "Tis  an 
illusion  which  experience  must  cure — which  a  just  pride  ought  to  discard." — Wadt  in  (/ton's  Fareicell  Arfdrfxx. 

5  "  You  will,  in  no  case."  said  Mr.  Seward.  "  listen  to  any  suggestions  of  compromise  by  this  Government, 
under  foreign  auspices,  with  its  discontented  citizens.  If.  as  th»  President  does  not  at  all  apprehend,  you  shall 
unhappily  find  Her  Majesty's  Government  tolerating  the  application  of  the  so-called  Seceding  States,  or  \vaver- 
ing  about  it,  you  will  not  leave  them  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that  they  can  grant  that  application  and  remain 
the  friends  of  the  United  States.  You  may  even  assure  them  promptly,  in  that  case,  that  if  they  determine 
to  recognize,  they  may  at  the  same  time  prepare  to  enter  into  an  alliance  with  the  enemies  of  this  Republic. 
You  alone  will  represent  vour  country  at  London,  and  you  will  represent  the  whole  of  it  there.  When  you 
are  asked  to  divide  that  duty  with  others,  diplomatic  relations  K-tween  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  and 
this  Government  will  be  suspended,  and  will  remain  so  until  it  shall  be  seen  which  of  the  two  is  most  strongly 
intrenched  in  the  confidence  of  their  respective  nations  and  of  mankind." 

4  A  motion,  with  the  view  of  recognizing  the  independence  of  the  so-called   "Confederate  States."  was 
made  in  Parliament  by  Mr.  Gregory,  at  the  beginning  of  May,  and.  in  reply  to  a  question  from  him  on  the  6th 


568  THE   DUTY   AND   INTEREST   OF   GREAT   BRITAIN. 

apprise  other  European  governments  of  this  understanding,  with  the  expeo 
tation  that  they  would  concur  with  them,  and  follow  their  example,  whatever 
it  might  be.1  Thus,  at  this  early  stage  of  our  difficulties,  these  two  profes 
sedly  friendly  powers  had  clandestinely  entered  into  a  combination  for 
arraying  all  Europe  on  the  side  of  the  insurgents,  and  giving  them  moral, 
if  riot  material  aid,  in  their  efforts  to  destroy  our  Republic. 

This  action  of  a  professedly  friendly  power,  from  whom  the  American 
people  felt  that  they  had  reason  to  expect  the  kindest  consideration  on  all 
occasions,  seemed  almost  inexplicable  to  them,  for  they  had  been  taught  by 
British  statesmen,  orators,  and  publicists,  that  Great  Britain  felt  deeply 
the  wrongs  of  Slavery,  and  could  have  no  sympathy  with  men  rebelling 
against  a  humane  Government  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  perpetuating  those 
wrongs.  They  were  loth  to  believe  that  these  professions  of  philanthropy 
were  not  sincere.  They  were  unwilling  to  believe  that  the  assertion  of  Mon 
tesquieu,  made  more  than  a  hundred  years  before,  that  England,  unlike  all 
other  countries,  allowed  commerce  to  regulate  its  politics,2  was  still  so  true, 
that  its  government  and  people  would  be  willing  to  sacrifice  a  great  principle, 
and  falsify  the  most  solemn  and  abounding  professions  of  Christian  benevo 
lence,  for  the  sake  of  securing  the  advantages  of  free  trade,  so  largely  prom 
ised  by  the  agents  of  the  conspirators,  as  their  most  costly  and  coveted 
bribe  ;3  and  they  were  disposed  to  regard  the  famous  epigram  of  the  London 

of  that  month,  Lord  John  Russell,  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  gave  the  first  authoritative  statement  of 
the  position  which  the  Government  intended  to  take.  "The  Attorney  and  Solicitor-General  and  the  Queen's 
Advocate  and  the  Government,'''' he  said,  "have  come  to  the  opinion  that  the  Southern  Confederacy  of  America, 
according  to  those  principles  which  seem  to  them  to  be  just  principles,  must  be  treated  as  a  belligerent."  Fol 
lowing  the  Queers  Proclamation,  was  a  debate  on  the  subject  of  blockades  and  privateering,  in  all  of  which  .the 
sovereignty  of  the  States  and  the  right  of  secession,  according  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Calhoun  school,  were 
assumed,  and  it  was  fairly  concluded  that,  the  Confederates  having  formed  a  government,  privateers  commis 
sioned  by  Davis  could  not  be  treated  as  pirates.  But  while  belligerent  rights  were  accorded  to  them,  one  of 
which  was  that  of  privateering,  the  British  Government,  by  an  order  in  council  on  the  1st  of  June,  deprived 
the  conspirators  of  the  chief  advantage  to  be  derived  from  that  pursuit,  namely,  the  prohibition  of  the  disposal 
of  prizes  in  British  ports.  France  took  the  same  ground,  and  the  rule  Avas  applied  equally  to  the  parties  in, 
conflict. 

1  Letter  of  Secretary  Seicard  to  Minister  Adams,  May  21,  1S61. 

*  Speaking  of  the  spirit  of  the  English  people  with  respect  to  commerce,  Montesquieu  said  : — "  Supremely 
jealous  with  respect  to  trade,  they  bind  themselves  but  little  by  treaties,  and  depend  only  on  their  own  laws. 
Other  nations  have  made  the  interests  of  commerce  yield  to  those  of  politics;  the  English,  on  the  contrary, 
have  ever  made  their  political  interests  give  way  to  those  of  commerce.'1''—  Spirit  of  the  Laws,  fifth  English 
edition,  ii.  8. 

3  The  agents  of  the  conspirators  offered  to  the  governments  of  Europe,  as  a  bribe  for  recognition,  free 
trade ;  and  as  the  National  Government  had  just  imposed  a  heavy  tariff  on  many  foreign  products,  that  offer 
had  great  force.  Their  boastings  and  their  sophisms  so  far  blinded  the  foreign  traders  and  statesmen,  that  they 
actually  regarded  the  commerce  with  the  Cotton-growing  States  as  of  more  value  to  them  than  that  of  all  the 
rest  of  the  Union.  Even  the  usually  well-informed  London  Economist,  after  stating  that  the  "population  of 
the  seceding  States  is  eight  millions,"  said,  that  England,  in  her  consideration  of  the  rebellion,  must  look  upon 
that  portion  of  the  United  States  as  "furnishing  an  ample  market  for  her  manufactured  goods."  At  that  very 
time,  the  pro»f  was  abundant,  that  of  the  little  more  than  nine  millions  of  inhabitants  in  those  States,  nearly 
one-half  of  them  did  not  consume  British  goods  to  the  amount  of  half  a  million  of  dollars  annually.  These  in 
cluded  the  slaves  and  the  poor  and  laboring  white  people,  called  by  the  Oligarchy  "white  trash."  These  two 
classes,  who  were  the  most  numerous  in  the  population  of  the  States  alluded  to,  were  chiefly  clad  throughout  the 
year  in  coarse  domestic  goods,  and  did  not  in  reality  consume  foreign  goods,  of  any  and  all  kinds,  to  the  extent  of 
twenty-five  cents  a-head.  Of  the  bulk  of  the  white  population  in  those  States,  two-thirds  of  them  wore  no 
foreign  goods  whatever.  The  'Northern  and  Western  States  were  the  main  consumers  of  British  goods.  The 
total  white  population  of  the  "seceding"  States  at  that  time  was  only  about  five  millions  two  hundred  and 
thirty-one  thousand,  and  of  the  "non -seceding"  States,  twenty-two  millions  two  hundred  and  forty-five  thou 
sand.  When  we  consider  that,  during  the  ten  years  preceding  the  rebellion,  the  United  States  were  the  market 
for  about  one-fifth  of  the  total  exports  of  British  goods  to  all  foreign  countries,  and  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Free-labor  States,  who  were  loyal  to  the  Government,  were  the  purchasers  of  the  much  greater  portion  of  those 
goods,  the  madness  and  folly  of  the  British  statesmen,  traders,  and  manufacturers,  in  espousing  the  cause  of 
the  few  insurgents,  for  the  sake  of  free  commercial  intercourse  with  them,  at  the  risk  of  losing  the  custom  of 
the  great  bulk  of  the  Nation,  are  most  amazing.  For  a  full  exposition,  from  official  reports,  of  the  commerce 


THE   QUEEN'S   PROCLAMATION   OF   NEUTRALITY.  569 

Punch  as  a  good-natured  slander,  uttered  for  the  sake  of  the  wit.1  Only  a 
few  months  before,  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States,  who  were  loyal  to 
their  Government,  had  shown  the  most  cordial  good-will  toward  the  British 
Queen,  in  the  almost  affectionate  attentions  which  they  gave  to  her  son,  the 
Crown  Prince  of  the  realm,  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  the  United  States, 
and  thereby  certified  their  friendship  for  the  English  people.2  Thinking  of 
this,  and  of  the  heritage  of  the  two  nations  in  common,  of  historic  tradi 
tions,  language,  literature,  and  laws,  and  the  intimate  relations  of  their  com 
merce,  they  were  amazed  at  the  unseemly  haste  displayed  in  the  recognition 
of  the  insurgents  as  belligerents,  for  the  Queen's  Proclamation  appeared 
before  the  representative  of  the  assailed  Republic,  under  the  new  Adminis 
tration,  had  been  formally  received  at  Court.  It  was  a  proceeding  so  "pre 
cipitate  and  unprecedented,"  as  Mr.  Adams  afterward  said,3  that  it  made  a 
most  unfavorable  impression  upon  right-minded  statesmen  and  philanthropic 
Christians  everywhere.4 

The  Proclamation  of  the  Queen  was  followed  in  the  British  Parliament, 
and  in  most  of  the  newspapers  in  the  interest  of  the  government,  and  the 
ruling  classes  in  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies,  by  the  most  dogmatic  asser 
tions  that  the  Republic  of  the  West  was  hopelessly  crumbling  into  ruins,  and 
was  unworthy  of  respectful  consideration.  In  addition  to  affected  indiffer 
ence  to  the  fate  of  the  Nation,  British  legislators,  orators,  publicists,  and 
journalists  were  lavish  of  causeless  abuse,  not  only  of  the  Government,  but 
of  the  people  of  the  Free-labor  States  who  were  loyal  to  that  Government. 


with  Groat  Britain  of  the  Free  and  Slave-labor  States,  and  the  comparative  insignificance  of  the  latter  as  a 
market  for  British  goods,  see  a  paper  entitled.  A  f'tic  J'lain  Word*  to  England  and  her  Manufacturers: 
by  J.  SMITH  HUMANS,  editor  of  The  Banker**  Magazine  and  Statittiral  Register,  in  which  it  appeared  at  the 
beginning  of  1862. 

1  The  following  is  the  epigram,  entitled:  Sfwp  and  Freedom  ; — 

"  Though  with  the  North  we  sympathize,  "  The  South  enslaves  those  fellow-men 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  Whom  we  love  all  so  dearly  ; 

That  with  the  South  we've  stronger  ties,  The  North  keeps  commerce  bound  again, 

Which  are  composed  of  cotton,  Which  touches  us  more  nearly. 

Whereof  our  imports  "mount  unto  Thus  a  divided  duty  we 

A  sum  of  many  figures;  Perceive  in  this  hard  matter — 

And  where  would  be  our  calico.  Free  trade,  or  sable  brothers  free? 

Without  the  toil  of  niggers?  Oh,  will  we  choose  the  latter!" 

a  It  has  been  asserted,  and  not  denied,  that  the  late  Prince-Consort  (Albert),  who  was  the  ever-trusted  con 
fidential  adviser  of  the  Queen,  entertained  feelings  of  the  most  cordial  friendship  toward  the  Government  and 
people  of  the  United  States,  and  that  such  remained  the  sentiments  of  Her  Majesty  during  the  whole  war.  As 
parents,  they  could  not  forget  the  kindness  bestowed  upon  their  child;  and  it  is  believed  that  the  Queen's  in 
fluence  was  very  powerful  in  restraining  tho  eagerness  of  her  ministers  and  the  ruling  classes  of  Great  Britain 
to  recognize  the  independence  of  the  so-called  "Confederate  States." 

3  Mr.  Adams  to  Earl  Uussell.  the  Foreign  Secretary,  May  20,  1S65. 

4  Two  mouths  before,  the  ustuto  Count  de  Gasparin,  observing  the  unfriendly  tone  of  English  leaders  of 
opinion,  and  aware  of  the  seductive  character  of  the  bribe  of  free  trade  in  cotton,  which  the  agents  of  the  con 
spirators  were  offering,  said  : — "Let  England  beware!     It  were  better  for  her  to  lose  Malta,  Corfu,  and  Gib 
raltar,  than  the  glorious  position  which  her  struggle  against  Slavery  and  the  Slave-trade  has  secured  her  in  the 
esteem  of  nations.     Even  in  our  age  of  armed  frigates  and  rifled  cannon,  the  chief  of  all  powers,  thank  God! 
is  moral  power.     Wo  to  the  nation  that  disregards  it,  and  consents  toWrumolate  its  principles  to  its  interests  ! 
From  the  beginning  of  the  present  conflict,  the  enemies  of  England,  and  they  are  numerous,  have  predicted 
that  the  cause  of  cotton  will  weigh  heavier  in  her  scales  than  the  cause  of  justice  and  liberty.     They  are  pre 
paring  to  judge  her  by  her  conduct  in  the  American  crisis.     Once  more,  let  her  beware!" — The  Uprising  of  a 
Great  People  :  Miss  Booth's  translation,  page  250. 

A  year  later,  De  Gasparin  wrote,  when  considering  the  unprecedented  precipitancy  with  which  leading 
European  [towers  recognized  the  insurgents  as  belligerents: — "Instead  of  asking  on  which  side  were  justice 
and  liberty,  we  have  hastened  to  ask  on  which  side  were  our  interests;  then,  too,  on  which  side  were  the  best 
chances  of  success."  He  said  England  had  a  legal  right  to  be  neutral,  but  had  no  moral  right  to  withhold  her 
sympathies  with  a  nation  struggling  for  its  existence  and  universal  justice  against  rebels  intent  on  crimes 
against  humanity. — America  before  Europe:  translated  by  Mary  L.  Booth. 


570  ATTITUDE    OF   CONTINENTAL   SOVEREIGNS. 

That  abuse  was  often  expressed  in  phrases  so  unmanly  and  ungenerous,  and 
even  coarse  and  vulgar  at  times,  that  high-minded  Englishmen  blushed  with 
shame.  Only  here  and  there  throughout  the  kingdom,  for  a  long  time,  was 
heard  a  voice  of  real  sympathy  for  a  great  and  enlightened  nation  struggling 
for  existence,  which  had,  in  a  measure,  sprung  from  the  loins,  as  it  were,  of 
the  English  people.  Those  few  voices  were  pleasant  to  the  ears  of  the  ear 
nest  champions  of  the  Republic  and  universal  freedom,  during  the  conflict ; 
and  the  memory  of  the  utterers  will  be  ever  cherished  in  the  heart  of  hearts 
of  a  grateful  and  generous  people,  who  can,  with  the  magnanimity  of  true 
nobility,  forgive  the  arrogant  and  the  misinformed  in  other  lands,  who,  fail 
ing  to  comprehend  the  dignity  of  the  cause  for  which  the  loyal  Americans 
were  contending,  treated  them  unkindly  in  the  hour  of  their  greatest  distress. 
How  powerfully  the  conspirators  were  aided  by  the  British  Government  and 
British  subjects,  under  the  overshadowing  wing  of  the  Queen's  Proclamation 
of  Neutrality,  and  so  prolonged  the  war  at  least  two  years,  will  be  observed 
hereafter. 

The  French  Emperor,  to  whose  court  William  L.  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey, 

was  sent,  by  the  new  Administration, 
to  succeed  Faulkner,  of  Virginia,1  was 
cautious  and  astute.  While  expressing 
the  most  friendly  feelings  toward  the 
Government  and  people  of  the  United 
States,  he  followed  the  British  Queen  in 
according  belligerent  rights  to  the  in 
surgents,  by  a  decree  issued 
86L  on  the  llth  of  June  ;a  and, 
as  we  shall  observe  hereafter,  he  entered 
into  political  combinations  and  military 
enterprises,  at  about  the  same  time,  for 
the  aggrandizement  of  his  empire,  and 
the  propagation  of  imperialism  on  the 

WILLIAM  L.  DAYTON.  American  Continent,  with  the  belief  that 

the  clays  of  the   Great  Republic  were 

numbered,  and  its  democratic  forces  hopelessly  paralyzed.     The  Queen  of 
Spain  also  hastened  to  proclaim  the  neutrality  of  her  govern- 
ment/  and  to  combine  with  the  French  Emperor  in  replanting 
the  seeds  of  monarchical  institutions  in  the  New  World,  now  that 
the  menacing  Republic  was  expiring.     The  King  of  Portugal  also   recog 
nized  c    the    insurgents    as    belligerents ;    but    the    enlightened 
29'     Emperor  of  Russia,  who  was  about  to  strike  the  shackles  from 
almost  forty  millions  of  slaves  in  his  own  dominions,2  instructed  his  chief 

1  In  his  instructions  to  Mr.  Dayton  (April  22,  1861),  Mr.  Seward  took  the  same  high  ground  as  in  those  to 
Mr.  Adams.  "  The  President  neither  expects  nor  desires  intervention,  or  even  favor,"  he  said,  "from  the  Gov 
ernment  of  France,  or  any  other,  in  this  emergency.  Whatever  else  he  may  consent  to  do,  he  will  never  evoke 
nor  even  admit  foreign  interference  or  influence  in  this  or  any  other  controversy  in  which  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  may  be  engaged  with  any  portion  of  the  United  States."  On  the  4th  of  May,  Mr.  Seward 
instructed  Mr.  Dayton  to  say  to  M.  Thouvenal,  the  French  Minister  for  Foreign  Aftairs,  that  "the  thought  of 
dissolution  of  this  Union,  peaceably  or  by  force,  has  never  entered  into  the  mind  of  any  candid  statesman 
here,  and  it  is  high  time  that  it  be  dismissed  by  statesmen  in  Europe." 

3  This  was  accomplished  in  the  spring  of  1S63,  when  over  sixteen  millions  of  crown  serfs  and  twenty-two 
millions  belonging  to  private  owners  were  emancipated  by  proclamation  of  the  Emperor  Alexander. 


WAR   MEASURES   IX   CONGRESS.  571 

minister  to  say  to  the  imperial  representative  at  Washington,  "  In  every 
event,  the  American  Nation  may  count  upon  the  most  cordial  sympathy  on 
the  part  of  our  august  master  during  the  important  crisis  which  it  is  passing 
through  at  present."1  The  Russian  Emperor  kept  his  word  ;  and  the  powers 
of  Western  Europe,  regarding  him  as  a  promised  ally  of  the  Republic,  in 
case  of  need,  behaved  prudently. 

Congress  followed  the  President's  suggestions  with  prompt  action.     On 
the  first  day  of  the  session," 
Mr.  Wilson,  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs    of    the    Senate,    gave     notice 
that  on  the  following  day  he  should 
ask  leave  to  introduce  six  bills,  having 
for  their  object  the  suppression  of  the 
rebel  1  ion. *     These,  and  others  origin 
ating  in  the  Lower  House,  were  soon 
brought  to  the  consideration  of  Con 
gress,   and  elicited   much   debate.      It 
was  manifest  at  the  outset  of  the  ses 
sion,  that  there  were  a  few  among  the 
Opposition,   in   Congress,  whose  sym 
pathies    were    with    the    secessionists, 
and    who   were   disposed   to   withhold 

from  the  Executive  tin-  means  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  Republic. 
The  leader  of  this  faction  in  the  Senate  was  the  late  Vice-President,  John 
C.  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  who,  soon  after  the  close  of  the  session,  en 
tered  the  military  service  of  the  conspirators;  and,  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  of  Ohio,  was  regarded  as  the  ablest 
opponent  of  the  war-measures. 

When,  on  the  10th  of  July,  a  loan-bill,  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  borrow  two  hundred  ami  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  for  the  support 
of  the  Government  and  to  prosecute  the  war,  was  before  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  Vallandigham  made  an  elaborate  spi-ech  against  the  measure,  and 
the  entire  policy  of  "  coercion  " — in  other  words,  the  vindication  of  the 
National  authority  by  force  of  arms,  if  necessary.  He  charged  the  President 
with  usurpation,  in  calling  out  and  increasing  the  military  and  naval  forces 
of  the  country,  blockading  ports,  suspending  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of 
Jmtmtn  c<n-]nts,  and  other  acts  which  the  safety  of  the  Government  had  re 
quired  him  to  perform,  and  all  these  without  the  authority  of  Congress.  He 
declared  that  the  first  projects  for  disunion  were  found  in  New  England, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century  ;:t  and  that  the  civil  war  in  which  the  country 


1  Letter  of  Prince  Gortschakoff  to  Baron  de  Stocckl,  dated  July  10,  1*61. 

a  These  were.  1.  To  ratify  and  confirm  certain  acts  of  the  President  for  the  suppression  of  insurrection  and 
rebellion.  2.  To  authorize  the  employment  of  volunteers  to  aid  in  enforcing  the  laws  ami  protecting  public 
property.  3.  To  increase  the  present  military  establishment  of  the  United  States.  4.  Providing  for  the  better 
organization  of  the  military  establishment.  f>.  To  promote  the  efficiency  of  the  Army.  6.  For  the  organization 
of  a  volunteer  militia  force,  to  be  called  the  National  Guard  of  the  United  States. 

3  The  plainest  facts  in  our  history  teach  us  that  in  Virginia,  and  not  in  New  England,  threats  of -disunion 
•were  first  made,  ami  made  so  earnestly,  that  they  alarmed  Washington  and  his  compatriots.  It  was  there 
offered  by  political  doctors  as  the  grand  panacea  fur  the  evils  endured  by  wounded  State  and  family  pride.  Set- 
note  1,  page  IT,  and  note  1,  page  63. 


572  OPPOSITION   TO   WAR   MEASURES   IN   CONGRESS. 

was  involved,  had  been  brought  about  by  the  "  violent  and  long-continued 
denunciations  of  Slavery  and  the  Slave-holders,  especially  since  1835,"  by 
the  Abolitionists.1  He  reviewed  the  conduct  of  the  Republicans  in  the  last 
Congress,  as  indicating  the  determination  of  the  party  to  have  war  instead 
of  peace ;  denounced  the  revenue  law  known  as  the  Morrill  Tariff,  as  injurious 
to  the  cotton-growers ;  charged  the  Administration  with  having  adopted  a 
war  policy  merely  for  party  purposes ;  and  declared  that  in  the  train  of 
usurpations  already  enacted  would  follow  a  host  of  others,  such  as  the  denial 
of  the  right  of  petition,  and  the  freedom  of  religion,  whose  holy  temples 
had  been  already  defiled,  and  "  its  white  robes  of  a  former  innocency  tram 
pled  under  the  polluting  hoofs  of  an  ambitious  and  faithless  or  fanatical 
clergy."2  This  was  the  first  trumpet-blast,  clear  and  distinct,  for  the  mar 
shaling  of  the  hosts  for  battle  of  the  great  Peace  Party,  which  soon  became 
a  power  in  the  land,  and  played  a  most  important  part  in  the  drama  of  the 
civil  war,  but  touched  no  sympathizing  chord  in  the  hearts  of  the  great  body 
of  the  people. 

The  loan-bill  was  passed  under  the  previous  question,  on  the  10th;3  and 

on  the  following  day  an  Army  appropriation  bill  was  acted  upon,  when  Val- 

landigham  moved  to  add  a  proviso,  that   u  no  part  of  the  money  hereby 

appropriated  shall  be  employed  in  subjugating,  or  holding  as  a  conquered 

province,  any  sovereign  State,  now,  or  lately,  one  of  the  United  States ;  nor 

in  abolishing  or  interfering  with  African  Slavery  in  any  of  the  States."    This 

proviso  was  rejected,  and  the  bill,  appropriating  one  hundred  and  sixty-one 

millions  of  dollars,  was  passed.     Already  a  resolution  had  been 

"  is6i  9'     ad°Pted  in  the  same  House,"  that  it  was  "  no  part  of  the  duty  of 

the  soldiers  of  the  United  States  to  capture  and  return  fugitive 

slaves."4 

The  Senate  took  measures  at  an  early  day  to  purge  itself  of  treasonable 
members.     On  the  10th,ft  on  motion  of  Mr.  Clark,  of  New  Hampshire,  it  ex 
pelled  ten    Senators  who  were  named,5   because  of  their  being 
Iuly*       engaged    "in    a  conspiracy   for    the    destruction    of    the   Union 
and  the  Government."     The  resolution  for  expulsion  received  the  required 
vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  (thirty-two  against  ten) ;  and,  on  the  13th, 


1  See  page  65,  and  note  2,  page  65;  also  note  1,  page  66. 

2  Congressional  Globe,  July  10,  1S61. 

3  The  vote  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  ayes  and  five  noes.     The  latter  were  Burnett,  of  Kentucky;  Norton 
and  Reid,  of  Missouri ;  Vallandigham,  of  Ohio;  and  Benjamin  Wood,  of  New  York.     The   first  three  named 
joined  the  rebels  soon  after  the  close  of  the  session.      While  Vallandigham,  in  the  lower  House,  was  abusing  the 
President,  and  avowing  his  determination  to  thwart  the  Government  in  its  attempts  to  put  down  rebellion, 
Senator  Baker,  of  Oregon,  was  eloquently  appealing  to  the  other  House  to  come  up  to  the  help  of  the  Executive 
with  the  most  generous  aid.     He  declared  his  approval  of  every  measure  of  the  President  in  relation  to  the 
rebellion,  and  said  :— "  I  propose  to  ratify  whatever  needs  ratification.     I  propose  to  render  my  clear  and  distinct 
approval  not  only  of  the  measure,  but  of  the  motive  which  prompted  it.     I  propose  to  lend  the  whole  power  of 
the  country — arms,  men,  and  money — and  place  them  in  his  hands,  with  authority  almost  unlimited,  until  the 
conclusion  of  this  struggle.     He  has  asked  for  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars.     We  propose  to  give  him  five 
hundred  millions  of  dollars.     He  has  asked  for  four  hundred  thousand  men.     We  propose  to  give  him  half  a 
million  ;  and,  for  my  part,  if,  as  I  do  not  apprehend,  the  emergency  should  be  still  greater,  I  will  cheerfully  add 
a  cipher  to  either  of  these  figures."     A  hundred  days  later,  the  speaker  gave  his  life  to  his  country,  at  Ball's 
Bluff,  on  the  Potomac. 

4  This  was  proposed  by  Mr.  Lovejoy,  of  Illinois,  and  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  ninety-two  against  fifty-five. 
6  James  M.  Mason  and  Robert  T.  M.  Hunter,  of  Virginia;  Thomas  L.  Clingman  and  Thomas  Bragg,  of 

North  Carolina;  James  Chesnut,  Jr.,  of  South  Carolina;  A.  O.  P.  Nicholson,  of  Tennessee;  William  K.  Sebas 
tian  and  Charles  B.  Mitchell,  of  Arkansas;  and  John  Hemphill  and  Louis  T.  Wigfall,  of  Texas. 


CRITTENDEN'S   JOINT   RESOLUTION.  573 

the  places  of  Hunter  and  Mason  were  filled  by  John  S.  Carlile  and  Wait  man 
T.  Willey,1  who  appeared  with  proper  credentials.     On  the  same     a 
day  "  John  B.  Clark,  of  Missouri,  was,  on  motion  of  F.  P.  Blair,         isei. 
expelled  from  the  House  of  Representatives  as  a  traitor. 

When  a  hill  providing  for  the  calling  out  half  a  million  of  men  for  the 
war  was  under  consideration,  on  the  13th,4  Yallandigham  offered 
a  proviso  that  the  President,  before  he  should  have  the  right  to 
summon  any  more  troops  to  the  field,  should  appoint  seven  commissioners, 
who  should  accompany  the  army  in  its  marches,  with  authority  to  receive 
from  Jefferson  Davis  proposals  looking  to  an  armistice,  or  obedience  to  the 
National  Government.  The  proviso  was  rejected,  and  the  bill 
was  passed.  Two  days  afterward,'  Benjamin  Wood,  of  New 
York,  proposed  that  Congress  should  take  measures  for  the  assembling  of  a 
convention  of  all  the  States,  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  in  September  following, 
to  devise  measures  for  restoring  peace  to  the  country.  It  was  tabled,  and  on 
the  same  day,  Allen,  of  Ohio  (opposition),  moved  that  when  "  the  States  now 
in  rebellion"  should  desisr,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  suspend 
the  further  prosecution  of  the  war ;  and  that  it  was  not  the  object  of  the 
war  to  interfere  with  Slavery.  This  was  ruled  out  of  order,  when  Vallan- 
digham  offered  a  long  series  of  resolutions,  in  tenor  like  his  speech  on  the 
10th,  condemning  nearly  every  important  act  of  the  President,' in  resisting 
the  conspirators,  as  unconstitutional.  These  were  tabled,  and  a  bill,  intro 
duced  by  Ilickman,  of  Pennsylvania,  for  defining  and  punishing  conspiracies 
against  the  United  States,  was  passed,  with  only  seven  dissenting  voices. 
On  motion  of  McClernand,  of  Illinois  (opposition),  the  House 
pledged  itself''  to  vote  for  any  amount  of  money,  and  any  number 
of  men,  which  might  be  necessary  for  the  speedy  suppression  of  the  rebel 
lion.  This  was  passed  with  only  five  dissenting  voices.9 

A  spirited  and  able  debate  arose  in  the  Senate,  on  the  18th,'  by  an  addi 
tion  to  the  bill  providing  for  the  reorganization  of  the  Army, 
offered  by  Powell,  of  Kentucky,  which  declared,  that  no  part  of 
the  Army  or  Navy  should  be  employed  in  "subjecting  or  holding  as  a 
conquered  province  any  sovereign  State  now,  or  lately,  one  of  the  United 
States."  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  offered  as  a  substitute  a  clause,  declaring  that 
the  purposes  of  the  military  establishment  provided  for  in  the  Act  were  "to 
preserve  the  Union,  to  defend  the  property,  and  to  maintain  the  constitu 
tional  authority  of  the  Government."  This  was  adopted,  with  only  four 
dissenting  voices;11  when  Breckinridge  moved  as  an  additional  amendment 
the  substance  of  Powell's  proposition,  and  the  words,  "or  to  abolish  Slavery 
therein  " — that  is,  in  any  State  "  lately  one  of  the  United  States."  This  was 
rejected;  and  the  bill,  as  it  came  from  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  was 
adopted.  On  the  following  day  the  venerable  John  J.  Crittenden,  who  was 
now  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  offered  a  joint  resolution, 
"That  the  present  deplorable  civil  war  has  been  forced  upon  the  country  by 
the  Disunionists  of  the  Southern  States  now  in  revolt  against  the  constitu- 


v  15. 


1  They  had  been  appointed  by  the  Legislature  of  reonranized  Virginia.     See  pasre  491. 

*  Burnett  and  Orider,  of  Kentucky;  Norton  and  Keid.  of  Missouri;  and  Benjamin  Wood,  of  New  York. 

'  llreckinridire  and  Powell,  of  Kentucky;  and  Johnson  and  Polk,  of  Missouri. 


574  THE   ARMY   AND   THE  PEOPLE. 

tional  Government,  and  in  arms  around  the  Capital ;  that  in  this  National 
emergency,  Congress,  banishing  all  feeling  of  mere  passion  or  resentment, 
will  recollect  only  its  duty  to  its  country  ;  that  this  war  is  not  waged,  on 
our  part,  in  any  spirit  of  oppression,  nor  for  any  purpose  of  conquest  or  sub 
jugation,  nor  purpose  of  overthrowing  or  interfering  with  the  rights  or 
established  institutions  of  those  States ;  but  to  defend  and  maintain  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  and  to  preserve  the  Union,  with  all  the  dig 
nity,  equality,  and  rights,  of  the  several  States  unimpaired ;  and  as  soon  as 
these  objects  are  accomplished,  the  war  ought  to  cease." 

This  resolution,  so  consonant  with  the  feelings  of  the  great  body  of  the 
loyal  inhabitants  of  the  Republic,  was  laid  over  until  Monday,  the  22d. 
During  that  interval,  momentous  events  had  occurred.  The  first  great  battle 
of  the  war  had  been  fought,  within  thirty  miles  of  the  Capital,  which  is 
known  in  history  as  the  BATTLE  OF  BULL'S  RUN.  Let  us  see  how  it  was 
brought  about. 

When  Congress  met,  at  the  beginning  of  July,  there  were  about  three 
hundred  thousand  Union  troops  enrolled.  About  fifty  thousand  of  these 
were  in  arms  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Potomac  River,  designed  for  the  defense 
of  the  Capital,  or  an  attack  upon  the  Confederates  at  Manassas,1  as  circum 
stance  might  require.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  was  at  fever-heat.  In 
their  patriotic  zeal  for  the  overthrow  of  the  rebellion,  they  did  not  stop  to 
consider  the  necessity  for  military  discipline  and  thorough  organization ;  and 
because  the  troops  lingered  along  the  line  of  the  Potomac  week  after  week, 
in  seeming  inactivity,  they  became  impatient.  There  was  a  burning  desire 
for  the  seizure  and  occupation  of  Richmond  by  the  National  forces  before  the 
so-called  Confederate  Government  should  be  established  there,  on  the  20th  of 
July;  and  because  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  and  the  General-in-chief 
were  still  holding  back  the  army  when  Congress  met,  they  were  censured 
without  stint,  and  the  loyalty  of  General  Scott,  who  was  born  in  Virginia, 
was  actually  questioned.  In  public  speeches,  in  the  newspapers,  and  every 
where  among  the  people,  there  was  a  mad  cry  of  Forward  to  Richmond! 
which  finally  impelled  the  General-in-chief  to  order  the  army  to  move  in  that 
direction.2 

In  the  mean  time  the  loyal  people  at  home — men,  women,  and  children — 
had  been  making  earnest  preparations  for  assisting  the  soldiers  in  the  field, 
and' alleviating  their  suiferings  when  in  hospitals.  The  call  for  troops,  on  the 
15th  of  April,  electrified  the  women  of  the  land ;  and  individuals  and  small 
groups  might  be  seen  every  day,  in  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  house 
holds — women  and  children — with  busy  fingers  preparing  lint  and  bandages 
for  wounds,  and  hospital  garments  for  the  sick  and  maimed,  and  shelters  for 
the  heads  and  necks  of  the  soldiers,  when  marching  in  the  hot  sun,  known  as 
havelocks*  The  movement  was  spontaneous  and  universal.  The  necessity 


1  See  page  479. 

2  The  New  York  Tribune,  a  daily  paper  of  immense  circulation  throughout  the  Free-labor  States,  and  of 
great  influence,  first  raised  this  war-cry  in  its  columns,  on  the  26th  of  June,  and  kept  the  paragraph  in  a  con 
spicuous  place  among  its  editorials  until  the  3d  of  July.     Its  words  were  as  follows: — 

"THE  NATION'S  WAR-CRY.— Forward  to  Richmond!  Forward  to  Richmond!  TJie  Rebel  Con- 
grew  must  not  be  allowed  to  meet  there  on  the  20£/t  of  July.  BY  THAT  DATE  TIJK  PLACE  MUST  BK  HELD  BY 
THE  NATIONAL  ARMY." 

3  The  name  of  hacelock  was  derived  from  Sir  Henry  Havelock,  an  eminent  English  commander  in  the  East 


BENEVOLENT   ORGANIZATIONS. 


575 


for  some  systematic  plan  for  the  collection  and  distribution  of  these  products 
of  busy  fingers  was  immediately  apparent ;  and  at  a  meeting  of  fifty  or  sixty 
women,  in  the  city  of  Xew  York,  on  the  25th  of  April,"  a  Cen 
tral  Relief  Association  was 
suggested.  A  plan  was 
formed,  and  the  women  of 
New  York  were  addressed 
by  a  committee,  and  invited 
to  assemble  in  council,  at  the 
Cooper  Institute, on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  20th.  The  re 
sponse  was  ample.  No  such 


TUB    1IAVEI.OCK. 


gathering  of  wo 
men  had  ever  been  seen  in 
this  country.  David  Dudley 
Field  presided,  and  the  object 
of  the  meeting  was  explained, 
by  II.  W.  Bellows,  D.  D., 
when  the  assemblage  was 
addressed  by  Mr.  Ilamlin, 
Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  and  others.  Tln-n  a  l>nu-\ -nU-nt  organization  was  effected,  under  the 
title  of  T/ie  Tfo/wVx  Central  Association  for  R>-lftj\  with  the  late  venerable 
Dr.  Valentine  Mott  as  President,  Dr.  Ik-Hows,  Vice-President,  G.  F.  Allen, 
Secretary,  and  Howard  Pott«-r,  Treasurer.  Auxiliary  associations  of  women 
were  formed  in  all  parts  of  the  Free-labor  States;  ami  when  wounds  and 
sickness  appealed  for  relief,  a  few  weeks  later,  a  general  system  for  the  pur 
pose  was  so  well  organized  that  all  demands  were,  at  first,  promptly  met.  It 
was  soon  discovered,  however,  that  a  more  perfect  system,  to  have  an  official 
connection  with  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Government,  and  under  the 
sanction  of  the  War  Department,  was  needed,  and,  after  much  effort,  THE 
UXITKD  STATES  SAXITAKY  COMMISSION  was  organized,  ami  entered  upon  its 
great  and  beneficent  labors.  A  fuller  history  of  the  organization  and  labors 
of  this  Commission,  and  also  of  its  kindred  society,  the  sturdy  offspring 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  called  THE  UNITED  STATES 
CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION*,  will  be  found  in  another  part  of  this  work. 

Before  any  of  these  propositions  or  efforts 
for  giving  aid  to  the  sick  and  wounded  wt-n- 
publicly  made,  a  woman  who  for  many  years, 
Howard-like,  had  been  laboring  unceasingly 
for  the  poor,  the  unfortunate,  and  the  afflicted, 
had  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  War  De 
partment  for  the  organization  of  military  hos 
pitals,  and  the  furnishing  of  nurses  for  them. 
That  woman  was  Miss  Dorothea  L.  Dix,  whose 
name  was  familiar  to  the  people  throughout 
the  land.  She  offered  her  services  gratuitously 
to  the  Government,  and  they  were  accepted. 
So  early  as  the  23d  of  April,  or  only  eight 
days  after  the  President  called  for  troops  to 
put  down  the  rebellion,  the  Secretary  of  War 

issued  a  proclamation,  announcing  the  fact  of  such  acceptance  ;'  and  on  the 
IsJ  of  May,  the  Surgeon-General  (H.  C.  Wood),  "cheerfully  and  thankfully 


IHU'.oTHKA    L.    DIX. 


Indies  (luring  the  rebellion  of  the  Sepoys,  in  1S57,  who  caused  his  soldiers  to  be  furnished  with  these  protectors 
upiinst  the  he;it  of  the  sun.  They  were  made  of  white  cotton  cloth,  and  covered  the  military  cap  and  the  neck 
with  a  eajK-.  Our  soldiers  soon  discarded  them,  as  heinir  more  uncomfortable,  by  the  exclusion  of  air.  than  any 
rays  of  the  sun  to  which  they  were  exposed.  They  had  been  sent  to  the  army  by  thousands. 

>  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  proclamation  or  order:—"  Be  it  known  to  all  whom  it  may  concern,  that  tho 


576  THE    NOBLE   WORK   OF  A  WOMAN. 

recognizing  the  ability  and  energy  of  Miss  D.  L.  Dix  in  her  arrangements 
for  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  the  sick  soldiers  in  the  present  exigency," 
requested  all  women  who  offered  their  services  as  nurses  to  report  to  her. 
Like  an  angel  of  mercy,  this  self-jacrificing  woman  labored  day  and  night 
throughout  the  entire  war  for  the  relief  of  the  suffering  soldiers,  without 
expecting  or  receiving  any  pecuniary  reward.  She  went  from  battle-field  to 
battle-field,  when  the  carnage  was  over ;  from  camp  to  camp ;  and  from  hos 
pital  to  hospital,  superintending  the  operations  of  the  nurses,  and  adminis 
tering  with  her  own  hands  physical  comforts  to  the  suffering,  and  soothing 
the  troubled  spirits  of  the  invalid  or  dying  soldier  with  a  voice  low,  musical, 
and  attractive,  and  always  burdened  with  words  of  heart-felt  sympathy  and 
religious  consolation.  The  amount  of  happiness  that  resulted  from  the  ser 
vices  of  this  woman  of  delicate  frame,  which  seemed  to  be  incapable  of 
enduring  the  physical  labor  required  of  it,  can  never  be  estimated.  The  true 
record  is  only  in  the  great  Book  of  Remembrance.  Yet  she  was  not  the 
only  sister  of  charity  engaged  in  works  of  mercy.  She  had  hundreds  of 
devoted,  earnest,  self-sacrificing  co-workers  of  the  gentler  sex  all  over  the 
land,  serving  witH  equal  zeal  in  the  camps  and  hospitals  of  the  National  and 
Confederate  armies ;  and  no  greater  heroism  was  displayed  by  soldiers  in  the 
field  than  was  exhibited  by  these  American  women  everywhere. 

Working  in  grand  harmony  with  those  more  extended  organizations  for 
the  relief  of  the  soldiers,  were  houses  of  refreshment  and  temporary  hospital 
accommodations  furnished  by  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia.  That  city  lay  in 
the  channel  of  the  great  stream  of  volunteers  from.  New  England,  New 
« is6i  York,  and  New  Jersey,  that  commenced  flowing  abundantly  early 
in  May.a  These  soldiers,  crossing  New  Jersey,  and  the  Delaware 
River  at  Camden,  were  landed  at  the  foot  of  Washington  Avenue,  where, 
wearied  and  hungry,  they  often  vainly  sought  for  sufficient  refreshments  in 
the  bakeries  and  groceries  in  the  neighborhood  before  entering  the  cars  for 
Washington  City.  One  morning,  the  wife  of  a  mechanic  living  near,  com 
miserating  the  situation  of  some  soldiers  who  had  just  arrived,  went  out 
with  her  coffee-pot  and  a  cup,  and  distributed  its  contents  among  them. 
That  generous  hint  was  the  germ  of  a  wonderful  system  of  relief  for  the 
passing  soldiers,  which  was  immediately  developed  in  that  city.  Some 
benevolent  women,  living  in  the  vicinity  of  this  landing-place  of  the  volun 
teers,  imitated  their  patriotic  sister,  and  a  few  of  them  formed  themselves 
into  a  Committee1  for  the  regular  distribution  of  coffee  on  the  arrival  of  sol 
diers.  Gentlemen  in  the  neighborhood  interested  themselves  in  procuring 
other  supplies,  and  for  a  few  days  these  were  dispensed  under  the  shade  of 
trees  in  front  of  the  cooper-sfcop  of  William  M.  Cooper,  on  Otsego  Street, 

free  services  of  Miss  D.  L.  Dix  are  accepted  by  the  War  Department,  and  that  she  will  give,  at  all  times,  all 
necessary  aid  in  organizing  military  hospitals  for  the  care  of  all  the  sick  or  wounded  soldiers,  aiding  the  chief 
surgeons  by  supplying  nurses,  and  substantial  means  for  the  comfort  and  relief  of  the  suffering;  also,  that  she 
is  fully  authorized  to  receive,  control,  and  disburse  special  supplies  bestowed  by  individuals  or  associations  for 
the  comfort  of  their  friends  or  the  citizen  soldiers  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States.1'  Dated  April  23,  IBOI, 
and  signed  SIMON  CAMERON,  Secretary  of  War. 

On  the  4th  of  May,  Miss  Dix  issued  a  circular  letter  to  the  large  number  of  women  who  were  offering  their 
services  as  nurses,  giving  them  information  and  directions,  and  then  commenced  her  beneficent  labors  with 
great  assiduity. 

1  This  Committee  was  composed  of  Mrs.  William  M.  Cooper,  Mrs.  Grace  Nickles,  Mrs.  Sarah  Ewing,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Vansdale,  Mrs.  Catharine  Vausdale,  Mrs.  Jane  Coward,  Mrs.  Susan  Turner,  Mrs.  Sarah  Mellen,  Mrs. 
Catharine  Alexander,  Mrs.  Mary  Plant,  and  Mrs.  Captain  Watson. 


PHILADELPHIA   REFRESHMENT   SALOONS. 


577 


near  Washington  Avenue.  Then  this  shop — generously  offered  for  the  pur 
pose  Jt>y  Mr.  Cooper — was  used  for  refreshing  the  soldiers ;  and  very  soon 
whole  regiments  were  fed  there  at  tables  supplied  by  the  contributions  of 
citizens  of  Philadelphia,  and  waited  upon  by  the  wives  and  daughters  of 
those  in  the  neighborhood.  The  first  of  the  entire  regiments  so  supplied  was 
Colonel  Blenker's  (German  Rifles),  more  than  a  thousand  strong,  who  par 
took  of  a  coffee  breakfast  there  on  the  morning  of  the  27th  of  May. 


THE    COOI'Eit-HHOp    VOLI'STKKU    IlKKUKMiMKVJ 


iNL)    Hobl'ITAL    IN    18C4. 


The  cooper-shop  was  not  spacious  enough  to  accommodate  the  daily 
increasing  number  of  soldiers,  and  another  place  of  refreshments  was  opened 
on  the  corner  of  Washington  Avenue  and  Swanson  Street,  in  a  bull  iing  for 
merly  used  as  a  boat-house  and  riggers'  loft.  Two  Volunteer  Refreshment 
Saloon  Committees  were  formed,  and  known  respectively  as  the  "  Cooper- 
Shop  "  and  the  "  t"nion."  The  former  was  organized  on  the  26th  and  the 
latter  on  the  27th  of  May.1  They  worked  in  harmony  and  generous  rivalry, 


1  The  following  were  tin-  Officers  nml  Managers  of  the  two  Associations,  respectively: — 

TIIK  COOPER-SHOP.  — President.  William  M.  Cooper;  Vice-President.  C.  V.  Fort;  Kecordins  Secretary, 
Win.  M.  Maull  ;  Corresponding  Secretary.  K.  S.  Hall;  Treasurer.  Adam  M.  Simpson;  Storekeeper.  Sam.  W. 
Nicklcs;  Hospital  Committee.  Philip  Fitzpatrick,  H.G.Simpson.  L.  W.  Thornton ;  General  Committee,  Henry 
W.  Pearee.  Win.  II.  Dennis,  Geor-c  M.  Flick.  II.  H.  Hansley,  Captain  K.  J.  Hoffner.  H.  H.  Webb.  Fit/patrick 
Horcty,  .Jacob  Plant,  Henry  Duhosq..!..  W.  Thornton,  K.  G.  Simpson.  Win.  S  prole.  J.  Coward. 

TUB  UNION.— Chairman,  Arud  Burrows;  Recording  Secretary.  J.  IJ.  Wade;  Treasurer,  IJ.  S..  Brown  ;  Steward, 
J.  T.  WillianiH  ;  Physician,  K.  Ward  ;  CorreHiH>ndiug  Secretary,  Hubert  K.  Corson. 

Cnmtnitttt  of  (itntlemen.  —  \r.\^\  Barrows,  Bazilla  S.  Brown,  Joseph  B.  Wade,  Isaac  B.  Smith.  Sr., 
Erasmus  W.  Cooper,  Job  T.  Williams,  John  W.  Hicks.  George  Flomcrfclt,  John  Krider,  Sr.,  Isaac  B.  Smith.  Jr., 
Charles  B.  Grieves.  James  McGlathcry.  John  B.  Smith.  Curtis  Myers.  Dr.  Eliab  Ward.  Chris.  Powell.  Captain 
W.  S.  Mason,  Charles  S.  Clampitt.  Leopold  M.  J.  Lemmens.  I).  L.  Flanagan,  Richard  Sharp,  Charles  II.  King- 
Btou,  Robert  It.  Cornon,  Sauniel  IJ.  Falen,  James  Carroll,  John  T.  Wilson. 

Commiffff  of  LtHlit*.— Mrs.  Mary  Grover.  Mrs.  Hannah  Smith.  Mrs.  Priscilla  0 rover.  Miss  Sarah  Holland. 
Mrs.  Margaret  Boyer.  Mrs.  Eli/a  J.  Smith.  Mrs.  Anna  Elkinton.  Mrs.  Ellen  B.  Barrows.  Mrs.  Mary  L.  Field, 
Mrs.  Ellen  J.  Lowry.  Mrs.  Martha  V.  \\.  Ward.  Mrs.  Eli/a  Plumer.  Mrs.  Emily  Mason.  Mrs.  Mary  Green.  Miss 
Catharine  Baily.  Mrs.  Eliza  Helmbold.  Miss  Amanda  Lee.  Mrs.  F.I i /.abet h  Horton.  Mrs.  Sarah  Femington.  Mrs. 
Kute  B.  Anderson.  Miss  Anna  Grover,  Miss  Martha  B.  Krider,  Mias  Annie  Field,  Miss  Mary  Grover.  Mrs.  Mary 
E.  Casscdy. 

VOL.  I.— 37. 


578 


THE   FIREMEN'S   AMBULANCE   SYSTEM. 


all  through  the  period  of  the  Avar,  in  doing  good.  Both  saloons  were 
enlarged  as  necessity  required,  and  both  had  temporary  hospitals  attached 
to  them.  To  the  immortal  honor  of  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  it  must  be 
recorded,  that  they  liberally  supplied  these  saloons  with  ample  materials  to 
give  a  bountiful  meal,  during  the  four  years  of  the  war,  to  almost  twelve 
hundred  thousand  Union  soldiers.  In  the  Union  Volunteer  Saloon,  alone, 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  soldiers  were  fed ;  forty  thousand  were 
accommodated  with  a  night's  lodging ;  fifteen  thousand  refugees  and  freed- 

men  were  cared 
for,  and  employ 
ment  found  for 
them ;  and,  in  the 
hospital  attached^ 
the  wounds  of  al 
most  twenty  thou 
sand  soldiers  were 
dressed.  The  wo 
men  who  devoted 
themselves  to  the 
service  of  prepar 
ing  the  meals,  and 
waiting  upon  thi& 
vast  host  of  the 

defenders  of  the  Union,  deserve  the  choicest  blessings  their  country  can 
bestow.  At  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  these  self-sacrificing  heroines, 
when  a  little  signal-gun,  employed  for  the  purpose,1  announced  the  approach 
of  a  regiment  or  a  company,  would  repair  to  the  saloons,  and,  with  the 
greatest  cheerfulness,  dispense  the  generous  bounties  of  their  fellow-citizens. 
These  saloons,  in  which  such  an  abounding  work  of  love  and  patriotism  had 
been  displayed,  were  formally  closed  in  August,  1865,  when  the  sunlight  of 
Peace  was  reilluminating  the  land,  and  the  Flag  of  the  Republic — 

"  That  floating  piece  of  poetry," 

as  Dr.  Francis  Lieber  so  appropriately  called  it  in  his  song,  "  Our  Country 
and  Flag,"  was  waving,  unmolested,  over  every  acre  of  its  domain. 

Philadelphia  was  also  honored  by  another  organization  for  the  good  of 
the  volunteers,  known  as  the  Firemen's  Ambulance  System,  which  was 
wholly  the  work  of  the  firemen  of  that  city,  who  also  contributed  largely 
from  their  body  to  the  ranks  of  the  Union  army.  When  sick  and  wounded 


THE    UNION    VOLUNTEER   HKFIIESHMENT    SALOON    IN    1861. 


1  This  little  cannon,  made  of  iron,  has  a  notable  history.  It  was  cast  at  the  Armory  in  Springfield,  Massa 
chusetts,  and  was  a  part  of  the  ordnance  in  the  army  of  General  Taylor 
on  the  Eio  Grande,  in  1S46,  where  it  was  captured,  placed  on  a  Mexican 
privateer,  and,  while  on  duty  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  was  recaptured  by  a 
United  States  cruiser.  It  was  finally  lodged,  for  a  while,  in  the  Navy 
Yard  at  Philadelphia,  and  then  put  on  board  of  the  receiving-ship  Union, 
which  was  scuttled  by  ice  one  night,  and  went  to  the  bottom.  It  was 
afterward  raised,  and  when  the  rebellion  broke  out,  was  sent  down  on  ser- 
SIGNAL  CANNON.  vjce  to  Perry  ville,  while  the  secessionists  held  Baltimore.  Soon  after  its 

return  to  Philadelphia,  it  was  mounted  on  a  clumsy  carriage  captured 

in  the  Castle  of  San  Juan  de  Ulloa,  at  Vera  Cruz,  in  1S47,  and  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Union  Volunteer 

Refreshment  Committee,  as  a  signal-gun  for  the  purpose  mentioned  in  the  text. 


THE   UNION    ARMY   NEAR   WASHINGTON.  579 

soldiers  began  to  be  brought  in  transports  from  camps  and  battle-fields  to 
Philadelphia,  to  be  placed  in  the  admirable  military  hospitals  that  were 
established  there,  the  Medical  Department  found  it  difficult  to  procure 
proper  vehicles  to  convey  them  from  the  wharves  to  their  destination. 
Delays  and  inconvenient  conveyances  caused  much  distress,  which  the  sym 
pathetic  firemen  attempted  to  remedy.  An  arrangement  was  made  for  the 
Chief  of  the  Department  to  announce  the  arrival  of  a  transport  by  a  given 
signal,  when  the  firemen  would  turn  out  with  wagons,  and  repair  to  the 
landing-place.  Finally,  the  Northern  Liberties  Engine  Company  had  a 
splendid  ambulance  constructed. 
More  than  thirty  other  engine  and 
hose  companies  followed  its  exam 
ple,  and  the  suffering  soldiers  were 
conveyed  from  ship  to  hospital  with 
the  greatest  tenderness.  These  am 
bulances  cost,  in  the  aggregate,  over 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  all  of  which 
sum  Was  Contributed  by  the  firemen.  PHILADELPHIA  rni  -EN'S  UIBVLAIK 

They  also  gave  their  personal  ser 
vices  freely,  unmindful  of  their  private  interests.  The  number  of  disabled 
soldiers  who  were  conveyed  in  these  ambulances,  during  the  period  of  the 
war,  was  estimated  at  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand.  With 
out  disparagement  to  other  cities  (for  all  did  noble  work),  it  may,  with  pro 
priety,  be  said,  that  in  labors  of  genuine  benevolence  and  generous  giving 
for  the  comfort  of  the  soldiers  of  the  great  Union  Army,  the  citizens  of 
Philadelphia  stand  peerless. 

While  the  people  at  home  were  working  with  unceasing  diligence  for  the 
comfort  of  the  soldiers,  and  were  contributing  the  means  for  making  the 
contest,  as  the  President  desired  it  to  be,  "short  and  decisive,"  those  soldiers 
were  eager  lor  action.  A  large  portion  of  those  near  the  Pdtomac  had 
enlisted  for  only  three  months,  and  their  terms  would  expire  before  the  close 
of  July.  They  were  anxious  to  move  against  the  insurgents  at  Manassas, 
and  to  win  the  victory  which  they  felt  certain  of  achieving.  It  was  impor 
tant  that  such  movement  should  be  made,  for  various  reasons,  before  the 
regiments  of  early  volunteers  should  be  dissolved.  These  volunteers  would 
be  so  disheartened  by  the  inglorious  and  almost  inactive  campaign  in  which 
they  had  been  engaged,  that  they  would  be  tardy  in  volunteering  for  the 
war.  Those  who  might  fill  their  places  would  be  almost  wholly  ignorant  of 
discipline  and  the  rudiments  of  the  military  art  which  the  first  had  acquired; 
and  in  the  confusion  incident  to  the  substitution  of  new  recruits  for  the 
three-months'  men,  the  well-organized  and  well-officered  insurgents  might, 
by  a  sudden  and  concentrated  movement,  overwhelm  the  Union  forces,  seize 
the  Capital,  and,  with  the  prestige  thus  obtained,  secure  for  the  Confederacy 
the  recognition  of  its  independence  by  foreign  governments.  This  real 
danger  was  before  the  mind  of  the  people  and  their  representatives,  and 
intensified  the  cry  of  "  F<>nr<irrf  to  Richmond!"  while  the  earlier  troops  had 
yet  some  time  to  serve.  That  cry  found  a  sympathetic  response  in  the 
Army  and  in  Congress;  and  at  the  middle  of  July,  the  General-in-chief  gave 
orders  for  a  forward  movement  upon  the  foe  at  Manassas.  An  earlier 


580 


PREPARATIONS   FOR  A   FORWARD   MOVEMENT. 


'  July  S, 
1861. 


6  1S34 


day  °  had  been  fixed  upon  for  the  beginning  of  the  movement,  but  the  new 
regiments  came  in  so  slowly  that  it  was  not  deemed  safe  to  break 
camp  before  the  15th. 

Lieutenant-General  Scott  was  too  infirm  to  take  command  of 
the  Army  in  the  field.  He  was  afflicted  with  dropsy  and  vertigo  ;  and  for  four 
months  he  had  not  been  able  to  mount  a  horse.  He  chose  Brigadier-General 

Irvin  McDowell  for  that  responsible  posi 
tion.  That  officer  was  a  native 
of  Ohio  ;  a  graduate  b  of  the 
Military  Academy  at  West  Point;  an 
excellent  soldier,  who  had  seen  service 
under  General  Wool,  in  Mexico,  and 
was  then  in  the  prime  of  life. 
He  had  been  appointed'  to 
the  command  of  the  Depart 
ment  of  Virginia,  with  his  head-quarters 
at  Arlington  House,  as  we  have  ob 
served  ;!  and  for  several  weeks  he  had 
been  actively  engaged  in  the  reception 
of  materials  for,  and  the  organization  of, 
what  was  afterward  known  as  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac.  This  work  was  but  im 
perfectly  accomplished,  when  public  opinion  bore  upon  the  authorities  with 
such  fearful  pressure,  that  the  Army,  such  as  it  was,  was  moved  forward,  with 
McDowell  as  its  chief.2 

The  relative  position  of  the  forces  now  to  be  brought  into  contact,  each 


May  27, 
1S61. 


IRVIN   M  DOWELL. 


1  See  page  4S5. 

2  The  people  who  were  shouting  " Forward  to  Richmond  /"  had  no  conception  of  the  time  and  labor  required 
to  organize,   equip,  and  provide  for  the  feeding  of  an  army 

sufficient  for  the  emergency.  When  the  war  broke  out,  the 
preparations  for  it  by  the  Government,  as  we  have  observed, 
were  very  meager.  Every  thing  had  to  be  provided — cre 
ated,  as  it  were — with  inadequate  means  for  doing  the 
work.  The  armories  and  the  armorers  were  few.  The 
materials  for  making  cannon  and  small-arms  and  munitions 
of  wnr  had  to  be  collected.  Agents  had  been  sent  to 
Europe  to  purchase  arms  for  use  until  they  could  be  manu 
factured  at  home.  None  of  these  had  yet  arrived ;  and  the 
only  ordnance  that  had  crossed  the  ocean,  for  use  by  the 
National  troops,  was  a  battery  of  six  Whitworth  cannon, 
which  were  sent  over  and  presented  to  the  Government  by 
loyal  Americans  residing  in  England.  They  we're  12- 
pounders,  and  each  bore  the  inscription : — "  FROM  LOYAL 
AMERICANS  IN  EUROPE  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES  GOVERN 
MENT,  1S61."  The  funds  for  their  purchase  were  collected 
chiefly  by  R.  G.  Moulton,  then  residing  in  Manchester,  Eng 
land.  The  cost  of  the  six  guns,  including  the  freight,  was 
twelve  thousand  dollars.  They  were  purchased  of  the  Whit- 
worth  Ordnance  Company  of  Manchester.  They  were  each  nine  feet  long,  and  were  loaded  at  the  breech ;  an<} 
thw  weight  of  each  was  eleven  hundred  pounds.  The  bore  was  three  inches,  and  rifled,  and  the  ball  was  a  double 
cone  of  iron,  nine  inches  long.  The  charge  required  to  throw  the  ball  five  miles  was  two  pounds  and  one-half 
of  powder. 

In  addition  to  a  lack  of  arms  was  a  want  of  means  for  transportation.  The  men  who  fight  must  be  fed ;  and 
it  required  seven  hundred  and  fifty  wagons,  three  thousand  horses,  and  almost  a  thousand  teamsters,  to  carry 
provisions,  tents,  intrenching  tools,  et  ccetera,  for  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men,  such  as  was  ordered  to  engage 
in  the  business  of  going  forward  to  Richmond.  These  wagons  had  to  be  made,  and  the  horses  purchased,  and 
the  teamsters  engaged,  before  that  army  could  move  efficiently,  for  it  was  going  into  an  enemy's  country.  Only 
about  ten  weeks  had  been  allowed  for  these  preparations  to  be  made,  when  "Fomoard  to  Richmond  /"  was  th« 
«rar-cry  of  the  people. 


WIUTWORTH    CANNON. 


POSITION   OF  THE   UNION"  FORCES. 


of  which  was  divided,  was  as  follows :  *The  main  body  of  the  National 
army,  under  McDowell,  about  forty-five  thousand  in  number,  occupied  a 
line,  with  the  Potomac  at  its  back,  extending  from  Alexandria,  nine  miles 
below  Washington  City,  almost  to  the  Chain  Bridge,  about  six  miles  above 
the  Capital.  The  remainder,  under  General  Patterson,  about  eighteen  thou 
sand  strong,  was  at  Martinsburg,  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge,  also  with  the 
Potomac  at  its  back,  as  we  have  observed.1  There  were  three  important 
bridges  spanning  the  Potomac  in  the  vicinity  of  Washington  City,  which 
were  well  guarded.  The  Upper,  or  Chain  Bridge,  where  the  banks  of  the 


CHAIN     BRIIKJE.2 

river  are  high  and  precipitous,  was  beyond  the  Union  lines  at  that  time,  on 
the  Virginia  side,  but  on  the  "Maryland,  or  District  side,  it  was  well  guarded 
by  two  batteries — one  at  the  bridge,  and  the  other  on  the  high  bank  above 
it — and  both  thoroughly  commanding  it.  In  addition  to  these  batteries,  a 
heavy  two-leaved  gate  was  constructed  at  the  center  of  the  bridge,  which 
was  covered  on  the  Virginia  side  with  heavy  iron  plates,  and  was  pierced  for 
7Jiusketry.  At  Georgetown  was  the 
Aqueduct  Bridge,3  which  was  well 
guarded  by  Fort  Corcoran  and  block 
houses  on  Arlington  I  lights,  and  a 
battery  on  Georgetown  Rights,  north 
of  the  city.  At  Washington  City,  at 
the  junction  of  Maryland  Avenue  and 
Fourteenth  Street,  was  the  Long 
Bridge,  a  mile  in  length,  whose  Vir 
ginia  end  was  commanded  by  three 
forts,  named,  respectively,  Jackson, 
K  uny  on,  and  Albany.  They  were 
built  chiefly  of  earth.  Fort  Jackson 
was  close  by  the  river,  with  heavy  pickets  and  picket-gate  crossing  the  rail 
way  which  there  passes  over  the  Long  Bridge,  and  connects  Washington 


GATE   OX    CHAIN    BKIIHiE. 


1  See  pajre  525. 

2  This  is  from  a  sketch  made  at  the  close  of  April,  ISC'i,  from  the  Maryland  or  District  of  Columbia  side  of 
the  rivi-r.     Tho  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal  is  seen  in  the  foreground.     The  Potomac  is  here  broken  into  rapids 
culled  the  Little  Falls.  *  See  page  4S1 


582 


POSITION"   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE    FORCES. 


City  with  Alexandria.  '  Other  fortifications,  as  we  have  observed,  extended 

along  the  line  of  Arlington  Plights,  and  guarded 
every  approach  to  positions  which  commanded 
the  National  Capital  and  Georgetown. 

The  main  Confederate  army,  under  the  com 
mand  of  Beauregard,  supposed  to  have  been  a 
little  less  than  McDowell's  in  number 
(forty-five  thousand),  was  at  and  near 
Manassas  Junction,  then  considered  one 
of  the  strongest  military  positions  for 
offense  or  defense  between  Washington 


REMAINS   OF   FORT  JACKSON,   AT  THE   LONG   BRIDGE.1 

and  Richmond.  It  is  about  half  way  between 
the  eastern  range  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the 
Potomac  at  Alexandria,  and  was  connected  by 
railway  with  Richmond  and  the  fertile  Shenan- 
doah  Valley,  as  we  have  observed.  The  main 
portion  of  the  army  was  on  an  elevated  plateau' 
in  the  crotch  formed  by  the  Occoquan  River  and 
its  main  tributary,  Bull's  Run.  The  bed  of  each 
stream,  canal-like,  was  cut  through  horizontal 
strata  of  red  stone,  making  it  difficult  for  an 
attacking  army  to  approach  the  Confederate 
works.'2  A  succession  of  broken,  wooded  hills 
around  the  plateau,  composed  strong  natural 
fortifications ;  and  Beauregard's  engineers  had 
cast  up  formidable  artificial  ones  there.  Among 
these,  the  most  noted  was  the  Naval  Battery, 
composed  of  the  heaviest  Dahlgren  guns, 
which  the  insurgents  seized  at  the  Gosport 
Navy  Yard,  and  manned  by  seamen,  com 
manded  by  officers  of  the  National  Navy  who  had  abandoned  .their  flag. 

1  This  is  from  a  sketch  made  by  the  author  at  the  close  of  April,  1865,  and  shows  the  embankments  of  Fort 
Jackson  on  the  right,  and  the  remains  of  the  pickets,  with  the  railway,  in  the  foreground.  On  the  left  is  a  public 
house  of  entertainment,  and  just  beyond  it  is  seen  a  portion  of  the  Long  Bridge.  The  Capitol  is  seen  in  tho 
distance.  2  The  C.  &.  A.  and  the  Battle  of  Bull  linn :  by  Major  J.  G.  Barnard 


MARINE    ARTILLERY-MAN    AT   MANASSAS. 


THE    ARMY    OF   THE   SHEXANDOAn. 


583 


Beauregard's  force  was  mostly  composed  of  Virginians,  South  Carolinians, 
Alab.'imians,  Mississippians,  and  Louisianiat»s. 

Another  Confederate  army,  about  as  strong  in  numbers  as  Beauregard's 
actually  was,  was  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley, 
under  General  Johnston,  his  superior  in  r.-ink^ 
whose  head-quarters  were  at  Winchester, 
around  which  lie  had  caused  to  be  cast  up 
heavy  intrenchments,  under  the  directions  of 
Major  W.  II.  C.  Whiting,  his  Chief  of  Engi 
neers.  Johnston  was  charged  with  the  duty, 
as  we  have  observed,  of  checking  the  advance 
of  Patterson,  and  preventing  the  junction  of 
the  troops  under  that  officer  with  those  un 
der  McClellan  among  the  AUeghany  ranges. 
Among  the  most  active  of  his  infantry  force 
was  a  corps  of  Tennessee  riflemen  or  a  sharp 
shooters."  These  had  been  raised  in  West 
Tennessee,  where  the  people  were  mostly  dis 
loyal.  They  were  among  the  earliest  of  the 
troops  of  that  State  who  made  their  way  into 
Virginia,  alter  the  treaty  was  concluded  for 
the  annexation  of  that  Commonwealth  to  the  Confederacy,1  and  the  control 
of  its  military  affairs  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Jefferson  Davis.  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky  were  well  represented  in  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah. 


TKN.SKS8F.E    SHAUP-SnOOTER. 


See  page  8b7. 


584  MATERIALS  OF  THE  NATIONAL   ARMY. 


CHAPTEE    XXY. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  BULL'S  KUN, 


I  TO  ^DgTO(Q][MD  |  HE  long-desired  forward  movement  of  the  greater  por 
tion  of  the  National  Army  that  lay  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Capital,  full  fifty  thousand  in  number,  began  on  the 
afternoon  of  Tuesday,  the  16th  of  July," 
leaving  about  fifteen  thousand,  under  General 
Mansfield,  to  guard  the  seat  of  Government.  The  ad 
vancing  troops  consisted  chiefly  of  volunteers  from  New 
England,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey,  and  some  from 
Western  States.  A  greater  portion  of  them  had  enlisted  for  only  three 
months,  and  their  terms  of  service  were  nearly  ended.  The  remainder  were 
chiefly  recent  volunteers  for  "three  years  or  the  war,"  who  were  almost 
wholly  undisciplined  ;  and  when  the  army  moved,  some  of  the  regiments 
were  not  even  brigaded.  There  were  also  seven  or  eight  hundred  regular 
troops  (the  fragments  of  regiments),  and  a  small  cavalry  force,  and  several 
light  batteries.  With  the  exception  of  the  regulars,  the  only  troops  on  whom 
McDowell  might  rely  were  the  three-months  men.  He  had  only  seven  com 
panies  of  regular  cavalry  in  his  army,  and  two  of  these  were  left  for  the  de 
fense  of  Washington  City.1 

McDowell's  forces  were  organized  in  five  divisions,2  commanded  respec- 

1  History  of  the  United  States  Cavalry:  by  Albert  C.  Brackett,  page  212. 

2  This  army  was  composed  of  excellent  material,  in  a  very  crude  state.     With  the  exception  of  the  regu 
lars,  the  men  were  instructed  in  only  the  rudiments  of  military  tactics  and  discipline,  and  a  large  portion  of 
their  officers  were  no  wiser  than  they.     The  cardinal  virtue  of  a  thorough  soldier,  obedience,  had  yet  to  bo 
acquired.     Officers  and  men,  in  many  cases,  had  been  social  companions,  and  the  latter  were  restive  under  re 
straints  imposed  by  the  former.     In  comparison  with  the  same  army  two  years  later,  McDowell's  force  appear? 
little  better  than  a  huge  mob,  with  noble  instincts,  but  having  no  adequate  conception  of  the  grave  duties  laid 
upon  it* 

*  The  composition  of  this  first  great  American  army  was  as  follows : — 

McDowell's  Stafi.— Captain  James  B.  Fry,  Assistant  Adjutant-General ;  Aids-de-camp— First  Lieutenant  Henry  W.  Kingsbury,  Fifth 
United  States  Artillery,  and  M«jors«Clarence  S.  Brown  and  James  S.  Wadsworth,  New  York  State  Artillery  ;  Acting  Inspector-General- 
Major  William  H.  Wood,  Seventeenth  United  States  Infantry;  Engineers— Major  John  G.  Barnard  and  First  Lieutenant  Frederick  F. 
Prime;  Topographical  Engineers — Captain  Amiel  W.  Whipple,  First  Lieutenant  Henry  L.  Abbot,  and  Second  Lieutenant  Haldimand  S> 
Putnam;  Quartermaster's  Department— Captain  O.  H.  Tillinghast ;  Commissary  of  Subsistence— Horace  F.Clark;  Surgeon— WTilliam  S, 
King;  Assistant  Surgeon— David  L.  Magruder. 

First  Division.— General  Tyler.  Four  brigades.  The  First  Brigade,  commanded  by  Colonel  Erasmus  D.  Keyes,  of  the  Eleventh 
United  States  Infantry,  was  composed  of  the  First,  Second,  and  Third  Regiments  of  Connecticut  Volunteers,  the  Fourth  Maine  Volunteers, 
Captain  Varian's  New  York  Battery,  and  Company  B  of  the  Second  United  States  Cavalry.  The  Second  Brigade,  under  Brigadier-Generai 
R.  C.  Schenck,  consisted  of  the  First  and  Second  Ohio  Volunteers,  the  Second  New  York  Volunteers,  and  a  light  battery  with  a  part  of 
Company  E  of  the  Third  United  States  Artillery.  The  Third  Brigade  was  commanded  by  Colonel  William  T.  Sherman,  of  the  Thirteenth 
United  Slates  Infantry,  and  was  composed  of  Colonel  Corcoran's  Irish  Regiment  (Sixty-ninth  New  York  Militia),  Colonel  Cameron'O 
Scotch  Regiment  (Seventy-ninth  New  York  Militia),  the  Thirteenth  New  York  Volunteers,  Second  Wisconsin  Volunteers,  and  a  light 
battery  with  a  part  of  Company  E  United  States  Artillery.  The  Fourth  Brigade,  under  Colonel  J.  B.  Richardson,  of  the  Michigan  Volun 
teers,  embraced  the  Second  and  Third  Michigan,  First  Massachusetts,  and  theTwelf'h  New  York  Volunteers. 

Second  Division.— Colonel  David  Hunter.  Two  brigades.  The  First  Brigade  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Andrew  Porter,  of  the  Six 
teenth  United  States  Infantry,  and  was  composed  of  a  battalion  of  regular  Infantry,  the  Eighth  and  Fourteenth  New  York  Militia,  a 
squadron  of  the  Second  United  States  Cavalry,  consisting,  of  Companies  G  and  L,  and  a  light  battery  of  the  Fifth  United  States  Artillery. 
The  Second  Brigade  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Ambrose  E.  Burnside,  of  the  Rhode  Island  Volunteers,  and  cons:sted  of  the  First  and 


POSITION   OF  THE   CONFEDERATE   ARMY.  585 

lively  by  Brigadier-Generals  Daniel  Tyler  and  Theodore  Runyon,  and  Colo 
nels  David  Hunter,  Samuel  P.  Heintzelruan,  and  Dixon  S.  Miles.  The  Con 
federate  force  against  which  this  army  was  to  move  was  distributed  along 
Bull's  Run,1  from  Union  Mill,  where  the 
Orange  and  Alexandria  Railway  crosses 
that  stream,  to  the  Stone  Bridge  of  the 
Warrenton  Turnpike,  the  interval  being 
about  eight  miles.2  The  run  formed  an 
admirable  line  of  defense.  Its  steep,  rocky, 
and  wooded  banks,  and  its  deep  bed,  formed 
an  almost  impassable  barrier  to  troops,  ex 
cepting  at  the  fords,  which  were  a  mile  or 
two  apart.  They  had  re^-rves  at  Camp 
Pickens,  near  Manassas  Junction,  a  dreary 
hamlet  before  the  war,  on  a  high,  bleak 
plain,  and  composed  of  :m  indifferent  rail 
way  station-house  and  place  of  refreshments 
and  a  few  scattered  cottages.  Near  there, 
at  Weir's  house,  at  the  junction  of  the  CYn- 
trevillc  and  Union  Mill  roads,  Beauregard  had  his  head-quarters.  The  Con 
federates  had  an  outpost,  with  fortifications,  at  Centreville,  and  strong  pickets 
and  slight  fortifications  at  Fairfax  Court  House,  a  village,  ten  miles  from  the 
main  army,  in  the  direction  of  Washington  City.  General  Johnston,  as  we 
have  observed,  was  strongly  intrenched  at  Winchester,  in  the  Shenandoah 


DANIKI.   TYLKR. 


1  This  is  an  inconsiderable  stream,  which  rises  in  the  range  of  hills  known  as  Bull's  Run  Mountains.  See 
map  on  page  «"^S6.  It  elliptic*  into  the  Occoquan  River  about  twelve  miles  from  the  Potomac. 

3  The  disjK>sition  of  the  Confederate  forces  was  as  follows : — 

Ewell's  brigade  occupied  a  position  near  the  Union  Mill  Ford,  and  was  composed  of  the  Fifth  and  Seventh 
Alabama,  and  Fifth  Louisiana  Volunteers,  with  four  12-pound  howitzers  of  Walton's  battery  of  the  Washington 
Artillery  of  New  Orleans,  and  three  companies  of  Virginia  cavalry.  D.  R.  Jones's  brigade  was  in  the  rear  of 
McLean's  Ford,  and  was  composed  of  the  Fifth  South  Carolina  and  the  Fifteenth  and  Eighteenth  Mississippi 
Volunteers,  with  two  brass  C- pounders  of  Walton's  battery,  and  one  company  of  cavalry.  The  brigade  of  .lames 
Longstreet  covered  Blackburn's  Ford.  It  was  composed  of  the  First,  Eleventh,  and  Seventeenth  Virginia  Vol 
unteers,  with  two  brass  6-pounders  of  Walton's  battery.  M.  I*  Bonham's  brigade,  stationed  at  Centreville, 
covered  the  approaches  to  Mitchell's  Ford.  It  consisted  of  the  Second.  Third,  Seventh,  and  Eighth  South  Caro 
lina  Volunteers,  two  light  batteries,  and  four  companies  of  Virginia  cavalry  under  Colonel  Radford.  Cocke's 
brigade  held  a  position  below  the  Stone  Bridge  and  vicinity,  and  consisted  of  the  Eighteenth.  Nineteenth,  and 
Twenty -eighth  Virginia  Volunteers,  a  company  of  cavalry,  and  a  light  battery.  Colonel  Evans,  with  the  Fourth 
South  Carolina,  a  special  Louisiana  battalion  under  Colonel  Wheat,  four  6-pounders,  and  a  company  of  Virginia 
cavalry,  guarded  the  Stone  Bridge;  and  Early's  brigade,  composed  of  the  Seventh  and  Twenty-fourth  Virginia, 
and  Seventh  Louisiana  Volunteers,  with  three  rifled  cannon  of  Walton's  battery,  held  a  position  in  the  rear  of 
Ewell's  brigade. — Ilmu reya r</'«  Jtejxtrt  to  Adjutant-General  Cooper. 


Second  Rhode  Uland  Volunteer.,  the  Seventy  first  New  York  Militia,  the  Second  New  Hampshire  Volunteers,  and  a  battery  of  the  Light 
Artillery  of  the  Second  Rhode  Uland.  See  page  402. 

Third  Diriiiun. -Colonel  Samuel  P.  HeinUelman,  of  the  Seventeenth  United  State*  Infantry.  Three  brigades.  The  First  Brigade, 
commanded  by  Colonel  W.  B.  Franklin,  of  the  Twelfth  United  State.  Infantry,  was  composed  of  the  Fourth  Pennsylvania  Militia,  Fifth 
and  Eleventh  Massachusetts  Militia,  First  Minnesota  Volunteers,  Company  E  of  the  Second  United  States  Cavalry,  and  a  light  battery 
with  Company  1  ot  the  Fi.st  United  States  Artillery  Th»  Second  Brigade,  led  by  Colonel  U.  B.  Wllcoz,  of  the  Michigan  Volunteers, 
was  composed  of  the  First  Michigan  Volunteers,  Eleventh  New  York  Vol'.nteers,  and  a  light  battery  with  Company  D  of  the  Second 
United  States  Artillery.  The  Third  Brigade,  commanded  by  Colonel  O.O.  Howard,  of  the  Maine  Volunteers,  included  the  Second, 
Fourth,  and  Fifth  Maine,  and  Second  Vermont  Volunteers. 

The  Fourth  and  Fiflh  Divisions  constituted  the  reserves,  and  were  composed  as  follows: — 

Fourth  Ditition.—  General  Theodore  Runyon,  of  the  New  Jersey  Militia,  One  brigade,  composed  of  the  First,  Second,  Third,  aad 
Fourth  New  Jersey  three-months  Militia,  and  the  First,  Second,  and  Third  New  Jersey  three-years  Volunteers. 

Fifth  Diviiinn—  Colonel  Oixon  S.  Miles, of  the  Second  United  States  Infantry,  contained  two  brigades.  The  First  B'igade,  com 
manded  by  Colonel  Louis  Blenker,  of  the  New  York  Volunteers,  consisted  of  the  Eighth  and  Twenty-ninth  New  York  Volunteers,  the  New 
York  Caribald!  (>uard,  and  the  Twenty-fourth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers.  The  Strand  Brigade  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Thomas  A, 
Havies,  of  the  New  York  Volunteers,  and  was  composed  of  the  Sixteenth,  Eighteenth,  Thirty-first,  and  Thirty-second  New  York  Volun. 
Uem,  and  a  light  battery  with  Company  O  of  the  Second  United  States  Artillery.  The  foregoing  was  compiled  from  the  General  Orderd 
of  th«  Commander  in-chief,  dated  8th  of  July,  1861. 


586 


ADVANCE   OF   THE   NATIONAL   ARMY. 


i  July, 
1861. 


BEAUREGAKD'S  HEAD-QUARTERS  AT  MANASSAB. 


HAGERSTOWN 


Valley ;  and  General  Patterson  was  at  Martinsburg,  a  few  miles  below  him, 

charged  with  the  duty  of  keeping  Johnston  from  re-enforcing  Beauregard  at 

Bull's  Run.     The  subjoined  map  indicates  the  theater  of  operations  on  which 

the  four  armies  were  about  to  perform. 
Orders  for  the  advance  were  given 
on  the  15th,a  and  at  half-past 
two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
of    the    next    day,    Tyler's 

column,  forming  the  right  wing,  went 

forward  to  Vienna,  and  encamped  for 

the  night.     At  sunrise  the  next  morn 
ing/  the  whole  army  moved 
July  17.    ^n  £our  co]umns      T|ie  men 

were  in  light  marching  order,  with 
cooked  provisions  for  three  days  in  their 
knapsacks.  The  village  of  Fairfax 
Court  House  was  their  destination, 
where,  it  was  expected,  the  Confederates  would  oifer  battle. 

Tyler,  with  the  right  wing,  moved  along  the  Georgetown  Road.  Hunter, 
with  the  center,  advanced  by  the  Leesburg  and  Centreville  Road ;  rnd  a 
portion  of  the  left  wing,  under  Heintzelman,  went  out  from  near  Alexandria, 

along  the  Little  River  Turnpike.     Another  portion, 
under    Miles,  proceeded   by    the    old    "  Brad  dock 
Road,"  that  passes  through  Fairfax  Court  House 
and  Centreville,  where  it  becomes  the  Warrenton 
Turnpike.     They  found  the   roads   ob 
structed    by  felled  trees  near  Fairfax 
Court    House,    but   no    opposing 
troops.     These  had  fallen  back  to 
Centreville.       The     impediments 
were    scon    removed.      At   noon, 
the  National  Army  occupied  the 
i —  —  deserted    village,    and 

J  the  National  flag,  raised 
by  some  of  Burnside's 
Rhode  Islanders,  soon 
occupied  the  place  of 
a  Confederate  one  found 
flying  over  the  Court 
House.  The  Command 
ing  General  and  Tyler's 
division  moved  on  two 
miles  farther,  to  the 
little  village  of  German- 
town,  where  it  encamp 
ed.  The  conquest  had  been  so  easy,  that  the  troops,  in  high  spirits,  and 
under  the  inspiration  of  a  belief  that  the  march  to  Richmond  was  to  be  like 
a  pleasure  excursion,  committed  some  excesses,  which  the  commander 
promptly  rebuked.  He  reminded  them  that  they  were  there  "  to  fight  the 


THE    FIELD    OF   OPERATIONS. 


THE   ARMY   AT   CENTREVILLE. 


587 


. 


enemies  of  the  country,  not  to  judge  or  punish  the  unarmed  and  defenseless, 
however  guilty  they  may  be."     The  excesses  were  not  repeated.1 

General  McDowell,  pretty  well  informed  concerning  the  strong  position 
of  the  Confederate  force,  intended  to  turn  its  right  flank  at  Manassas  by  a 
sudden  movement  to  his  left,  crossing  the  Occoquan  River  below  the  mouth 
of  Bull's  Run,  and,  seizing  the  railway  in  the  rear  of  his  foe,  compel  both 
Bcauregard  and  Johnston  to  fall  back  from  their  positions,  so  menacing  to  the 
National  Capital.  With  this  view,  he  made  a  reconnoissanceon  the  morning 
of  the  18th,  while  Tyler  moved  forward  with  his  division,  and  at  nine  o'clock 
marched  through  Centreville  without  any  opposition,  and  halted  in  a  little 
valley  between  it  and  Hull's  Run.  This  movement  was  intended  as  a  feint, 
but  ended  in  a  sharp  engagement. 

Centreville  was  a  small  village  on  the  west  side  of  a  ridge  running  nearly 
parallel  with  the 
general  course  of 
Bull's  Run,  which 
was  west  of  it 
five  or  six  miles, 
and  near  it  the 
Confederates  had 
erected  strong 
earthworks.  These 
were  occupied  by 
a  brigade  of  South 
Carolinians  under 
General  Honhain, 
who  fled,  at  the  ap 
proach  of  Tyler,  to 
the  wooded  banks 
of  Hull's  Hun. 
Several  roads,  pub 
lic  and  private,  led 
to  that  stream 

from       Centreville.  TIIE  STONE  BRIDGE.* 

One  was  the  War- 
rrnt  on  Turnpike,  that  crossed  at  the  Stone  Bridge,  a  structure  of  a  single 
arch  th:it  spanned  the  Run;  another  led  to  Mitchell's  Ford,  midway  between 
Centreville  and   Manassas  Junction;    and  still  another  led  to    Blackburn's 
Ford,  UVIT  which  General  James  Longstreet  was  watching. 

Toward  noon,  Tyler  went  out  on  a  reconnoissance  toward  Blackburn's 

'  Many  <>f  the  inhabitants  abandoned  their  houses  and  fled  in  terror  at  the  approach  of  the  troops.  Some 
of  these  housr*  were  entered  and  plundered  by  the  National  soldiers,  and  some  barns  and  other  out-houses  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  village  were  burnt,  one  of  the  troops,  it  was  said,  having  been  shot  by  a  man  concealed  jn 
one  of  them.  Some  of  the  soldiers  appeared  in  the  streets  in  the  evening,  dressed  in  women's  apparel,  which 
they  had  found  in  the  houses;  and  one  man,  with  the  gown  and  bands  of  a  clergyman,  which  he  had  found, 
went  through  the  streets  with  an  open  book, reading  the  funeral  service  of  the  "  President  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy."  These  shameful  scenes  were  soon  ended  when  the  conduct  of  the  soldiers  was  reported  to  the 
olliccrs.  General  McDowell  issued  a  stringent  order,  and  threatened  the  severest  penalties  for  a  violation  of  it. 

•J  This  is  a  view  of  the  Stone  Rridire  and  its  vicinity,  as  it  appeared  after  the  battle  there  on  the  '21st  of 
July,  and,  with  pictures  of  several  buildings  mentioned  in  connection  with  that  event,  was  kindly  given  to  mo 
by  Mr.  Gardner,  the  well-known  photographer  of  Washington  City,  who  took  them  from  nature. 


588 


SKIRMISH  AT  BLACKBURN'S   FORD. 


Ford,  taking  with  him  Richardson's  brigade,  a  squadron  of  cavalry,  and 
Ayres's'  battery,  and  holding  Sherman's  brigade  in  reserve.  He  found  the 
Confederates  in  heavy  force.  Beauregard,  who  had  been  informed  of  all 
of  McDowell's  movements  by  spies  and  traitors,1  was  there,  and  had  ordered 
up  from  Manassas  some  North  Carolina  and  Louisiana  troops,  who  had  just 
arrived  there  on  their  way  to  Winchester.  The  woods  were  so  thick  that 
his  forces  were  mostly  concealed,  as  well  as  his  batteries,  excepting  one  on 
an  open  elevation.  Hoping  to  draw  their  fire  and  discover  their  position, 
Ayres's  battery  was  placed  on  a  commanding  eminence,  and  a  20-pound 
cannon,  under  Lieutenant  Edwards,  was  fired  at  random.  Only  the  battery 
in  view  responded,  and  grape-shot  from  it  killed  two  cavalry  horses  and 


1=3    ;NATl  ONALS 
_    CONFEDERATES, 
TY  L  E  R  1 

LONG STREET/ 


THE   FIELD    OF   OPERATIONS    FROM    JULY   16   TO    JULY   19. 2 

wounded  two  men.  Richardson  now  sent  forward  the  Second  Michigan 
regiment  as  skirmishers.  They  were  soon  engaged  in  a  severe  contest  in 
the  woods,  on  a  level  bottom  near  the  Run.  The  Third  Michigan,  First 
Massachusetts,  and  Twelfth  New  York  were  pushed  forward  to  support  the 
advance,  and  these,  too,  were  soon  fighting  severely.  The  cavalry  and  two 
howitzers  were  now  sent  forward,  and  were  furiously  assailed  by  musketry  in 
the  woods,  and  at  the  same  time  a  severe  enfilading  fire  came  from  a  con 
cealed  battery  on  a  ridge  six  hundred  yards  in  front  of  the  Ford.  In  the 
mean  time,  Longstreet  had  called  up  some  re-enforcements  from  Early's 


1  Washineton  City,  as  we  have  observed,  was  filled  with  spies  and  traitors.     Even  Cabinet  secrets  were 
made  known  to  the  Confederates.     Information  seemed  to  go  out  to  them  regularly  from  the  head-quarters  of 
the  General-in-chief.     For  example,  a  military  map  of  the  region  west  of  Washington  had  been  completed  at 
the  War  Department  only  two  days  before  Tyler's  advance  on  Centreville.     When  the  Confederates  left  there 
in  haste,  they  left  many  things  behind  them.     Among  these  was  a  copy  of  that  map,  which  was  supposed  to  be 
known  only  to  some  of  the  higher  officers  in  the  Army. 

2  This  map  shows  a  geographical  plan  of  the  country  between  Washington  City  and  Manassas  Junction, 
with  the  roads  traversed  by  the  troops,  and  the  relative  position  of  the  opposing  forces  in  the  skirmish  on  the 
18th  of  Julv. 


EFFECT   OF  THE   SKIRMISH. 


589 


brigade,  and  the  Nationals,  greatly  outnumbered,  withdrew  behind  Ayres's 
battery  on  the  hill.  In  this  movement,  a  part  of  the  New  York  Twelfth  were 
thrown  into  confusion,  but  were  soon  rallied.  Just  then,  Sherman  with  his 
brigade  came  up,  having  Colonel  Corcoran'?  Xew  York  Sixty-ninth  in  front, 
when  Ayres's  battery  again  opened  fire,  and  an  artillery  duel  was  kept  up  for 
an  hour,  the  Confederates  respomlhig  gun  for  gun.  It  was  now  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.  McDowell  had  just  returned  from  his  reconnoissance,  satis 
fied  that  his  plan  for  turning  the  Confederate 
position  was  impracticable ;  and  he  ordered  the 
whole  body  to  fall  back  to  Centreville.1  This 
severe  skirmish  was  called  by  the  Confederates 
the  BATTLE  OF  BULL'S  RUN,  and  was  claimed  by 
them  as  a  victory.  The  loss  of  the  combatants 
was  about  equal,  that  of  McDowell  being 
seventy-three,  and  of  Beauregard,  seventy.* 

The  affair  at  Blackburn's  Ford  elated  the 
Confederates  and  depressed  the  Nationals.  The 
loss  of  life  saddened  the  soldiers  and  the  people 
at  home.  Yet  the  result  of  that  reconnoissance 
was  important  and  useful,  in  revealing  the 
strength  and  excellent  equipment,  of  the  Con 
federates,  which  had  been  much  underrated, 
and  caused  that  circumspection  which  prevented 
the  Nationals  from  being  allured, by  the  appear 
ance  of  weakness  and  timidity  on  the  part  of 
their  foes,  into  a  fatal  snare.  It  appears  to  ha\  < 
been  a  part  of  Beauregard's  plan  to  entice  McDowell,  by  skirmishes  and 
retreats,  across  Bull's  Hun,  and  when  he  had  placed  that  stream  at  the  back 
of  his  antagonist,  to  fall  upon  him,  front  and  flank.  For  this  purpose,  he 
carefully  concealed  his  batteries. 

McDowell  felt  the  pressing  necessity  for  an  immediate  and  vigorous 
attack  on  the  Confederates.  In  the  course  of  a  few  days  he  might  lose  full 
ten  thousand  of  his  b<-st  troops,  in  consequence  of  the  expiration  of  their 
term  of  service,  while  Beauregard's  army  was  daily  increasing.  He  concen 
trated  all  of  his  forces  at  and  around  Centreville  on  the  18th,  and  made 
instant  preparations  for  an  advance.  He  had  thirty  thousand  men  there,  and 
five  thousand  more,  under  Runyon,  were  within  call,  guarding  his  communi 
cations  with  Washington.  He  caused  a  thorough  reconnoissance  to  be  made 
on  the  19th  with  the  intention  of  attacking  his  foe  on  Saturday,  the  20th. 


COKrORAX  8   MXTV-NINTH    NEW    YORK. 


1  Beaurepird  had  made  his  head-quarters,  durin?  the  engagement,  at  the  house  of  Wilmer  McLean,  near 
McLean't>  Ford.  Soon  after  this,  when  military  occupation  made  that  region  almost  untenable,  Mr.  McLean 
went  with  his  family  to  another  part  of  Virginia,  near  Appomattox  Court  House,  hoping  for  quiet.  There 
came  the  same  armies,  after  a  lapse  of  almost  four  years,  and  under  his  roof  Grant  and  Leo  signed  articles  of 
capitulation  early  in  April,  1865,  for  the  surrender  of  the  Con  federate  forces  under  the  latter. 

'Report  of  Colonel  Richardson  to  General  Tyler,  July  15>,  1S61;  Report  of  General  Tyler  to  General 
McDowell.  July  27. 1861 ;  Report  of  General  Beaureirard  to  Adjutant-General  Cooper,  August.  1S61 ;  Tlie  C.  S.  A. 
and  The  flattie  of  BttlFs  Run  :  a  Letter  to  tin  Kn<jlii<h  Frimtl :  by  Major  J.  G.  Barnard,  who  was  with  Tyler's 
division.  The  Nationals  lost  nineteen  killed,  thiny-eiirht  wounded,  and  twenty-six  missing;  the  Confederates 
lost,  according  to  Beauregard's  Report,  fifteen  killed,  llfty -three  wounded  (.several  of  them  mortally),  and  two 
aliasing. 


590 


PREPARATIONS  FOR   BATTLE. 


But  his  needful  supplies  did  not  arrive  until  Friday  night,  and  he  was  com 
pelled  to  remain  at  Centreville  a  day  longer  than  he  expected  to.  On  that 
evening,  his  army  began  to  melt  away.  The  term  of  service  of  the  Fourth 
Pennsylvania  and  Varian's  battery  of  the  New 'York  Eighth  expired  that 
day,  and  neither  the  persuasions  of  the  Commanding  General,  nor  those  of 
the  Secretary  of  War,  who  was  at  headquarters,  could  induce  them  to  re 
main.  They  turned  their  faces  homeward  that  evening,  and  a  few  hours 
later  they  heard  the  thunders  of  the  battle  at  their  backs,  in  which  their 
brave  companions  were  engaged.  On  the  evening  of  the  20th,  McDowell's 
force  consisted  of  about  twenty-eight  thousand  men  and  forty-nine  cannon. 

The  reconnoissance  on  the  19th  satisfied  McDowell  that  an  attack  on  the 
Confederate  front  would  not  be  prudent,  and  he  resolved  to  attempt  to  turn 
their  left,  drive  them  from  the  Stone  Bridge,  where  they  had  a  strong  battery, 
force  them  from  the  Warrenton  Turnpike,  and,  by  a  quick  movement,  seize 
the  Manassas  Gap  Railway,  and  thus  sever  the  most  important  connection 
between  Beauregard  and  Johnston.  For  this  purpose,  Tyler  was  to  move 
along  the  Warrenton  Turnpike,  and  open  fire  on  the  Confederate  left  at  the 
Stone  Bridge,  while  Hunter  and  Heintzelman,  with  about  fifteen  thousand 
men,  should  make  a  circuit  by  a  forest  road,  cross  Bull's  Run  at  fords  near 
Sudley  Church,  and  foil  upon  the  flank  and  rear  of  the  Confederates  at  the 
Stone  Bridge,  where  Colonel  Evans  was  in  command,  with  his  head-quarters 
at  Van  Pelt's.  In  the  mean  time,  Richardson's  brigade  was  to  be  tempo 
rarily  attached  to  Miles's  division,  which  was  left,  as  a  reserve,  at  Centre 
ville,  with  orders  to  strengthen  the  intrenchments  there,  and  see  that  the 
Confederates  did  not  cross  Bull's  Run,  and,  by  a  flank  movement,  capture 
the  supplies  and  ammunition  of\the  Nationals  there,  and  cut  ofi*  their  line  of 

retreat.  Richardson  kept  almost  the  exact 
position  occupied  by  him  on  the  18th  during 
the  artillery  duel. 

Fully  informed  of  McDowell's  force  and 
position  by  spies  and  traitors,  Beauregard 
was  contemplating  an  attack  upon  the  Na 
tionals  at  Centreville  at  the  same  time.  The 
orders  for  an  advance  and  attack  by  McDowell 
and  Beauregard  were  dated  on  the 
same  day."  The  latter  ordered 
the  brigades  of  Ewell  and  Holmes 
to  cross  Bull's  Run  at  Union  Mill  Ford,  to  be 
ready  to  support  the  attack  on  Centreville. 
The  brigades  of  Jones  and  Longstreet  were 
directed  to  cross  at  McLean's  Ford,  for  the 
same  purpose ;  while  those  of  Bonham  and 
Bartow  were  to  cross  at  Mitchell's  Ford,  and 
those  of  Cocke  and  Evans  at  the  Stone  Bridge, 
and  make  the  direct  attack  on  Centreville. 
The  brigades  of  Bee  and  Wilcox,  with  Stuart's  cavalry  (among  whom  was  a 
dashing  corps  known  as  the  Grayson  Dare-devils),  with  the  whole  of  Walton's 
New  Orleans  Battery,  were  to  form  a  reserve,  and  to  cross  at  Mitchell's 
Ford  when  called  for.  Confident  of  success,  Beauregard  ordered  the  Fourth 


July  20, 
1861. 


GRAY8ON    DARE-DEVILS. 


McDOWELL'S  PLAN  OF  ATTACK.  591 

and  Fifth  Divisions  of  his  army  "  to  advance  to  the  attack  of  Fairfax  Court 
House  by  way  of  the  Old  Braddock  Road/'  "  after  the  fall  of  Centreville."1 

McDowell  issued  specific  orders  on  the  20th,"  for  the  advance 
and  method  of  attack  by  the  three  divisions  chosen  for  the  work. 
The  troops  were  supplied  with  three  days'  rations.     The  columns 
were  to  move  at  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Sunday,  the  21st. 
Tyler  was  to  be  in  position  at  four  o'clock,  or  daybreak,  to  menace  the  Con 
federate  left  at  the  Stone  Bridge,  while  the  real  attack  was  to  be  made  by 
Hunter  and  Ileintzelman,  about  two  hours  later.     Every  thing  was  in  readi 
ness  by  midnight.     The  camp-fires  of  forty  regiments  were  burning  dimly 
all  around  Centreville.     The  full  moon  was  shining  brightly.     The  air  was 
fresh  and  still.     Never  was  there  a  midnight  more  calm  and  beautiful ;  never 
did  a  Sabbath  morning  approach  with  gentler  aspect  on  the  face  of  nature. 

McDowell,  fearful  of  unforeseen  obstacles,  proposed  to  make  a  part  of  the 
march  toward  Bull's  Run  on  the  evening  of  the  20th,  but  he  was,  unfortu 
nately,  overruled  by  the  opinions  of  others.  He  was  satisfied  that  Beaure- 
gard's  army,  on  the  19th,  was  inferior  to  his  own  ;  and  he  had  no  information 
of  his  having  been  re-enforced.  He  believed  Patterson  was  hqlding  Johnston 
at  Winchester  ;*  and  whilst  he  felt  extremely  anxious  under  the  weight  of 
responsibility  laid  upon  him,  he  did  not 
permit  himself  to  entertain  a  doubt  of 
his  success,  if  his  orders  as  to  time  and 
place  should  be  promptly  executed. 

But  iinportant  circumstances,  of 
which  McDowell  was  ignorant,  had 
occurred.  When  he  advanced  to  Fair 
fax  Court  House  on  the  17th,  Beaure- 
gard  informed  the  Confederate  War 
Department  of  the  fact,  and  orders 
were  immediately  telegraphed  to  John 
ston  for  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah 
to  join  that  of  the  Potomac  at  Manas- 
sas  at  once.  Johnston  received  the 
dispatch  at  one  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  the  18th.  It  was  necessary  to  fight 
and  defeat  General  Patterson  or  to  elude  him.  The  latter  was  accomplished, 
and  Johnston,  with  six  thousand  infantry,  reached  Manassas  Junction  at 
about  noon  on  the  'JOth.  1 1  is  whole  army,  excepting  about  two  thousand  of 
his  sick  and  a  guard  of  militia,  who  had  been  left  at  Winchester,  had  marched 
by  the  way  of  Millwood  through  Ashby's  Gap  to  Piedmont,1  whence  the 
infantry  were  conveyed  by  railway,  while  the  cavalry  and  artillery,  because 
of  a  lack  of  rolling  stock4  on  the  road,  were  compelled  to  continue  their 
march  as  before.  Johnston's  six  thousand  made  Beauregard's  army  stronger 


1  Rcaurejrard's  special  and  confidential  orders,  dated  "Head-Quarters  Army  of  the  Potomac,  July  20,  1861." 
3  See  map  on  pope  586. 

3  See  map  on  piwro  .">*>6.     Bciiiir«><r:trd  sent  Colonel  Oiisholm.  one  of  his  aids,  to  meet  Johnston,  and  suepest  the 
propriety  of  Ms  sending  down  a  part  of  his  force  by  the  way  of  Aldie,  to  fall  upon  the  flank  and  rear  of  the  Nationals 
at  (A-ntreville.     I^ick  of  transportation  prevented  that  movement     See  Heau  regard's  Report,  August  26,  1S61. 

4  This  technical  term  means  the  engines  and  cars,  w:ch  their  appurtenances. 


JOSEPH    E.    JOHNSTON. 


592 


MOVEMENTS   OF   THE   OPPOSING  ARMIES. 


*  July 
1861. 


than  McDowell's  by  at  least  four  thousand  men.  He  was  the  senior  officer, 
and  took  the  chief  command  of  the  army.  He  approved  of  Beauregard's 
plan  for  an  attack  on  the  left  wing  of  the  Nationals;  and  both  generals, 
before  daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  21st,  made  active  preparations  for  its 
execution.  A  few  hours  later  the  Confederates,  instead  of  being  the  aggres 
sors,  were  fighting  on  the  defensive  on  their  side  of  Bull's  Run. 

The  general  disposition  of  the  Confederate  army  on  the  2 1st*  was  nearly 
the  same  as  on  the  18th.1  The  arrival  of  re-enforcements,  and 
preparations  for  the  attack  on  the  National  left,  had  made  some 
changes.  The  detachments  of  the  brigades  of  Bee  of  South  Car 
olina,  and  Bartow  of  Georgia,  that  came  from  the  Shenandoah  Valley  with 
Johnston,  about  three  thousand  in  number,  had  been  placed  in  reserve 
between  McLean's  and  Blackburn's  Fords ;  and  Colonel  Cocke's  brigade, 
with  which  were  connected  two  companies  of  cavalry  and  a  battery  of  four 
6-pounders,  occupied  a  line  in  front  of  Bull's  Run,  below  the  Stone  Bridge, 
to  guard  Island,  Ball's,  and  Lewis's  Fords.  Three  hundred  of  Stuart's 

cavalry,  of  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah,  and 
two  companies  of  Radford's  cavalry,  were  in 
reserve  not  far  from  Mitchell's  Ford.  Near 
them  was  a  small  brigade  under  General 
Holmes,  and  some  cavalry.2 

The  three  divisions  of  the  National  army 
moved  from  Centreville  in  the  bright  moon 
light  at  the  appointed  hour.6  They  advanced 
slowly,  for  raw  troops  were  diffi 
cult  to  handle.  After  crossing 
Cub  Run,  Hunter  and  Heintzelman 
turned  into  the  road  to  the  right  that  led 
through  the  "  Big  Woods,"  whilst  Tyler  moved 
along  the  Warrenton  turnpike  directly  toward 
the  Stone  Bridge,  with  the  brigades  of  Schenck 
and  Sherman,  leaving  Keyes  to  watch  the  road 
that  came  up  from  Manassas,  and  Richardson 
to  co-operate  with  Miles  in  keeping  ward  over 
Blackburn's  Ford  and  vicinity,  on  the  extreme 
left.  Tyler's  division  was  accompanied  by  the  batteries  of  Ayres  and  Car 
lisle  ;  and  its  first  business  was  to  make  a  feigned  attack  near  the  bridge 
at  dawn,  to  deceive  the  foe  and  divert  his  attention  until  Hunter  and  Heint 
zelman  should  fall  upon  the  flank  and  rear  of  his  left  wing.  McDowell,  who 
was  ill,  had  followed  the  columns  from  Centreville  in  a  carriage,  and  he 
took  a  position  at  the  junction  of  the  turnpike  and  the  forest  road,  where  he 
might  be  in  quick  communication  with  all  his  forces. 

These  movements  were  all  much  slower  than  had  been  calculated  upon, 
and  the  mistake  in  not  making  an  advance  the  previous  evening  was  soon 
painfully  apparent.  The  advantage  of  a  surprise  was  lost.  It  was  half-past 
six  o'clock,  when  the  sun  had  been  shining  on  the  Stone  Bridge  nearly  two 
hours,  before  Tyler  was  ready  to  open  fire  on  the  Confederates  there ;  and 


b  July  21, 
1861. 


FOURTEENTH   VIRGINIA   CAVALRY. 


l  See  note  2  on  page  5S5. 


2  Beauregard's  Keport,  August  26,  1861. 


CANNONADE   NEAR   THE   STONE   BRIDGE.  593 

the  forest  road  was  so  rough  and  obscure,  and  the  distance  so  much  greater  than 
was  expected,  that  Hunter  and  Heintzelman  were  four  hours  behind  the 
appointed  time,  when  they  crossed  Bull's  Run  at  and  near  Sudley's  Ford. 
McDowell  had  become  exceedingly  impatient  of  delay,  and  at  length  he 
mounted  his  horse,  and  with  his  escort,  composed  of  Captain  A.  G.  Brackett's 
company  of  United  States  Cavalry,  he  rode  forward,  and  overtook  and 
parsed  Hunter  and  Heintzelman.  McDowell  and  his  attendants  were  the 
a  -st  in  the  open  fields  that  became  a  battle-ground,  and  were  the  targets  for 
ih  •  first  bullets  fired  by  the  Confederates. 

Tyler  placed  Schenck's  brigade  on  the  left  of  the  turnpike,  in  a  position 
that  menaced  the  Confederate  battery  at  the  Stone  Bridge,  and  Sherman's  was 
posted  on  the  right,  to  be  in  a  position  to  sustain  Schenck  or  to  cross  Bull's 
Hun,  as  circumstances  might  require.  When  this  disposition  was  made,  a  shell 
was  hurled  from  a  30-pounder  Parrott  gun  of  Edwards's  Fifth  Artillery  bat 
tery  (then  attached  to  Carlisle's*  an<l  stationed  in  the  road,  under  the  direc 
tion  of  Lieutenant  Ilaines)  at  a  line  of  Confederate  infantry  seen  in  a  meadow 
beyond  Bull's  Run.  This  was  the  herald  of  the  fierce  battle  on  that  eventful 
day.  It  exploded  over  the  heads  of  the  Confederates,  and  scattered  their 
ranks.  Other  shells  were  sent  in  quick  succession,  but  elicited  no  reply. 
This  silence  made  McDowell  suspect  that  the  Confederates  were  concen 
trating  their  forces  at  some  point  below,  to  strike  his  left  wing.  He  there 
fore  held  one  of  Heintzel man's  brigades  (Howard's)  in  reserve  for  a  while,  to 
assist  Miles  and  Richardson  if  it  should  be  necessary. 

Colonel  Evans,  commanding  at  the  Stone  Bridge,  believing  Tyler's  feint 
to  be  a  real  attack,  sent  word  to  Beauregard  that  the  left  wing  of  their  army 
was  strongly  assailed.  Re-enforcements  were  ordered  forward,  and  Cocke 
and  Evans  were  instructed  to  hold  the  position  at  the  bridge  at  all  hazards. 
At  the  same  time,  hoping  to  recall  the  troops  in  front  of  Evans,  Johnston 
ordered  an  immediate,  quick,  and  vigorous  attack  upon  McDowell's  left  at 
Centreville  ;  and  his  force  was  so  strong  on  his  right,  that  he  and  Beauregard 
confidently  expected  to  achieve  a  complete  victory  before  noon.  The  move 
ment  miscarried,  as  Ewell  soon  informed  them  ;  and  crowding  events  changed 
their  plans.  From  an  eminence  about  a  mile  from  Mitchell's  Ford,  the  two 
commanders  watched  the  general  movements,  and  waited  for  tidings  of  the 
battle  that  soon  began,  with  the  greatest  anxiety.  A  cloud  of  dust,  seen 
some  distance  to  the  northward,  gave  Johnston  apprehensions  that  Patterson 
was  approaching,  not  doubting  that  he  had  hastened  to  re-enforce  McDowell 
as  soon  as  he  discovered  that  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah  had  eluded  him. 

Before  we  consider  the  conflict,  let  us  take  a  glance  at  the  topography  of 
the  region  about  to  become  a  sanguinary  battle-field  : — 

Near  the  Stone  Bridge  the  general  course  of  Bull's  Run  is  north  and 
south,  and  the  Warren  ton  turnpike  crossed  it  there  nearly  due  west  from 
Centreville.  On  the  western  side  of  the  Run  the  road  traversed  a  low 
wooded  bottom  for  half  a  mile,  and  then,  passing  over  a  gentle  hill,  crossed,  in 
a  hollow  beyond,  a  brook  known  as  Young's  Branch.  Following  the  little 
valley  of  this  brook,  the  road  went  up  an  easy  slope  to  a  plain  in  the  direc 
tion  of  Groveton,  about  two  miles  from  the  Stone  Bridge,  where  a  road 
from  Sudley's  Spring  crossed  it.  Between  that  road  ami  the  Stone  Bridge, 
Young's  Branch,  bending  northward  of  the  turnpike,  forms  a  curve,  from 
YOL.  T.—38 


594 


BULL'S   RUN   BATTLE-FIELD. 


the  outer  edge  of  which  the  ground  rises  gently  to  the  northward,  in  a  series 
of  undulating  open  fields,  dotted  with  small  groves.  On  that  slope  was  the 
scene  of  the  earliest  sharp  conflict  on  the  eventful  21st  of  July.  From  the 
inner  edge  of  the  curve  of  Young's  Branch,  southward,  the  ground  rises 
quite  abruptly  to  an  altitude  of  about  a  hundred  feet,  and  spreads  out  into  a 
plateau,  an  irregular  ellipse  in  form,  a  mile  in  length  from  northeast  to 

southwest,  and  half 
a  mile  in  width  from 
northwest  to  south 
east.  It  contained 
about  two  hundred 
acres  of  cleared  land, 
with  a  few  clumps  of 
oak  and  pine  trees. 
On  the  eastern  and 
southern  sides  of  the 
plateau  was  a  dense 
wood  of  small  pines ; 
and  on  the  western 
edge  of  the  fields 
was  a  belt  of  oaks, 
through  which  the 
Sudley's  Spring  road 


TOPOGRAPHY    OF   TUB    BATTLE-FIELD. 


passed.    A  short  dis 
tance  from  this  was 

the  house  of  Judith  Henry,  a  widow  and  an  invalid,  confined  to  her  bed  ;  and 
nearer  the  turnpike,  on  the  northern  edge  of  the  plateau,  were  the  house  and 
out-houses  of  a  free  colored  man,  named  Robinson.  This  table-land,  which 
is  bounded  on  three  sides  by  a  stream  of  water,  was  the  theater  of  the  prin 
cipal  struggle  on  the  day  in  question. 

Whilst  the  three  brigades  were  operating  against  the  Confederate  left, 
Colonel  Richardson,  and  Colonel  T.  A.  Davies,  of  Miles's  division,  with  their 
respective  brigades  and  batteries,  under  Lieutenants  Green  and  Benjamin, 


and  Major  Hunt,  were 
making  a  strong  demon 
stration  on  the  Confede 
rate  right  to  distract  him. 
Before  nine  o'clock,  Ev 
ans  had  become  satisfied 
that  Tyler's  attack,  as 
well  as  the  cannonade 
below,  was  only  a  feint, 
and  that  the  real  assault 
would  be  on  his  flank 


SUBLET    CHURCH.1 


and  rear.  He  had  been 
informed  of  the  moving 
of  the  heavy  columns 
through  the  forest  tow 
ard  Sudley's  Ford,  two 
miles  above  him,  and  he 
took  immediate  steps  to 
oppose  them.  At  about 
half-past  nine,  when  the 
head  of  Hunter's  column, 
led  by  Burnside,  was 


crossing  at  Sudley  Church,  and  the  men  were  filling  their  canteens  with  fresh 
water   from    Bull's   Run,  Evans  was  posting  his  troops  in  a  commanding 


JThis  church,  built  of  brick,  and  belonging  to  the  Methodists,  stood  on  the  wooded  right  bank  of  Bull's 
Eun,  at  Sudley's  Ford,  about  two  miles  above  the  Stone  Bridge. 


BEGINNING   OF  BULL'S   RUN   BATTLE. 


595 


position  on  the  north  side  of  the  Warrenton  turnpike,  within  the  curve  of 
Young's  Branch.  The  re-enforcements  ordered  by  Johnston  had  not  reached 
him  when  he  commenced  this  movement.  He  sent  word  to  General  Bee,  who 
commanded  the  reserves  nearest  to  him,  to  hurry  forward  in  support,  and 
leaving  four  of  his  fifteen  regiments  to  guard  the  Stone  Bridge,  he  hastened 
with  the  remaining  eleven,  composed  of  South  Carolinians  under  Sloan,  and 
Louisianians  under  Wheat,  with  two  field-pieces  of  Latham's  battery,  to 
confront  the  approaching  foe.  He  formed  his  line  not  far  from  the  Pitt* 
sylvania  Mansion  of  the  Carter  family,  with  the  battery  behind  a  house,  his 
right  covered  by  a  grove,  and  his  left  sheltered  by  shrubbery  along  the  road. 

It  was  half-past  ten  before  the  head  of  Hunter's  column,  led  by  Burnside, 
came  in  sight  of  Kvans.  The  division  had  rested  half  an  hour  at  the  ford, 
and,  being  well  supplied  with  water,  was  quite  refreshed.  The  Second 
Rhode  Island,  Colonel  John  Slocum,  led.  As  they  approached  the  open 
fields  he  threw  out  skirmishers,  and  very  soon  his  regiment,  with  Marston's 
Second  Xew  Hampshire,  and  Martin's  Seventy-first  Xew  York,  with  Griftin's 
battery,  and  Major  Reynolds's  Marine  Artillery,  of  Rhode  Island,  opened  the 
battle.  Evans  was  soon  so  hard  pressed  that  his  line  was  beginning  to 
waver,  when  General  Bee,  who  had  advanced 
with  the  detachments  of  his  own  and  Bar- 
tow's  Georgia  brigade,  and  Imboden's  bat 
tery,  to  the  northern  verge  of  the  plateau, 
just  described,  perceiving  the  peril,  hurried 
down  the  slope,  crossed  Young's  Branch  val 
ley,  and  gave  the  Confederates  such  strength 
that  the  Nationals  were  in  turn  sorely  pressed. 
These  re-enforcements  consisted  of  two  Geor 
gia  regiments  (Seventh  and  Eighth),  under 
Bartow,  the  Pujrth  Alabama,  and  some  Mis- 
sissippians,  while  Imboden's  battery,  on  the 
plateau,  poured  a  destructive  fire  upon  the 
Nationals. 

Burnsitle  called  for  help ;  and  Colonel 
Andrew  Porter,  whose  brigade  was  marching 
down  the  Sudley's  Spring  Road,  immediately 
furnished  it,  by  sending  a  battalion  of  regu 
lars  under  Major  Sykes,  of  the  Third  Infan 
try,  to  his  aid.  These  made  the  National  line  firm,  and  while  the  battle  was 
raging  with  equal  vigor  on  both  sides,  Colonel  Hunter  was  so  severely 
wounded  that  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the  field.1  Colonel  Slocum,  of  the 
Second  Rhode  Island,  fell  mortally  wounded  soon  afterward,  and  his  Major, 
Sullivan  Ballon,  had  his  leg  crushed  by  a  cannon-ball  that  killed  his  horse.* 

1  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  a  member  of  the  National  House  of  Representatives,  was  a  volunteer  aid  to  Colonel 
Hunter,  and  remained  on  the  field  until  that  officer  was  wounded,  when  he  devoted  himself  to  having  the 
wounded  removed,  and  in  attention  to  their  wants. 

a  Major  Hallou  was  taken  to  Sudley  Church,  which  was  used  as  a  hospital,  and  there  soon  afterward  died, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-two  years.  He  was  buried  near  the  church.  In  March,  1S62,  the  bodies  of  Slocum.  Hallou, 
and  Captain  Tower,  of  the  same  regiment  (the  latter  was  killed  a.t  the  beginning  of  the  battle),  were  disinterred 
and  conveyed  to  Rhode  Island.  When  their  remains  reached  New  York,  General  Sandford  detailed  the  Sixty- 
ninth,  Seventy-first,  and  Thirty-seventh  New  York  Regiments  to  act  as  an  escort 


GEORGIA     HEAVY     INFANTRY. 


596  THE   CONFEDERATES   DRIVEN  FROM   THE   FIELD. 

Porter  was  next  in  rank  to  Hunter,  but  his  position  was  such,  with  his 
brigade,  that  the  battle  was  directed  by  Burnside,  who  was  ably  assisted  by 
Colonel  Sprague,  the  youthful  Governor  of  Rhode  Island,  who  took  the 
immediate  command  of  the  troops  from  his  State. 

The  conflict  had  been  going  on  for  about  an  hour,  and  the  result  was 
doubtful,  when  Porter  came  up  and  poured  a  heavy  fire  upon  Evans's  left, 
which  made  his  whole  column  waver  and  bend.  Just  then  a  strong  force  was 
seen  coming  over  a  ridge,  in  the  direction  of  Bull's  Run,  to  the  assistance  of 
the  Nationals,  and  the  head  of  Heintzelman's  division,  which  had  not  reached 
the  ford  above  when  the  battle  commenced,  was  coming  upon  the  field.  The 

column  on  the  left  was  Sherman's  bri 
gade,  from  Tyler's  right  wing,  led  by 
Colonel  Corcoran,  with  his  New  York 
Sixty-ninth,  sixteen  hundred  strong. 
Using  a  high  tree  for  an  observatory,  an 
officer  of  Tyler's  staff  had  watched  the 
movements  of  the  columns  of  Hunter 
and  Heintzelman  from  the  moment  when 
they  crossed  Bull's  Run  ;  and  when  there 
seemed  danger  that  the  tide  of  battle 
might  be  turned  against  the  attacking 
force  of  his  division,  Tyler  promptly 
ordered  Sherman  to  cross  just  above  the 

MICHAEL  COKCORAN.  Stone  Bridge  to  their  assistance.     He  did 

so  without   much  molestation,  when   his 

advance  (the  Sixty-ninth)  soon  encountered  some  of  the  Confederates  flying 
before  Hunter's  forces. 

Sherman's  approach  was  timely.  Those  in  conflict,  having  been  on  their 
feet  most  of  the  time  since  midnight,  and  having  fought  for  an  hour  in  the 
scorching  sun,  were  much  exhausted.  Sherman's  troops  were  fresh,  and  the 
Confederates  knew  it.  Menaced  by  these  on  their  right,  heavily  pressed  by 
Burnside  and  Sykes  on  their  center,  and  terribly  galled  by  Porter  on  their 
left,  they  gave  way,  and  their  shattered  column  fled  in  confusion  up  the  slopes 
of  the  plateau  and  across  it,  beyond  the  Robinson  and  Henry  houses.  The 
final  blow  that  broke  the  Confederate  line  into  fragments,  and  sent  them  fly 
ing,  was  a  furious  charge  directly  on  their  center  by  the  New  York  Twenty- 
seventh,  Colonel  Henry  W.  Slocum.1 

The  fugitives  found  General  T.  J.  Jackson,  with  Stanard's  battery,  on 
the  plateau.  He  was  in  command  of  reserves  next  behind  Bee,  and  had  just 
arrived  and  taken  position  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  table-land.  When  Bee 
hurriedly  exclaimed,  "They  are  beating  us  back!"  Jackson  calmly  replied, 
44  Well,  Sir,  we  will  give  them  the  bayonet."  This  firmness  encouraged  Bee, 
and  he  tried  to  rally  his  men.  "Form!  form!"  he  cried.  "There  stands 
Jackson  like  a  stone  wall."  The  force  of  that  idea  was  wonderful.  The  flight 
was  checked,  and  comparative  order  was  soon  evolved  out  of 'the  direst  con- 


1  The  troops  engaged  in  this  first  severe  conflict  of  the  day  were  the  First  and  Second  Rhode  Island,  Second 
New  Hampshire,  Eighth,  Fourteenth,  and  Twenty-seventh  New  York,  Sykes's  battalion  of  Regulars,  Griffin's 
battery,  and  Major  Reynolds's  Rhode  Island  Marine  Artillery. 


THE   CONFEDERATES   REORGANIZED. 


597 


fusion.     From  that  time,  the  calm  leader  that  stopped  the  flight  was  known 
as  "Stonewall  Jackson." 

It  was  noon  when  Bee  and  Evans  fled  from  the  first  field  of  close  conflict, 
with  their  comrade,  Colonel  Wheat,  desperately  wounded,  and  joined  Jack 
son  on  the  plateau,  while  the  Nationals  were  pressing  closely  in  pursuit. 
Johnston  and  Beauregard,  alarmed  by  the  heavy  firing,  and  by  intelligence 
that  reached  them  of  the  strength  and  movements  of  the  Nationals,  sent 
orders  for  Generals  Holmes,  Early,  and  Ewell  to  move  with  their  troops 
with  all  possible  speed  in  the  direction  of  the  sound  of  the  battle,  and  for 
Bonham  to  send  forward  two  regiments  and  a  battery.  They  then  hurried 
at  a  rapid  gallop  from  their  position,  four  miles  distant,  to  the  plateau,  where 
they  found  the  whole  Confederate  force  to  be  only  about  seven  thousand 
men,  including  Jackson's  brigade.  They  were  in  a  strong  position,  well 
sheltered  by  the  thicket  of  pines  already  mentioned,  and  had  thirteen  cannon, 
most  of  them  masked  in  shrubbery,  in  position  to  sweep  the  whole  table-land 
with  grape  and  canister.  Pendleton,  Johnston's  Chief  of  Artillery,  had  been 
ordered  to  follow  him  with  a  battery.  But  the  Nationals,  who  were  then 
pressing  hard  upon  them,  greatly  outnumbered  them.  It  was  a  moment  of 
intense  anxiety  for  the  Confederate  commanders.  They  had  little  hope  for 
victory  unless  their  expected  re-enforcements  should  speedily  arrive. 

There  was  not  a  moment  to  lose.     Johnston  comprehended  the  danger 
and  sought  to  avert  it.     Placing  himself  by 
the  colors  of  the  Fourth  Alabama  Regiment, 

he  proceeded  to  reorganize  the  broken  columns 
of  Bee,  Bartow,  and  Evans  ;  and  Beauregard 
formed  them  in  battle-line  near  the  edge  of  the 
plateau,  where  the  first  shock  of  an  impending 

attack  might  be  felt.     That  leader,  in  a  few 

hurried  words,  told  his  troops  that  the  fate 

of  the  day  depended  on  their  holding  their 

position  on  that  commanding  eminence. 

When  order  was  restored,  Johnston  left 

Beauregard   in  command  on  the  battle-field, 

while  he  withdrew  and  made  his  head-quarters 

at  the  house  of  Mr.  Lewis,  known  as  "  The 

Portico,"  on  an  eminence  soutli  of,  and  even 

higher  than  the  plateau,  from  which  he  had  a 

comprehensive   view  of   the   region  beyond 

Bull's  Run  toward  Centreville,  the  approaches 

to  the  Stone  Bridge,  the  field  of  battle,  and 

the  valley  far  away  toward  Manassas,  whence 

his  re-enforcements  came.     There  he  exercised  a  general  supervision  of  the 

army,  and  forwarded  reserves  and  re-enforcements.     Near  his  new  quarters, 

Colonel  Wade  Hampton,  who  had  come  up  from  Richmond  by  railway  that 

morning,  with  six  infantry  companies  of  his  legion,  had  taken  position  as  a 

reserve  ;  and  other  re-enforcements  were  now  beginning  to  arrive.     When, 

between  one  and  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  struggle  for  the  plateau 

commenced,   the   Confederates  had  on  the  field   about  ten  thousand  men, 

horse,  foot,  and  artillery,  and  twenty-two  heavy  guns. 


ALABAMA    LIGHT    INFANTRY. 


598 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  STRUGGLE. 


K 


'"THE    PORTICO. 


Whilst  these  movements  were  in  progress  on  the  west  side  of  Bull's 
Run,  General  Schenck,  with  his  brigade  and  Carlisle's  battery,  and  a  part  of 
Ayres's,  had  been  vainly  endeavoring  to  turn  or  silence  a  Confederate  battery 

opposite  Tyler's  extreme  right.  In  this  at 
tempt  the  Second  New  York  suffered  se 
verely.  In  the  mean  time,  Keyes's  brigade 
had  followed  Sherman's  across  the  run,  eight 
hundred  yards  above  the  Stone  Bridge,  taken 
a  position  on  his  left,  and  joined  in  the  pur 
suit  of  the  broken  column  of  the  Confede 
rates.  Their  batteries  near  the  bridge  were 
soon  withdrawn,  and  between  two  and  three 
o'clock,  Captain  Alexander,  of  the  Engineers, 
with  a  company  of  ax-men,  proceeded  to 
cut  a  passage  through  the  abatis  that  ob 
structed  the  road.  By  three  o'clock,  there 
were  no  impediments  in  the  way  of  the  ad 
vance  of  re-enforcements  from  Centreville ; 

for  at  one  o'clock  the  National  forces  had  possession  of  the  Warrenton 
Turnpike  from  near  the  bridge  westward,  which  was  one  of  the  grand 
objectives  of  the  movement  against  the  Confederate  left. 

But  there  was  a  formidable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  complete  execution 
of  the  design.  The  Confederates  were  on  the  commanding  plateau,  too  near 
the  turnpike  and  the  bridge  to  make  an  attempt  to  strike  the  Manassas  Gap 
Railway  a  sate  operation.  To  drive  them  from  it  was  the  task  now  imme 
diately  in  hand.  To  accomplish  it,  five  brigades,  namely,  Porter's,  Howard's, 
Franklin's,  Wilcox's,  and  Sherman's,  with  the  batteries  of  Ricketts,  Griffin, 
and  Arnold,  and  the  cavalry  under  Major  Palmer,  were  sent  along  and  near 
the  Sudley's  Spring  Road,  to  turn  the  Confederate  left,  while  Keyes  was  sent 
to  annoy  them  on  the  right.  The  brigade  of  Burnside,  whose  ammunition  had 
been  nearly  exhausted  in  the  morning  battle,  had  withdrawn  into  a  wood  for 
the  purpose  of  being  supplied,  and  was  not 
again  in  action.  Eighteen  thousand  Nation 
als  were  on  the  west  side  of  Bull's  Run,  and 
thirteen  thousand  of  them  were  soon  fighting 
the  ten  thousand  Confederates  on  the  pla 
teau. 

Up  the  slope  south  of  the  Warrenton 
Turnpike,  the  five  brigades,  the  batteries, 
and  the  cavalry  moved,  accompanied  by 
McDowell,  with  Heintzelman  (whose  division 
commenced  the  action  here)  as  his  chief  lieu 
tenant  on  the  field.  They  were  severely 
galled  by  the  batteries  of  Imboden,  Stanard, 
Pendleton,  Alburtis  of  the  Shenandoah  Army, 
and  portions  of  Walton's  and  Rogers's  batteries  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
Yet  they  pressed  forward,  with  the  batteries  of  Ricketts  and  Griffin  in  front, 
and,  outflanking  the  Confederates,  were  soon  in  possession  of  the  western 
portion  of  the  plateau.  There  was  a  swell  of  ground  westward  of  the  Henry 


WADE   HAMPTON. 


DASH  OF  THE  BLACK   HORSE   CAVALRY. 


599 


house  occupied  by  the  Confederates,  the  possession  of  which  was  very  im 
portant.  Whoever  held  it  could  command  the  entire  plateau.  Ricketts  and 
Griffin  were  ordered  to  seize  it,  and  plant  their  batteries  there.  The  Eleventh 
New  York  (Ellsworth's  Fire  Zouaves),  Colonel  Farnham,  were  assigned  to 
their  immediate  support;  and  the  Twenty- 
seventh  New  York,  Fifth  and  Eleventh  Mas 
sachusetts,  the  Second  Minnesota,  and  Corco- 
rau's  Sixty-ninth  Xew  York,  were  moved  up 
to  the  left  of  the  batteries. 

The  Artillery  and  the  Zouaves  went  boldly 
forward  in  the  face  of  a  severe  cannonade, 
until  an  ambushed  Alabama  regiment  sud 
denly  came  out  from  a  clump  of  pines  partly 
on  their  flank,  and  poured  upon  them  a  terri 
ble  shower  of  bullets.  This  hot  and  unex 
pected  attack  made  the  Zouaves,  who  had 
never  been  under  fire,  recoil,  when  two  com 
panies  of  the  fine  corps  of  Stuart's  horsemen, 
known  as  the  Black  Horse  Cavalry  (Carter's 
and  Hoge's),  dashed  furiously  upon  their  rear 
from  the  woods  on  the  Sudley's  Spring  Road. 
A  portion  of  the  Zouaves'  line  now  broke  in 
some  confusion,  and  the  cavalry  went  entirely 
through  their  shattered  column.  Farnham 

and  his  officers  displayed  great  coolness. 
They  rallied  most  of  the  regiment,  under 
the  immediate  eye  of  McDowell,  and, 
with  a  part  of  Colburn's  United  States 
Cavalry,  and  led  by  Colonel  J.  II.  Ward, 
of  Wilcox's  brigade,  they  attacked  the 
Confederate  horsemen  and  dispersed  them. 
The  Zouaves,  as  a  compact  regiment, 
did  not  again  appear  iu  the  battle ;  but  a 
larger  portion  of  them,  under  their  Colonel, 
and  others  who  attached  themselves  to  dif 
ferent  regiments,  did  valiant  service  wherever 
they  found  work  to  do. 

It  was  now  about  two  o'clock.  Reyes's 
brigade,  on  the  left,  had  been  arrested  by 
a  severe  tire  from  a  battery  of  eight  guns  on 
the  hill  near  Robinson's  buildings,  and 
shelled  by  them  from  the  National  batteries 
on  their  left.  Tyler  ordered  him  to  capture  it. 
lie  assigned  the  Third  Connecticut,  Colonel 

Chatfield,  and  the  Second  Maine,  Colonel  Jamieson,  to  that  perilous  duty. 
They  charged  directly  up  the  northern  slope  of  the  plateau,  and  drove  the 


VIRGINIA    AKTIL1.KRV.  —  BUCKINGHAM 
BATTERY. 


TH.ACK    HORSE    CAVALRY.1 


This  corps  received  fts  name  from  the  fact  that  nil  the  horses  were  black.     The  corps  was  composed 
chiefly  of  the  sons  of  wealthy  Virginians;  and  their  whole  outtlt  was  of  the  most  expensive  kind. 


600  CONTEST  FOR  THE  PLATEAU. 

Confederates  from  Robinson's  buildings ;  but  the  battery  was  too  well 
defended  by  infantry  and  riflemen  to  be  taken  by  them.  They  instantly 
found  themselves  exposed  to  a  terrible  fire  from  breastworks  in  their  rear, 
which  threatened  their  speedy  annihilation.  They  withdrew ;  and  under  the 
brow  of  the  hill,  and  sheltered  by  the  pine  thicket,  Keyes  led  his  brigade  in 
search  of  some  favorable  spot  to  charge  upon  the  Confederate  left,  but  with 
out  success.  This  march,  which  led  Keyes  a  mile  or  more  from  the  hottest 
of  the  battle  on  the  western  edge  of  the  plateau,  caused  the  Confederates  to 
retire  from  the  Stone  Bridge,  and  gave  Captain  Alexander  the  opportunity 
to  make  a  passage  through  the  abatis,  as  we  have  observed. 

The  struggle  for  the  possession  of  the  plateau,  in  the  mean  time,  had 
been  fearful.  When  the  Zouaves  gave  way,  Heintzelman  ordered  up  the 
First  Minnesota  Regiment,  Colonel  Gorman,  to  the  support  of  the  batteries, 
which  were  directed  to  take  position  on  the  extreme  right.  The  infantry 
and  the  artillery  did  so  at  the  double  quick,  when  they  found  themselves 
suddenly  confronted  by  troops  less  than  a  hundred  feet  from  them.  The 
Nationals  were  embarrassed,  for  an  instant,  by  doubt  whether  they  were 
friends  or  foes.  Heintzelman  himself  was  uncertain,  and  he  rode  in  between 
the  two  lines.  The  problem  was  solved  a  moment  afterward,  when  the  colors 
of  each  were  seen.  Then  a  blaze  of  fire  flashed  from  each  line,  and  terrible 
slaughter  ensued.  •  Both  batteries  were  disabled  by  the  first  volley,  for  it 
prostrated  a  greater  portion  of  the  cannoneers  and  one-half  of  the  horses. 
Captain  Ricketts  was  wounded,  and  Lieutenant  D.  Ramsay  was  killed.  The 
Confederates  were  there  in  overwhelming  numbers.  The  Minnesota  regiment 
was  compelled  to  retire.  The  First  Michigan  and  Fourteenth  New  York 
were  likewise  repulsed.  The  Confederates,  too,  were  often  pushed  back, 
and  both  sides  fought  with  the  greatest  bravery.  "  Stonewall  Jackson  "  had 
dashed  forward  and  attempted  to  carry  off  the  guns,  but  was  driven  back 
by  the  Thirty-eighth  New  York  and  the  Zouaves,  and  the  latter  dragged 
three  of  Ricketts'  pieces  away,  but  not  far  enough  to  save  them. 

In  the  mean  time,  McDowell  had  ordered  Sherman,  who  occupied  the 
center  of  the  National  force,  to  charge  the  batteries  of  the  Confederates  with 
his  entire  brigade,  and  sweep  them  from  the  hill.  Placing  the  riflemen  of 
Quimby's  Thirteenth  New  York  in  front,  he  ordered  the  Second  Wisconsin, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Peck,  the  Seventy-ninth  (Scotch)  New  York,  Colonel 
Cameron,  and  the  Sixty-ninth  (Irish)  New  York,  Colonel  Corcoran,  to  follow 
in  battle  order.  The  brigade  dashed  across  the  Warrenton  Turnpike  and  up 
the  slopes  of  the  plateau  to  the  left  of  the  Sudle^'s  Spring  Road,  in  the  face 
of  a  galling  artillery  fire,  toward  the  point  where  Ricketts'  Battery  was  so 
severely  cut  up.  They  saw  the  Zouave  and  other  regiments  hurled  back,  but, 
steadily  advancing,  had  reached  the  brow  of  the  hill,  when  the  Wisconsin  regi 
ment  received  a  severe  fire  from  the  Confederates.  They  withstood  it  for  a 
while,  returning  it  with  spirit,  when  they  broke  and  fled  down  the  hill  in  con 
fusion.  Being  dressed  in  gray,  like  the  great  bulk  of  the  Confederate  army, 
they  were  fired  upon  by  the  Nationals.  They  rallied,  pushed  up  to  the  brow 
of  the  hill,  and  were  again  repulsed.  The  Seventy -ninth  New  York  then  closed 
up,  and  pressed  forward  in  the  face  of  a  murderous  fire  from  rifles,  muskets, 
and  cannon.  Headed  by  Cameron  (who  was  brother  of  the  Secretary  of 
War),  they  charged  across  the  hill,  and  fought  desperately  with  the  Con- 


THE   NATIONALS   ALMOST   VICTORIOUS. 


601 


federates,  who  were  there  in  much  greater  force  than  was  expected.  The 
gallant  Cameron  was  killed,1  and  for  the  third  time  they  were  repulsed. 
Then  Corcoran  led  his  Sixty-ninth  to  the  charge,  and  the  roar  of  cannon 
and  musketry  wae  incessant.  The  regiment  received  and  repelled  a  furious 
charge  of  the  Black  Horse  Cavalry,  whose  ranks  were  terribly  shattered  by 
the  murderous  fire  of  the  Irish  and  some  Zouaves  who  had  joined  them.. 
They  held  their  position  for  some  time,  but  were  compelled  at  length  to  give 
way  before  fresh  troops  in  overwhelming  numbers,  who  were  pouring  in  and 
turning  the  tide  of  battle.  At  that  moment,  Corcoran  was  some  distance  in 
front,  and  becoming  separated  from  his  troops  by  the  falling  of  his  horse, 
which  was  shot  dead,  he  was  made  prisoner.  It  was  now  half-past  three 
o'clock. 

Now  was  the  crisis  of  the  battle.  The  slaughter  had  been  fearful.  For 
an  hour,  dead  and  wounded  men  of  both  sides  had  been  carried  from  the 
field  in  large  numbers.  The  Confederates  had  lost  many  officers.  Bee  and 
Bartow  had  fallen  near  each  other,  not  far  from  Mrs.  Henry's.  Hampton, 
at  the  head  of  his  legion,  had  been  wounded 
during  the  charge  of  the  Seventy-ninth, 
and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Johnston  of  his 
corps  had  been  killed.  Beauregard  had 
placed  himself  [it  the  head  of  the  Legion, 
and  led  it  gallantly  against  his  foe,  when 
he  was  slightly  wounded  by  a  shell  that 
cut  off  the  head  of  his  horse  and  killed  two 
others  on  which  his  aids  were  riding.  Jack 
son  had  been  wounded,  but  did  not  leave 
the  field. 

At  that  time  the  Confederates  were 
sorely  pressed,  and  Johnston,  at  "The  Por 
tico,"  with  full  knowledge  of  the  situa 
tion,  began  to  lose  heart.  Victory  seemed 
about  to  perch  on  the  National  standard. 
He  believed  the  day  was  lost.  Why  did 
not  Early  come  with  his  three  fresh  regi 
ments  ?  He  had  sent  him  word  at  eleven 
o'clock  to  hurry  forward,  and  now  it  was 

three.  By  some  mischance,  the  order  did  not  reach  him  until  two.  He 
was  on  the  way ;  but  would  he  be  up  in  time  ?  "  Oh  for  four  regi 
ments  !"  cried  Johnston  to  Colonel  Cocke,  in  the  bitterness  of  his  soul.2 
His  wish  was  soon  more  than  satisfied. 

Just  then,  a  cloud  of  dust  was  seen  in  the  direction  of  the  Manassas  Gap 
Railway.  Johnston  had  already  been  informed  that  United  States  troops 
were  on  that  road.  He  believed  Patterson  had  outmarched  his  oncoming 


CAVALRY    OK    HAMPTON'S   LEGION. 


1  The  biographer  of  Colonel  Cameron  pays:  "No  mortal  man  could  stand  the  fearful  storm  that  swept 
them.  As  they  fell  back,  Cameron  again  and  attain  led  them  up,  his  'Scots,  follow  me!'  ringing  above  the  din 
of  buttle,  till  at  last  Wnde  Hampton,  who  had  marked  his  gallant  bearing,  and  fired  rifle  after  rifle  at  him,  aa 
his  men  handed  them  up.  accomplished  his  murderous  purpose."  He  was  buried  near  the  house  of  Mr. 
Dogan. 

1  Statement  of  an  eye  and  ear  witness,  in  a  letter  to  the  Richmond  Despatch,  dated  July  22,  1S61. 


602 


THE   CONFEDERATES   RE-ENFORCED. 


Army  of  the  Shenandoah,  and  with  fresh  troops  would  easily  gain  a  victory 
for  the  Nationals.  The  story  was  untrue.  They  were  Johnston's  own 
troops,  about  four  thousand  in  number,  under  General  E.  Kirby  Smith,  of 
Connecticut.  They  had  come  down  by  the  Manassas  Gap  Railway;  and 
when  Smith  heard  the  thunder  of  cannon  on  his  left,  he  stopped  the  cars, 
£,nd  leaving  them,  he  hurried  across  the  country  with  his  troops  in  the  direc 
tion  of  the  conflict,  with  three  regiments  of  Elzy's  Brigade.  Johnston  re 
ceived  him  at  "The  Portico  "  with  joy,  and  ordered  him  to  attack  the  right 
flank  of  the  Nationals  immediately.  In  doing  so  he  fell,  severely  wounded, 
when  Colonel  Elzy  executed  the  order  promptly. 


MAP   ILLUSTRATING   THE   BATTLE   OF    BULL'S  RUN. 

When  Johnston  saw  his  re-enforcements  coming,  he  ordered  Colonel 
Cocke's  brigade  up  from  Bull's  Run,  to  join  in  the  action,  and  within  a  half 
an  hour  the  South  Carolina  regiments  of  Cash  and  Kershaw,  of  Bonham's 
brigade,  with  Fisher's  North  Carolina  regiment,  were  also  pressing  hard 
upon  the  right  of  the  Nationals.  With  all  these  re-enforcements,  Beauregard's 
army  of  twelve  regiments,  with  which  he  began  the  battle,  had  been  in 
creased  to  the  number  of  twenty-five.  These  were  now  all  concentrating  on 
the  right  and  rear  of  McDowell's  forces.  The  woods  on  his  flank  and  rear 
were  soon  swarming  with  Confederates,  who  were  pouring  destructive  volleys 
of  musketry  and  cannon-shot  upon  him.  The  blow  was  sudden,  unexpected, 
heavy,  and  overpowering.  In  the  course  of  fifteen  minutes,  the  National 
army,  expectant  of  victory,  was  swept  from  the  plateau  and  its  slopes. 
There  was  no  time  for  Burnside's  rested  brigade  to  come  up,  nor  for  Schenck's 
to  cross  Bull's  Run.  As  regiment  after  regiment  gave  way,  and  hurried 
toward  the  turnpike  in  confusion,  others  were  seized  with  panic,  and  joined 
in  the  race  from  danger.  At  four  o'clock,  a  greater  portion  of  the  National 
Army  was  moving  rapidly  toward  Sudley's  Ford  and  other  passages  of  Bull's 
Run,  toward  Centreville.  With  many  of  the  regiments  it  was  not  a  retreat, 
nor  an  orderly  flight,  but  a  rout,  absolute  and  uncontrollable.  It  was  seen 


FLIGHT   OF   THE   NATIONAL   ARMY. 


603 


with  the  greatest  exultation  by  Jefferson  Davis,  who  had  left  Richmond  that 
morning,  arrived  at  Manassas  Junction  at  four  o'clock,  and  hastened  on 
horseback  to  the  head-quarters  of  Johnston.     From  the  Junc 
tion,  that  night,*  he  telegraphed  to  his  "  Congress,"  which  had 
convened  in  Richmond  the  day  before — "  Xight  has  closed  upon 
a  hard-fought  field.     Our  forces  were  victorious.     The  enemy  was  routed, 


••    -     ' 

BULL'S   BUX   BATTLF.-Gr.Ot-JfD.1 

and  fled  precipitately,  abandoning  a  large  amount  of  arms,  ammunition, 
knapsacks,  and  baggage.  The  ground  was  strewed  for  miles  with  those 
killed,  and  the  farm-houses  and  the  ground  around  were  filled  with  wounded. 
.  .  .  Our  force  was  fifteen  thousand;  that  of  the  enemy  estimated  at  thirty- 
five  thousand."* 

Why  did  not  Patterson  hold  Johnston  at  Winchester,  or  re-enforce 
McDowell  at  Bull's  Run?  was  a  question  asked  by  the  people  with  the 
severest  earnestness,  when  it  was  known  that  to  the  presence  of  the  former 
and  his  troops  must  be,  in  a  great  degree,  attributed  the  disasters  that  had 
befallen  the  National  arms.  With  better  information  than  the  public  then 
possessed,  the  question  may  now  be  answered,  with  the  sanction  of  official  and 
semi-official  records,  in  these  few  words  : — Because  his  force  was  greatly  infe 
rior  in  numbers  and  appointment  to  that  of  Johnston  ;  because  he  was  posi- 


1  This  is  from  a  drawing  by  Mr.  Forbes,  already  mentioned,  made  after  the  evacuation  of  Manassas  by  the 
Confederates,  in  the  spring  of  1S62.  It  was  taken  from  near  the  center  of  the  battle-field,  and  shows  the  ruins 
of  Mrs.  Henry's  house,  and  to  the  right  of  them,  through  an  opening  in  the  distance,  looking  southeast,  is 
seen  Mantissas  Junction.  In  tho  foreground  is  seen  a  portion  of  a  small  marble  monument  erected  to  the 
memory  of  General  Hee,  whose  body  was  buried  on  that  spot.  Other  graves  arc  seen  near;  and  turkey  buz 
zards,  which  uncovered  many  bodies  that  were  put  in  shallow  graves,  are  seen  feasting  on  the  carcass  of  a 
horse. 

Mrs.  Henry,  it  is  said,  was  confined  to  her  bed,  and  remained  in  her  house  during  the  battle.  Shot  and 
shell  went  through  it.  and  she  was  wounded  two  or  three  times.  She  died  soon  afterward.  Robinson  was  yet 
occupying  his  house,  with  his  family,  at  the  close  of  1865. 

8  This  was  not  only  an  exaggeration  but  a  misrepresentation.  From  the  most  reliable  authorities  on  both 
sides,  it  appears  that,  in  the  final  struggle,  the  Nationals  had  about  thirteen  thousand  men  and  the  Confederate! 
about  twenty-seven  thousand.  Tho  latter  had  been  receiving  re-enforcements  all  day,  while  not  a  man  crossed 
Bull's  IJun  after  twelve  o'clock  to  re-enforce  th«  Nationals. 


July  IS, 
1861. 


604  WHY  MCDOWELL  WAS  NOT  RE-ENFORCED. 

lively  instructed  not  to  fight  without  a  moral  certainty  of  success  j1  because 
his  army  had  commenced  dissolving,  by  the  expiration  of  the  terms  of 
enlistment  of  the  three-months  regiments,  and  when  Johnston  started  for 
Manassas a  Patterson  could  not  have  brought  ten  thousand  effec 
tive  men  into  action  ;  and  because,  by  some  strange  mischance, 
he  was  for  five  days,  at  the  most  critical  time,  namely,  from 
the  17th  to  the  22d  of  July,  when  McDowell  was  moving  upon  Manassas 
and  fighting  the  Confederates,  without  the  slightest  communication  from  the 
General-in-chief,  whilst  he  (Patterson)  was  anxiously  asking  for  information 
and  advice.  He  had  been  informed  by  General  Scott  on  the  12th,6 

b    Ju]y  *' 

that  Manassas  would  *be  attacked  on  Tuesday,  the  16th.     On  the 
13th,  he  was  directed  by  his  Chief  to  make  demonstrations  to  keep  Johnston  at 
Winchester,  if  he  (Patterson)  did  not  feel  strong  enough  to  attack  him.    Pat 
terson  made  the  demonstration,  accordingly,  on  the  day  when  Manassas  was 
to  be  attacked,  and  drove  Johnston's  pickets  within  their  intrenchrnents.     On 
the  following  day  he  moved  his  army  to  Charlestown,  where  he  could  more 
easily  re-enforce  McDowell,  if  called  to  do  so;  and  at  the  same  time  he  re 
ceived  a  dispatch  from.  Scott,c  saying — "McDowell's  first  day's 
work  has  driven  the  enemy  beyond  Fairfax  Court  House.     To 
morrow,  probably,  the  Junction  will  be  carried." 

Johnston  was  still  at  Winchester,  with  full  thirty  thousand  troops,  and 

Patterson,  supposing  that  the  work  at  Manassas  would  be  completed  on  the 

morrow,  felt  a  satisfaction  in  having  accomplished  what  he  was  ordered  to 

do.     He  was  too  weak  to  attack  Johnston,  but  he  had  held  him,  he  believed, 

until  Beaure^ard  was  smitten.    On  the  following  morning/  at  the 

d  July  18.      ,  IT,  -11  *T 

hour  when  Johnston  received  orders  to  hasten  to  Manassas,  Pat 
terson  telegraphed  to  Scott  the  relative  forces  of  the  opposing  armies  in  the 
Valley,  showing  his  to  be  greatly  inferior,  but  asking,  "  Shall  I  strike  ?"  To 
this  he  received  no  reply;  and  when,  on  the  20th,  he  telegraphed  to  the  Chief 
that  Johnston,  with  a  greater  part  of  his  army,  had  moved  off  southwest- 
ward,  and  he  received  no  orders  in  reply,  he  supposed  that  McDowell  had 
been  victorious  at  Manassas,  and  that  the  Confederates,  in  numbers  too  over 
whelming  to  make  it  prudent  for  him  to  follow,  were  flying  from  the  Valley 
for  safety.  The  first  knowledge  that  he  received  of  the  battle,  fought  three 
days  later  than  was  intended,  was  conveyed  to  him  in  a  newspaper  from 
Philadelphia.2  Patterson  seems  to  have  done  all  that  was  possible  for  a 
prudent  and  obedient  soldier  to  do,  under  the  circumstances.  If  he  did  not 
prevent  the  disaster  at  Bull's  Run,  he  undoubtedly  prevented  a  greater,  by 
keeping  Johnston  and  his  heavy  force  from  a  meditated  invasion  of  Mary 
land,  and  the  capture  of  Washington  City  by  assault  in  the  rear. 

The  flight  of  the  National  army  back  to  the  defenses  of  Washington, 
and  the  attending  circumstances,  afforded  one  of  the  most  impressive,  pic 
turesque,  and  even  ludicrous  episodes  in  history.  The  determination,  the 
strength,  and  the  resources  of  the  Confederates  had  been  greatly  underrated, 
and  there  was  perfect  confidence  in  the  public  mind  that  the  impending 


1  See  page  520. 

2  For  a  full  elucidation  of  this  matter,  see  volume  ii.  of  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of 
the  War  ;  and  Narrative  of  the  Campaign  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  :  by  Major-General  Robert  Patterson. 


SPECTATORS   OF   THE   BATTLE. 


605 


battle  near  Manassas  would  result  in  absolute  and  crushing  victory  for  the 
National  arras.  It  was  expected  to  be  the  finishing  blow  to  the  rebellion. 
The  skirmish  of  the  18th  had  cast  only  a  passing  cloud  over  the  otherwise 
serene  sky  of  expectation ;  and  it  was  dispelled  in  the  course  of  twenty-four 
hours. 

It  became  known  at  Washington  on  Saturday  that  McDowell  was  to 
attack  Beauregard  on  the  line  of  Bull's  Run  on  Sunday,  and  scores  of  men, 
and  even  women — Congressmen,  officials  of  every  grade,  and  plain  citizens 
— went  out  to  see  the  grand  spectacle,  as  the  Romans  went  to  the  Coliseum 
to  see  the  gladiators  fight.  They  had  tickets  of  admission  to  the  amphithe 
ater  of  hills  near  Bull's  Run,  in  the  form  of  passes  from  the  military  authorities; 
and  early  on  Sunday  morning  Centreville  was  gay  with  civilians.  The  head 
quarters  of  Colonel  Miles  was  crowded  with  guests,  where  wine  and  cigars 
were  used  prodigally.  The  Hights  during  the  day  were  covered  with  spec 
tators  and  the  soldiery 
enjoying  the  new  sen 
sation  of  the  sight  of 
clouds  of  smoke  over 
the  battle-fluid  in  the 
distance,  and  the  roar 
of  heavy  guns  far  and 
near,  whose  booming 
was  heard  even  at 
Alexandria  and  Wash 
ington  City.  As  the 
battle  waxed  hotter, 
and  the  interest  be 
came  more  intense, 
some,  more  courageous  or  more  curious  than  others,  pushed  on  toward  the 
Stone  Bridge,  some  distance  beyond  Cub  Run,  where  they  could  hear  the 
scream  of  shells,  and  see  the  white  puffs  of  smoke  when  they  exploded  in  the 
air.  The  excitement  was  delicious  whilst  danger  was  distant ;  but  before 
sunset,  cheeks  that  glowed  with  exhilaration  at  noon,  were  pale  with  terror. 
Then  the  actors  and  the  audience  were  commingled  in  wild  disorder,  in  a 
flight  from  the  scenes  of  the  bloody  drama  as  precipitate  as  that  from  a 
theater  on  fire. 

When  the  right  of  the  National  army  gave  way,  Johnston,  hoping  to  cut 
off  their  retreat,  ordered  Ewell  to  cross  Bull's  Run  in  heavy  force,  and 
attack  the  left  at  Centreville.  Ewell  instantly  made  the  attempt,  but  his 
columns  were  so  severely  smitten  by  a  storm  of  grape  and  canister,  from 
the  heavy  guns  of  the  gallant  Colonel  Davies,  that  they  recoiled,  and  fled 
back  in  confusion.  The  enterprise  was  abandoned,  and  thereafter  the  left 
was  unmolested.  Davies  was  the  senior  of  Richardson  in  rank,  and  com 
manded  the  detachment  which  all  day  long  had  been  watching  the  lower 
fords,  and  annoying  passing  columns  of  the  Confederates  beyond  Bull's  Run 
with  shot  and  shell  from  the  batteries  of  Green,  Hunt,  Benjamin,  and  Tid- 
ball,  the  latter  belonging  to  Colonel  Blenker's  brigade. 

Whilst  the  left  was  standing  firmly,  the  vanquished  right  was  moving 
from  the  field  of  strife,  in  haste  and  much  disorder,  towards  the  passages  of 


mi.K8%8    HFAD-QTARTEES    AT   CENTBEVILLB. 


606  PANIC   AT  CUB   RUN"  AND   CENTRE VILLE. 

Bull's  Run,  from  the  Stone  Bridge  to  Sudley's  Ford,  pursued  by  Confederates 
of  all  arms,  who  made  many  prisoners.  Still  greater  would  have  been  the 
number  of  captives,  had  not  many  of  the  troops  been  free  from  panic,  and 
in  condition  to  cover  the  retreat  and  give  encouragement  to  the  disordered 
mass.  When  McDowell  perceived  that  the  day  was  lost,  and  retreat  inevi 
table,  his  first  care  was  to  protect  his  army  in  its  flight.  For  this  purpose 
he  detailed  Colonel  Porter  and  his  regulars,  with  the  cavalry.  He  also  sent 
word  to  Miles  to  order  a  brigade  to  the  Warrenton  Road,  at  Cub  Run,  for 
the  same  purpose,  and  Blenker  was  sent.  McDowell  himself  hastened  to  the 
left,  where  he  found  much  confusion  that  might  prove  dangerous,  caused  by 
orders  and  counter-orders  of  Miles  and  his  brigade  commanders.  He  was 
informed  that  Miles  had  been  intoxicated  nearly  all  day,  and  playing  the 
buffoon,  to  the  disgust  of  his  officers  and  men.  So  he  took  command  of  the 
division  himself,  for  Miles  could  not  be  trusted. 

Porter  performed  his  duties  admirably.  He  kept  the  Confederates  in 
check  ;  and  after  the  retreat  had  fairly  begun,  according  to  orders,  there  was 
not  much  panic  or  confusion  visible,  until  those  who  crossed  at  and  near  the 
Stone  Bridge,  and  others  at  the  fords  above,  met  in  converging  streams  (one 
along  the  Warrenton  Turnpike,  and  the  other  down  the  forest  road  traversed 
by  Hunter  and  Heintzelman  in  the  morning)  near  the  bridge  over  Cub  Run, 
which  was  barricaded  by  a  caisson 1  that  had  been  overturned  on  it  by  a  solid 
shot  from  the  pursuers.  Schenck's  Brigade  had  already  crossed,  and  gone  on 
to  Centreville,  but  many  civilians  in  his  rear  were  caught  here  by  the  hurry 
ing  mass  of  soldiers.  The  excitement  was  intense.  The  number  of  the 
pursuers  was  magnified  by  fear  from  five  hundred  to  five  thousand,  and  they 
were  not  far  behind.  Shots  from  their  Flying  Artillery  were  coming  too  near 
to  be  harmless.  Frightened  teamsters  cut  their  horses  loose,  mounted  them, 
and  scampered  away,  leaving  their  wagons  to  block  the  road.  The  drivers 
of  artillery  horses  did  the  same,  and  left  their  cannon  behind  to  be  seized  by 
the  Confederates.  Full  one-third  of  the  artillery  lost  that  day  was  left 
between  Cub  Run  and  the  Stone  Bridge.2 

The  caisson  on  the  bridge  was  soon  removed,  and  onward  the  excited 
mass  pressed.  Blenker's  protecting  brigade,  lying  across  the  road,  opened 
and  let  them  pass ;  and  at  twilight  the  fugitives  were  all  behind  the  lines 
at  Centreville,  where  the  Fifth  Division,  intact,  formed  a  strong  protecting 
force.  Ignorant  of  the  number  and  exact  position  of  McDowell's  reserves, 
only  five  hundred  cavalry  of  the  pursuing  force  crossed  Bull's  Run  that  even- 


1  A  caisson  is  an  ammunition -chest  on  wheels,  for  the  service  of  artillery  in  battle. 

2  The  Nationals  lost  twenty-seven  cannon,  ten  of  which  were  captured  on  the  field,  and  the  remainder  were 
abandoned  during  the  flight  to  Centreville.    They  had  forty -nine  pieces  in  all,  of  which  twenty-eight  were  rifled. 
All  but  two  were  fully  horsed  and  equipped.     Only  twenty-eight  of  the  forty-nine  pieces  crossed  Bull's  Run 
before  the  battle,  and  only  one  was  brought  safely  back  to  Centreville.     Besides  these  cannon,  the  Nationals  lost 
a  large  amount  of  small  arms,  ammunition,  stores,  provisions,  and  clothing.     A  large  number  of  the  knapsacks 
and  blankets  that  were  lost  had  been  laid  aside  by  the  soldiers  before  going  into  battle,  on  account  of  the  heat 
of  the  day. 

Beauregard  reported  his  spoils  of  victory  to  be  twenty-eight  field-pieces  captured,  with  over  one  hundred 
rounds  of  ammunition  for  each  gun:  also  thirty-seven  caissons;  six  forges;  four  battery- wagons;  sixty-four 
artillery  horses  completely  equipped;  five  hundred  thousand  rounds  of  small  arms  ammunition;  four  thou 
sand  five  hundred  sets  of  accouterments,  and  over  five  thousand  muskets.  His  engincer-in-chief,  Captain  E. 
P.  Alexander,  reported  in  addition  as  captured,  a  large  number  of  intrenching,  carpenters1,  and  blacksmiths' 
tools:  camp  and  cooking  utensils;  clothing  and  blankets;  twenty-two  tents,  and  a  large  quantity  of  medicines 
and  hospital  supplies. 


RETREAT   TO   THE   LINE   OF   THE   POTOMAC. 


607 


STONE  CIICBCH,    CENTREVILLE. 


ing ;  and  when,  at  dusk,  these  encountered  some  of  Blenker's  pickets  in  the 
gloom,  they  wheeled  and  hastened  back  to  the  Stone  Bridge,  when  some 
of    his    brigade    went   boldly 
forward,    and    brought    away 
two  of  the  cannon  abandoned 
near  Cub  Run.1     In  the  mean 
time    a   part  of  Beauregard's 
reserves,  which  had  been   or 
dered  up,  had  arrived. 

At  Centreville,  McDowell 
held  a  brief  and  informal  coun 
cil  with  his  officers,  when  it 
was  determined  to  continue  the 
retreat  to  the  defenses  of  Wash 
ington,  for  the  shattered  and 
demoralized  army  was  in  no 
condition  to  resist  even  one-half  of  the  Confederates  known  to  be  at  Manassas. 
They  had  been  on  duty  almost  twenty-four  hours,  without  sleep,  without 

much  rest,  and  many  of  them  with 
out  food ;  and  during  seven  or  eight 
hours  of  the  time,  a  greater  portion 
of  those  who  came  over  Bull's 
Kun*had  been  fighting  under  a  bla 
zing  sun.  They  needed  rest ;  but  so 
dangerous  did  it  seem  to  remain, 
that  the  soldiers  cheerfully  obeyed 
the  order  to  move  forward.  In 
deed,  l;rn^e  numbers  of  them  had 
already  done  so.  Leaving  the  sick, 
and  wounded,  and  dying,  who  could 
not  be  removed,  under  proper  care 
takers  in  a  stone  church  at  Centre 
ville  (which  was  used  a  long  time 
as  a  hospital),  the  army  moved  for 
ward  at  a  little  past  ten  o'clock, 
with  Colonel  Richardson's  brigade 
as  a  rear-guard.  Most  of  them 
reached  the  camps  near  Washing 
ton,  which  they  had  left 
in  high  spirits  on  the 

lOth,"  before  daylight.  Richardson  left  Centreville  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  when  all  the  other  troops  and  batteries  had  retired,  and 
twelve  hours  afterward  he  was  with  his  brigade  on  Arlington  Ilights.  The 
survivors  of  the  conflict  had  left  behind  them  not  less,  probably,  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  prisoners,  than  three  thousand  five  hundred  of  their  comrades, 


MONUMENT   OX    BULL'S    RUN    BATTLE-GROUND. 


«  July, 
1861. 


1  Bcauresrard,  in  his  official  report,  gives  as  the  reason  for  relinquishing  the  pursuit,  a  report  that  McDowell's 
reserves,  "  known  to  bo  fresh  and  of  considerable  strength,"  he  said,  "were  threatening  the  position  of  Union 
Mills  Ford,"  near  which  lay  the  forces  under  Ewell. 


608  RESULTS  OF  THE  BATTLE. 

though  the  official  report  made  the  number  somewhat  less.  The  Confederates, 
who  held  the  field,  lost  not  less,  it  is  believed,  than  twenty-five  hundred, 
though  Beauregard  in  his  Report  gave  the  number  about  nineteen  hundred.1 

Such  was  the  immediate  and  most  dreadful  result  of  this  first  great  con 
flict  of  the  Civil  War,  known  as  the  BATTLE  OF  BULL'S  RUN.S  We  shall 
hereafter  observe  its  effects  upon  public  sentiment — how  it  increased  the 
arrogance  of  the  conspirators,  and  the  number  of  their  adherents — how  it 
quickened  into  powerful- and  practical  action  the  feeling  of  nationality  and 
intense  love  for  the  Union  latent  in  the  hearts  of  all  loyal  Americans — how 
it  produced  another  and  more  important  uprising  of  the  faithful  People  in 
defense  of  the  Republic,  and  how  it  made  the  enemies  of  the  Union  in 
Europe  hopeful  that  it  would  utterly  perish  in  the  struggle  then  earnestly 
begun.  • 

1  In  the  compilation  of  this  account  of  the  BATTLE  OF  BULL'S  RUN,  I  have  drawn  the  materials  chiefly  from 
the  various  official  Reports  of  Generals  McDowell,  Beauregard,  and  Johnston,  and  their  subordinate  command 
ers.  McDowell  reported  his  loss  at  four  hundred  and  eighty-one  killed,  and  one  thousand  and  eleven  wounded. 
Of  the  missing,  many  of  whom  afterwrard  re-appeared,  and  a  large  portion  were  prisoners,  he  made  no  report. 
They  were  estimated  at  about  fifteen  hundred,  which  would  make  the  total  National  loss  two  thousand  nine  hun 
dred  and  ninety -two.  Beauregard  reported  his  loss  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  killed,  one  thousand  four 
hundred  and  eighty-nine  wounded,  and  thirty  missing — in  all,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety-seven. 
His  estimate  of  missing  is  much  below  the  mark.  More  than  one  hundred,  captured  during  the  day,  were 
Bent  to  Washington. 

Among  the  killed  of  the  National  Army  were  Colonel  James  Cameron,  of  the  Seventy-ninth  New  York 
(Highlanders);  Colonel  John  Slocutn  and  Major  Ballou,  of  the  Second  Rhode  Island;  and  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Haggerty,  of  the  New  York  Sixty-ninth  (Corcoran's  Irish  Regiment).  Among  the  wounded  were  Colonels  Hun 
ter,  Heintzelman,  Wilcox,  Oilman,  Martin,  Wood,  H.  W.  Slocum,  Farnham,  and  Corcoran,  and  Major  James  D, 
Potter.  Wilcox,  Corcoran,  and  Potter,  were  made  prisoners. 

3  The  Confederate  commanders,  and  the  writers  in  their  interest,  call  it  the  BATTLE  OF  MANASSAS.  It  wa3 
fought  much  nearer  Bull's  Run  than  Manassas,  and  the  title  above  given  seems  the  most  correct.  About  four 
years  after  the  battle,  when  the  war  had  ceased,  National  soldiers  erected  on  the  spot  where  the  conflict  raged 
most  fiercely,  a  very  few  yards  southward  from  the  site  of  Mrs.  Henry's  House,  a  substantial  monument  of 
stone,  in  commemoration  of  their  corajatriots  who  fell  there.  A  picture  of  it  is  given  on  the  preceding  page. 
It  is  made  of  ordinary  sandstone,  round  near  Manassas  Junction.  Its  total  hight  is  twenty-seven  feet, 
including  the  base,  and  it  stands  upon  an  elevated  mound.  On  each  corner  of  the  base  is  a  block  of  sandstone, 
on  which  rest  elongated  conical  100-pounder  shells,  the  cone  pointing  upward.  The  top  of  the  shaft  is 
also  surmounted  by  one.  On  one  side  of  the  monument  are  these  words: — "  Ix  MEMORY  OF  THE  PATRIOTS 
WHO  FELL  AT  BULL  RUN,  JtTLY  21,  1861."  On  the  other  side : — "  ERECTED  JUNE  10, 1S6.V  It  was  constructed  by 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Sixteenth  Massachusetts  Light  Battery,  Lieutenant  James  McCallorn  (who  con 
ceived  the  idea),  and  the  Fifth  Pennsylvania  Heavy  Artillery,  Colonel  Gallup.  Generals  IJeintzelrnan,  Wilcox,  and 
others,  who  fought  in  the  battle,  were  present  at  the  dedication  of  the  monument  at  the  date  above  named.  The 
picture  is  from  a  photograph  by  Gardner,  of  Washington  City.  A  hymn,  written  for  the  occasion  by  the  Rev. 
John  Pierpont,  then  eighty  years  of  age,  was  sung.  The  services  were  opened  by  Rev.  Dr.  McMurdy,  of  Ken« 
tucky ;  and  several  officers  made  speeches. 


END   OF   VOLUME  I. 


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